Keep It Southern

I've got some help in the kitchen today with me

I've got Viola Davis and Bryce Dallas Howard from the movie The Help

and they're cooking with me today. Get out! Starting with elegant stuffed eggs

That was really good. That is so good. And then I'm going to take their breath away with spicy pecan fried chicken

This is over the top. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. And to keep it hot, we've got southern collards with cornmeal dumplings

It's so good, I'm sweating. I know, baby! And for dessert, it's a milk and cookie trifle

Oh, this looks so good! This might be like the best day of my show life

Oh! This is Bryce Howard. This is Viola Davis. These girls star in the movie The Help

I'd like to do a book of interviews from the point of view of The Help. Be good to get it right

She told me what I was up to. I'm gonna do it. I got to come up with your questions too

Oh. Their friendship. It's against the law, what we're doing. Don't give up on this, Skeeter

Broke the rules. Every white home should have a separate bathroom for The Help

Maybe we should just build you a bathroom outside, Haley. Their courage

Y'all brought me into this, but I'm going to finish it. Gave them a voice

You should read the book. It's quite scandalous. Their words changed everything

Oh, Missy, you're going to jail. You're a godless woman. From DreamWorks Pictures

Courage about overcoming fear and daring to do what is right for your fellow man

Every story matters. We've gone done it now. Let me tell y'all something

That pretty little girl down there, she's the meanest little B.I. You have ever seen in this movie

And Viola was steady, faithful, loyal

And 20 pounds heavier. And 20 pounds heavier. I did not recognize you

Fried green tomatoes and fried butter on the fried bread. And it was fun doing it

And so did Bryce. Yeah. You had to, too. I was asked to gain weight, which is the best thing that anyone could ever ask a woman to do

Oh. Oh. Especially in Mississippi. Goodness my gracious. Fantastic. All right, now we're going to make an elegant stuffed egg

I really need to learn how to cook here. This is my opportunity to learn how to cook

You don't cook, Bryce. No, no. I've been very spoiled. My mother is wonderful

She fed me really well, and I ate all her food and never learned, even though she tried to teach me

So this is my chance. You are kidding. Yeah. Well, this is what I do

This is what I do. I will try my best, honey. I cook. You do cook

I cook collard greens. You do. I cook all the southern foods. I have very specific recipes for collard greens

Oh, you do? Oh, I do. Now, yours may be better than mine. I don't know

I'm not going to challenge you. Oh, no. I doubt it. I wouldn't dare do that

All right, salt and pepper. So up to now, y'all, I've got a little mayonnaise, a little sour cream, horseradish, a little apple cider vinegar

If you would finish mixing that up for me, Viola, and I'm going to just chop us up a few chives to go in it

I like a little color in it. Yeah. This is great. I'm going to take this little plastic bag and cut the corner out of it

And drop our tip. This is the way I do this because, gosh, I really need to come back as an octopus

You don't have enough hands. But if you'll get you a glass, then this is so easy to fill because you've got that glass

All right, girlies. Okay. We're going to test your squirting skills

Okay. Uh-oh. All right. Okay. Let me show you. Okay. First thing we want to do is get all the air out of it. Exactly

And then you just. Oh, man. Okay. That's great. Oh, that's wonderful

Isn't that wonderful? Oh! Hit it! I am so excited. Okay. I've always wanted to make doubled eggs

Have you ever done this before? No, I haven't already cooked anything before

All right, bring it down into your egg. Do that little motion

See? Okay. Ah, this looks so good. Yay! All right, now what I'm fixing to do now is make a salmon rose

Roll it kinda tight so that it will look like that center bud Oh okay See kind of like that Bryce That nice Bryce

Mine looks like the tongue of a snake. So does mine. Look at her rose

I feel so accomplished. You are accomplished. Don't be telling me you can cook

Thank you, Paul. All right, so I'm going to use our mint and make it look just like a rose

Well, my character in the film, Hilly Holbrook, was very specific about her deviled eggs

And she was also very picky, y'all. About everything. About her chocolate pie

You'll have to go see the movie or read the book to find out the ingredients that were in that yummy pie

Oh, no. Coming up, y'all, my cooking lesson continues when I teach Bryce a thing or two about collards

The ultimate teacher, Paula Deen. And then I'm going to take y'all to a beautiful place when I glaze up this chicken

And later, I show these girls this simple trifle. How gorgeous. So pretty

How gorgeous is that? Oh, my God. I specifically said drop old coats at my house, not commons

Why would you do this to me? I don't know. I don't know, Hilly

It's so embarrassing. I need a hug, Mommy

Oh, no, no, no, no. We are having so much fun. This is Viola Davis, and this is Bryce Howard

And they are the stars in the movie The Help. So what do you think

It's so good. You like it? The chives. Yes, yes, yes. And horseradish

Oh, this is fantastic. Sour cream. It's so good. You know, there's so many different ways that you can pump this egg up

And I'm going to show y'all how to pump up that collard green top

Oh, yeah. I'm making southern collards with cornmeal dumplings. You can see that it's got that big, thick stem in it

So you just pop it out like that. Okay, so I fold it over

Yes, and I just kind of mash it. Now, see, Paula, when we grew up, we ate the stem, everything

Really? We didn't cut anything out. To me, they can just be really stonky

Yeah, exactly. And then what we do is we lay these out just like we would a tobacco leaf

Yep. And then we're just going to roll it. Yeah. Just like this

Some people like theirs sliced very thin. We don't. We like ours more like that

So that's all you do. Oh, I'm going to try. Okay. Oh, yeah. Let me get my fingers out of the way

Yes, definitely. Now we've got our collards here in our pot cooking

Oh, that looks so good. Don't they look good? Oh, yeah. So how long have these been cooking for about

These have been cooking for about 20 minutes. And see that smoked turkey wing in there

I use turkey drumsticks. Oh, do you? The big ones. Oh, yeah

I'm going to take some of our pot liquor out and put in this pot right here

It's called pot liquor? Pot liquor. Yeah. Now, while I'm doing this, can I ask you to mince this onion for me

Can you explain what mincing is? Yes. Mince. Mince. She is so pretty

That's it. All right. A mince is finer than a dice. Okay

So we want them about like that. So if you would kind of mince that up just like that

Okay. Now tell me everything that you put in your coffee. I put everything but the kitchen sink

Vinegar, barbecue sauce. Get out! Mm-hmm. Yes, I do. I like it real spicy

That's why. Well, we put a lot of hot sauce. Oh, man

So what we're going to do now is make our cornmeal dumplings. Okay. And I'm going to add a cup of flour to our cup of cornmeal

So you just blend that up. With a spoon? With a spoon

Mm-hmm. And we've got our onions over here. And I'm going to put some black pepper and just a wee little dash of salt

All right, so come get your onions from Bryce. Mm-hmm. And we are going to add some broth to that

So do I dump it in? Yes. Just rake them in there. Oh, yeah

Nice. Look at you go. Nice The ultimate teacher Paula Deen All right So stir that up And while we make these dumplings tell everybody the story behind this movie

You know, the story is just about this young girl who comes out of college

and she's very different from the rest of her peers. Which side

Hilly being her best friend. You know? I love that relationship. Oh, yeah, absolutely

Between those two girls. But she decides to write this book about how black domestics feel working for white women in the South in 1962

And the result of that is these white women and these black women

connect in a way that they ordinarily would not have if she would not have started this expose type of book

And also it's a great mix of comedy and pathos. So it's like you're crying, you're laughing, you're living with these women

You is kind. You is smart. You is important. You is smart

You is kind. You is important. Oh, that's so good. That's so good

It's such an incredible story of friendship. I mean, it's... And we had that experience working on the movie

We sure did. We just got so close. Are y'all all good friends? Yes

We are. Now, see what I'm doing. I'm not stirring this pot

Okay. I'm just shaking it. Okay. Because if I stick a spoon down in there, they're going to come apart

I'll take this and then just gently pour it over our collard greens so they'll kind of sit on top

Oh, yeah. This tastes so delicious. Coming up, I'm not going to be shy with this glaze for our chicken

Some more, girl. And then this meal is gonna knock you out

This is so good and make you want to slap somebody. I'm so happy

And later, our dessert comes together in no time. I feel like this is something that I'm gonna do immediately when I get home

I'm gonna take credit for it. I know. All right, ladies. Guess what time it is

What time is it? It is time to put your beautiful dumplings in the collard greens

And everything? Yes. Okay. Y'all have just produced, like, coffee, cornmeal dumplings

All right. We can't have collard greens without the secret ingredient. What might that be

A stick of butter. A stick of butter. They have got to be greasy

If they're not, they're just not all that wonderful. All right, so look-a-there

Look-a-there. You know, and the health benefits from the collards far outweighs that little bit of butter we put in there. Uh-huh

Now, you can't visit me without me sharing the fried chicken recipe

Okay. This is my spicy pecan fried chicken. I'm going to use one and a half bottles hot sauce

Oh, man. All right, we need about four eggs cracked. Okay. And we're going to put about this much water, about a fourth of a cup of water, not much

And we are going to use house seasoning. And our house seasoning has salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder

Oh, wow. So it's got everything that you need in it. Do I press it in at all

Yeah, you know, I teach everybody to rub their meat. Rub their meat

So like this? Now, flip your chicken over, put a little bit on the other side

You want me to mix this? Yes, just mix it up, and then we're going to throw our chicken over in there

I'm adding ground pecans to the flour. Mm-hmm. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it

It sounds real good. And look, see, it's just a little coarse. They're just going to give it a little extra flavor

and then I'm going to take y'all to a beautiful place. What place is it

When we're done with it. Okay. All right, doll, that's probably way, way too much

Oh, no. I'm so sorry. What do I do? That is all right

What we're going to try to do. Is wipe it off? Yes. Yeah. I got so passionate about it

I know. What did you do? You put too much on? I did. I don't want all your blood to be dried up when you leave

Okay. I mean, you can't say our chicken ain't seasoned. Now, the thing about frying chicken

dark meat takes about 13 to 14 minutes, depending on how large your chicken is

and the white meat will take about 10 to 12 minutes, depending on how large it is

Let me tell y'all something. I had the most wonderful time watching The Help You talking about passion Oh yeah It was a passion project That why when people see it they going to be so moved

by it because everyone's heart was in it. I could tell Viola

Mm-hmm. All right, now I'm going to wash this goop out of my hands

So, Paula, what did you think of the fried chicken scene of the movie where Minnie is

teaching Celia how to cook? It feels like you and I. I loved it

I loved it. And you know, Minnie did it just like my mother used to do it

In the brown sack. Yeah, that's how my mom did it, too. Yes

Shake that. This is so much fun

All right, all right. Chicken already dead, Missy. Yep, he did. That was a wonderful take-me-back moment

Oh, yes. If you would put that stick of butter, and then we've got some honey

Oh, I like the sound of this. Yeah, about a half a cup. Yeah

Go, baby. Men have been showing you how to measure. I can tell right now

Some more, girl. Now about a half a cup of pecans. Okay

And we're going to let that just simmer. Coming up, this delicious meal is going fast

When can we eat it? Can we eat it? Dig in. And then this trifle will sweep you off your feet

This is so good. Oh, this is fantastic. Oh, my goodness. Okay, here we go, girls

Okay. This is over the top. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Southern fried chicken with a pecan glaze

Mmm. All right, I can't wait for y'all to eat. When can we eat it

Can we eat it? Dig in. Miss Paula Deen, this is so good

It'll make you want to slap somebody. I'm so happy. I'm so happy

Bringing me back home, my mother's cooking, and it's one of those things that no matter

how much my mom tells me how to make something, I can't make it like her

That's how I feel about this. My greens are not as good as this, Paula

They're not. That says a lot because every time we would go to any kind of a cook-off, Viola would say

my food is better. For her to come here and defer to you like this

it means a lot. See, but I don't put butter in my greens. I think that, that's a lick

That's a lick. Yes. That? Yes, it takes it. And the hot sauce you put in there

Yes. It's so good, I'm sweating. I know, Wendy. I'm breaking out into sweat

Me too, Val. So I want to give y'all a little dessert

I want to make y'all a little dessert before you have to go. It's my milk and cookies trifle

I have just run up to the bakery at the grocery store

and pop these cookies. Now you can use any kind you want

Just dunk those cookies down in that milk. Every cookie needs a cloud to sit on, doesn't it

That's heavy cream that has been whipped. There we go. Oh, yeah

Yeah. I feel like this is something that I'm going to do immediately when I get home, and everyone's going to say

this is what you learned from all of it, I'm going to serve. Yes. Yes, I did

I'm going to take credit for it. Yes, you're supposed to. All right, and if we had..

I could definitely do this. If we had, like, maraschina cherries or blueberries or, you know, you could stick any kind of fruit in it

So look at this. How long did it take us? Two minutes? Two minutes

So we have, like, an instant trifle, don't we, girls? We sure do

Always have to eat your vegetables. How gorgeous. Oh, it looks so pretty

How gorgeous is that? That's beautiful. I mean, beautiful. Three minutes. Oh, my gosh. Look

Here, Bryce, you can dip your own because I'm going to be eating mine while you're dipping this

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my goodness. Oh, this looks so good. You're lying

This is so good. Oh, this is fantastic. Oh, my goodness. Girls, I have to tell you, the help really, really touched me

I mean, it touched me deep because it was like stepping back 40 years, 50 years

But what took it over the top for me was all those Southern women in the kitchen

I cannot thank y'all enough for being here with me today. Thank you so much

Y'all are fabulous. Would y'all each come in and give me a kiss on the side of my face

Y'all are precious. You're so precious too, Paul