Paula's Cooking Class

Hey, y'all. I'm Paula Deen, and I'm here in my hometown of Savannah, Georgia

And did you know I have a cooking class? You can't cook grits without a stick of butter

Well, it's not like any kind of cooking school you've probably ever been to

I like mine naked. Yeah, baby. And we talk about everything. You never know what's going to come up

I've been trying to get pregnant. I'm so lucky there's nothing any better than being able to cook the food that you love with the people that you love

And apparently Michael kind of liked it. Well, today we're going back to cooking school 101

Fried chicken, shrimp and grits, cheese biscuits and macaroni and cheese. Paula's cooking school is in session

The reason I started my little cooking school was I just plain out missed sitting around and chatting with folks

because I found that when we get together and cook, that we have a lot more in common than just food

You know, I'm really just like a lot of folks out there who are faced with the decisions of having to do whatever it takes to survive

They tell me their stories, and I tell them mine. And how I got started in a sandwich business with just $200

with the help of my sweet boys till I bought my first restaurant here in Savannah on Congress Street

which I thought that I would never be able to fill up with customers

We had 21 tables where we had gone from like nine tables

And in no time, I mean absolutely no time, we had outgrown the space

But we stayed on for six more years struggling in that little kitchen

So I started rat packing money one more time. And where we sit right now, I actually own 15,000 square feet under the lady and son's roof here

And I said, oh my goodness, my gracious, my stars, great granny

I will truly never, never fill this space up. And I went out and I announced in the paper and everybody that would listen that I finally had a place big enough that you would never have to wait ever again

That you could walk in anytime and get a table. And unfortunately, it's still not big enough

How y'all doing, folks? For all the people that I try to get into the restaurant

I've always made room for my cooking school. You know, this originally started out in the basement

It's a one-time deal. But I found myself having so much fun, I do them all the time now

We try to keep it at around 50 people. We try to hold it to three hours, unless I'm especially Gabby

They come from all over to just learn how to cook this food

So we thought, maybe this is something so good and so magical that we need to share it

So we're just blowing it up and bringing in the cameras. I have a tremendous team behind me

Those are beautiful. Now go over the menu with me. Alright, in your second segment, you're going to make shrimp Florentine over tomato grits

I got them at one fish, two fish across the park. And I'm here to tell y'all, I could not make it without this young man

I couldn't. You couldn't. Oh, you smell so good. Okay, let's do salt

Salt! Salt. Basically, the most important part of my job is to set up the set

make sure that she has everything that she's going to need to cook her recipes. What is salt

Let's do chocolate. Chocolate. What is that? Did you bring some with you

We don't have any of that. If I talk like that, I'd have even more wrinkles around my lips

Sometimes we get to having so much fun just setting up that I forget that I have to get ready for the cooking school

If you walked into the room before I came out and did my show

you'd think, great time of day. The Memphis Mafia. Where's Elvis? Am I almost there

She's the type of person that once you tell her it can't be done, that's when she really starts to do it

Paula operates pretty well under chaos. She can juggle chainsaws and do it naturally

I'm scared. I've got to tell you my most honest emotion is I hope we don't mess it up because I know that Mom won't

You know, when it comes right down to it, what did they come for

I expect to learn a lot. He's the cook in the family. And I have to make sure I give it to him

which is teaching him how to cook and teaching him how to laugh

Well, everybody's here and raring to go

So y'all stand by, because we've got a Southern Classic coming right up

And the first thing that I'm going to start with is a favorite of the East Coast

Shrimp and grits. And later we drop by on a very unsuspecting neighbor

Surprise! Who has a sweet family secret to share? Well, this is yummy. It's like liquor and sugar

Is that it? Hey, y'all. It's great to be here with y'all. I'm thrilled

And before we get started, I want to introduce two guys to you that have been my backbone

Jamie and Bobby Dean. Y'all come on out. Do y know why y are here I never seen such a smiling group of willing participants to go to school

We're going to go back to basic cooking, cooking 101. I'm going to be frying up that wonderful, juicy, fabulous fried chicken that we serve at the restaurant

I'm going to be making cheese biscuits. I've got a new twist for shrimp and grits

I'm going to be making macaroni and cheese. Collard greens. You know, our collard greens at the restaurant will really move you

Almost to tears sometimes. And then last but not least, I've got a very, very special secret dessert for y'all

So let's go to school. I hear the bell ringing. And we're here in the beautiful mansion located on Forsyth Park here in Savannah, Georgia

And the first thing that I'm going to start with is a favorite of the East Coast

Shrimp and grits. How many folks are here not from Savannah? Oh, a good bit

Do y'all eat shrimp and grits? Y'all do? Don't? Eat the grits

You eat the grits. Why don't you eat the shrimp? I've always lived on the coast, but never eaten any seafood

You're kidding me. Well, you just sit right there. Because we're going to change that

So, Bobby is peeling and deveining the shrimp. You're not taking the tails off, are you, baby

No, ma'am. Okay, good. You know, Michael, I believe you are. I like mine naked

Well, I don't. The whole thing. And it's called Paula's Cooking School

My bad. All right. My water's boiling, y'all, and I'm going to add a cup of grits to two cups of water

And for those of you that are not having especially good luck cooking grits

I want to tell you there's a couple of tips. You must salt the water

Have you ever tried to get a grit salty after it's been put in a bowl and on your plate

it takes about a half a jar of salt. And the next important thing is

you've got to keep that water moving the whole time when you first add those grits

or they'll lump up on you and you'll look in there and you'll see like golf balls

And, you know, you just have to stab them. That's not right. That's how my grits always come out

Well, that's because you're not stirring your pot. You've got to tend to your pot. That's why it's not Bobby's cooking school

I always thought lumpy grits was right. No, now you know better than that

You kidding me? You'll upset your old mommy. All right, so I'm just going to add a little milk

I love adding cream to my grits. You know, people will come up to me and they'll say

Paula, do you have anything that's not fattening here? Why don't you have a low-cal menu

I said, because I'm your cook, not your nurse. That's why I don't have a locale menu

Alright, so we're just going to let those cook, cook, cook along. They're not yellow enough

Alright, so we're ready to make the topping for our grits. This is garlic, a few onions, lemon juice

I'm going to add, oh. Is this a good one? It's there

Is that a good brand, son? I don't know. It's yes. It is

Looks like it's good. All right, now we're going to let our topping reduce, so I want to share with y'all a little piece on how we got these shrimp

Michael and Jamie and Bobby and myself went out shrimping the other day

to catch the shrimp for this show, and we had a wonderful time

Y'all take a look. Just take a look at the video. I've got a real good friend here in town, Michael Sullivan

He knows more about a shrimp than a shrimp knows about a shrimp. Driving your boat, letting me hold your livelihood

You're a brave man. All right, Paul, I think it's about time. Let's go check those nets and see if we catch any shrimp

We're so proud of our shrimpers and the work that they do. And the shrimping industry brings in over $6 million annually

So we're talking about a million and a half pounds of shrimp harvested off these waters

These wild shrimp grow up in the waters where they're eating the squid, the minnows

and that natural diet. And that's why these shrimp are absolutely made to order for my shrimping grits

These are beauties, guys. Look at them. What are they going to be, Michael

Scrump diddly-icious. They're going to be scrump diddly-icious. That's it. You can't get any fresher than Michael Sullivan's shrimp

I can't hardly wait until it's time to get these babies in the kitchen

And up next, I can't wait to show y'all the finished product of my shrimp and grits recipe

Look at that clump of cheese. All right. Now to our plate of grits, I'm going to add our shrimp florentine

Look at here. And then later, I'm going to share my restaurant's most famous dish

What did I promise? Fried chicken. Fried chicken. And cheese biscuits. They come from all over this United States to just learn how to cook this food

And the first thing that I'm going to start with is shrimp and grits

Are y'all enjoying the cooking school today? All right, now, I'm going to move on with these grits

I'm going to add some cheese. Now, I'm using a sharp cheddar, and I'm going to add a can of Rotel tomatoes

Y'all, these are unbelievably delicious. And then I'm going to add green onions that I sauteed over here in the butter

I'm going to add every bit of that butter. Yeah. Yeah, baby

These are basically done just that quick. All right, now who had a question

Somebody. What, darling? Who taught you how to cook? Who taught me how to cook

Well, mainly my grandmother. My mother died when she was young, so I didn't have any opportunity to be taught by my mother

But her mother my grandmother Paul lived to be 91 years old So I had about 20 years in the kitchen with her and I just learned everything that she was willing to teach me So I graduated magna cum laude Granny Paul school

All right, I'm going to throw my shrimp in, and you'll want to be careful now. The worst

thing that you can do to a shrimp is overcook it. Because it will become just like an

eraser, won't it, girl? Yes, it will. You know, put that puppy

on the end of your pencil. That's all it's good for. Alright. So I'm going to add the cream

I'm going to add the cheese. I'm going to add the spinach. This is the healthy part

Y'all, look at that clump. Look, look at that clump of cheese

All right, now to our plate of grits, I'm going to add our shrimp florentine

Look-a here. You won't believe how delicious it is. Are you going to give us a sample

No. But I want y'all to look at it. I want y'all to see

I ain't sharing it. This ain't in no book. Would you like some

I can't have you. Come here, Billy. Come here, Billy. You come over here and get on your throne

You know, we were talking about this earlier. You're killing me, Mama

While Billy's tasting the shrimp and grits

we're going to be frying some chicken and making cheese biscuits. The grits look phenomenal

And I was excited about the shrimp and grits, but when she said fried chicken, that's going to be it for me

I have had people say they know my chickens are drugged because they cannot, cannot quit eating it

What did I promise? Fried chicken. And cheese biscuits. I have to tell you, this is really cooking class 101

I'm taking you back to the very basic thing that means the most to our restaurant

and that's fried chicken. So I have some here that's already seasoned with our house seasoning

and I've got four eggs in my bowl, and I'm going to add to it about a cup of hot sauce

Now, believe it or not, all this hot sauce that we're going to put over this chicken

is not going to make it hot. It's going to leave it with a wonderful flavor, but no heat

Now, if you want to, if you really want it to soak up that hot sauce

you can let it sit for an hour if you want to. And I don't think it would be too hot

But we're just going to roll that chicken around in there. And like I said, you can go on about your business and be doing something else

I'm going to wash up my hands real quick. And I don't have to tell you all when you're talking about chicken

It's one of those foods that really, really is dangerous because of cross-contamination

So you want to be careful. Keep everything clean that touches the... All right

Our chicken is soaked. Now, the main thing that you want to remember when you're frying chicken is you want to start by dropping your dark meat in first because it takes longer to cook

So the dark pieces are what? That's exactly right. And I'm tossing them in self-rising flour because it puffs up for me

And I just like my chicken puffy. Puffy and fluffy. And we're probably going to let this cook maybe 12 or 14 minutes

It really depends on how big your chicken is. When I was a girl growing up, I remember my mother getting two-pound chickens

and there is no sweeter bird in the whole world than a little old bitty chicken

They were so good and so sweet, I just don't know what they puff them full of now

Maybe they're feeding them butter. They were just hoping that that fried chicken

was gonna fly off the plate and come out there and land in their hands

And I've got my biscuit. And this is the way we do every biscuit

that we cook at the Lady and Sons. Anybody else like a biscuit

I would like a biscuit, Mom. Sure. What did I promise

Fried chicken. And I'm tossing them in self-rising flour because it puffs up for me

And I just like my chicken puffy. Puffy and fluffy. I bet you never thought that school could be so much fun

And we're going to let the chicken cook, like I said, maybe 12 minutes

So I'm fixing to make our cheese biscuits. This is two cups of self-rising flour

I'm going to add, even though it's self-rising, I'm going to add another teaspoon of baking powder

because I want to make sure these things are real good and fluffy

I'm going to add a little bit of sugar, and I'm going to come over here and grab my salt

and add just a little bit of salt to it. And I don't have any lard

I wish I could tell y'all that I did. But all I have is a shortening, a solid shortening

So I'm just going to cut this in. And as y'all know, I'm going to change the subject

Now I'm shifting gears here. Y'all have just got to meet my Aunt Jessie

Aunt Jessie is 87. She came to me about five or six years ago

and said she had just fallen in love with her old high school sweetheart

a man that she was engaged to 60 years ago. And I'd come home at night

and those two would just be sitting on that sofa grinning from ear to ear. And I thought, now I wonder what they've been doing while I've been working

One time I came home, and I think Inman's shirt was all faint, Jerry

Because I remember you saying, oh, Inman got hot. And it was such a privilege

And I said, well, maybe if I'll slow down long enough to watch Aunt Jesse

maybe I can find me a man too. Paula, how did you meet Michael

How did I meet Michael? Actually prayed Michael up. I prayed for about four years for God to send me a neighbor

And about four years after praying this prayer every night of my life

My little dogs ran on me ran around the wall to the Groover house and drug us up a daddy

Don't burn the chicken. Oh, thank you, Becky. Y'all, that's my friend Becky Polk

I've been buying vegetables from them since I started the bag, lady, hadn't I

I was so broke. I was so broke that I had to buy what everybody else thought was rotten

But you know what everybody didn't know? That I was getting the sweetest of all

Because pretty is not necessarily good. And that's a good lesson with everything in life

Because that shriveled up kind of old looking fruit. Show was sweet

Well, I could talk all day long, but I'm going to have this stirred down to nothing

So I've got some buttermilk here. I'm going to add buttermilk to them. And then I'm going to add sharp cheese

All right. So let me show you the easiest way in the world to make a biscuit

You take your ice cream scoop, and I've got my biscuit. And this is the way we do every biscuit that we cook at the Lady and Sons

All right. Now I'm going to put these in the oven here. And I'm probably going to put these on like a 400-degree oven

All right, I think our chicken. I think our chicken is done, and I'm so sorry that they won't give me a big enough fryer to feed y'all

But I will let y'all smell it. That's just me. I know

That's what you get for quitting my restaurant. I had to take care of my baby

That's what you get for going out and having babies. And quitting your job

You too, Susie. I'll give you a piece, Kathy. Doesn't it smell good

I so wish y'all could have some. Guys, bring these girls and boys out some chicken

Are y'all enjoying your chicken? Great

This is phenomenal. This is awesome. I learned several things. Several of the mistakes that I have been making

I hope to prepare now, and I'm going to buy a big pot and fry some chicken

Her personality just comes out, and then the food, sitting here smelling it

and not being able to eat it is just killing you. You know, and that fried chicken is delicious

Hands down, it's center of the plate. But you ain't got a meal if you ain't got the collard greens and the macaroni and cheese to go with it

Jamie and Bobby are in the kitchen with me, y'all, because we're making macaroni and cheese and collard greens

And both of those take a little time. And I get to run in my mouth and talking, and I forget to cook

So I'm so glad to have them back here with me. Are these a doctor? Yes

What do you consider the most important flavoring or seasoning? Butter. Or bacon grease

Well, I tell you what, I keep house seasoning next to my stove all the time

I love the three ingredients that are in it, the salt, the pepper, and the garlic powder

So if I could only have one seasoning, it'd probably be that

All right, y'all, I'm buttering up these biscuits, and you can see I'm not a selfish or stingy person

All right, now over here, you'll find that Jamie's cooking the macaroni and cheese

We're going to put the cheese in first while it's hot to get it all creamy and smoothie

And then we're going to add milk, and our other secret ingredient for the macaroni and cheese at the restaurant is sour cream

So we add those three items while it's hot. and doing it while it's hot helps incorporate these things into the creaminess

but that also brings the temperature down. We're going to add four eggs, and so we don't want to put eggs directly on top of hot out of the pot food

So that helps bring the temperature down a little bit. Yeah, we'll have scrambled eggs and macaroni, right

Now, when you're cooking your macaroni for macaroni and cheese, you have heard so often al dente, al dente, al dente on pasta

I say poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo. Because if you cook it al dente, the liquids that you're going to put in it will dry it up

and your macaroni and cheese is going to be too dry. All right, now this needs lots of salt

And I like a little pepper in my macaroni and cheese. Now Jamie is going to put that in a greased casserole dish

and he's going to throw it in a 350-degree oven. He's going to bake it for about 25, 35, maybe even 40 minutes

depending on how big your casserole dish is. And then when it's done, he's going to pull it out

and he's going to top it with more cheese. Oh, our mac and cheese

I've told everybody what the secret ingredient is to that dish, and that's sour cream

That little bit of sour cream just makes it so creamy mixed up with that cheese and the eggs and the milk

Yum, I'm starving. And this is the way we do every biscuit

that we cook at the Lady and Sons. All right, now I'm going to put these in the oven here

and I'm probably going to put these on like a 400-degree oven. Are y'all having a big time

Susie. Susie used to be a hostess at the restaurant. She ate more cheese biscuits

You've missed them, hadn't you, girl? And how about Mama? I bet you used to take them to Mama all the time, didn't you

Oh, Mama missed it. Let's give you some butter left

I'm just watching. So good. Aren't they yummy

Anybody else like a biscuit? I would like a biscuit, Mom. No, you don't get one

I bet you I do. You better share. No. All right, while Bobby's making..

What are you doing, son? You're supposed to be making the macaroni and cheese. I'm making a tomato sandwich right now

All right, Bobby is over here getting our collard greens. Collard greens, mama

Bobby's over here getting our collard greens ready for the pot. They are a wonderful pot

Wonderful, wonderful vegetable. They're really healthy, supposedly they have... Like this. After we get done with them, they're not going to be that well

No, they'll still be healthy. They're just going to taste real, real good while they're being healthy

All right, and the first thing I want to show you is how to prepare your collard green for the pot

Now, you can see that this has got a big, big stem in it. Now, this stem is tough

I cannot stand to find stems in my collard green pot. So all you have to do is break off the top and then strip it

And then you just pile your leaves up, roll them up, and cut them

Now, to season your collard green pot, there's several different ways that you can season them

Personally, I like pork. If you are trying to stay away from pork for different reasons, you don't eat pork, you can use a smoked turkey wing

And they are just as flavorful as the pork, but it doesn't have the fat in it

So we're going to throw these in our pot, and then it'll be time to add the collard greens

All right, now I'm going to change the subject. Now I'm shifting gears here

I want to share with everybody the news that Jamie, my oldest son, recently got married

I'd like to introduce y'all to the newest addition to our family

This is the mother of my future grandchildren. Are we pregnant? Are we pregnant yet

From the church to the reception, we walked in the door of our reception

and Mama's in the back. Y'all pregnant yet? Listen, y'all, I have wanted a grandchild so badly

I've been trying to have it myself. I've been trying to get pregnant

Brooke, wait, don't leave. One other thing. Jamie and Bobby just went up to New York with me last week to tape some shows

First time they had been separated. And Bobby and I turned around and Jamie was sitting over there on his phone calling Brooke

Now tell us how you were talking. Tell everybody how you were talking. Sometimes when I was really missing her real bad

And I'd call her and say, oh, baby. say oh I kiss your feet and I really do and Bobby and I that first time thought it was so sweet

the second time we were throwing up and and right after that Michael called me and I said you want to hear something sickening

I said, my son is so in love. I said, he was calling her and saying

oh, baby, I kiss your face. And apparently Michael kind of liked it

Because he said, would you kiss my feet

I said, baby, I'm sucking on one of your socks right now

Oh, my goodness. Thank you, Brooke. All right

Jamie, how about your macaroni and cheese? Y'all see this looks good enough to eat just like this

And Jamie, it looks yummy. I'll open the oven door for you. With the eggs in it, that's going to help

It's going to set up kind of like a quiche, like a pasta quiche. Can you get more cheese? Nope, we're going to run it through the oven until it's done in the last five minutes

I'm going to put another eight, nine pounds of cheese on here. Open the door

All right, let's taste these greens. they say that these actually have medicinal purposes

You put them on a hoe cake, and I guarantee you they do. And, Jamie, how about your macaroni and cheese

Let me see. Y'all see that? It looks just perfectly wonderful

Would you rather do something right? Oh, my gosh. I just want more. I just want more

Coming up next in my cooking class, I'm going on a field trip for a very special dessert

I'm fixing to go knock on this door because I understand there's a real sweet woman in here

that's got a recipe for me for a chocolate rum cake. Surprise! Surprise

Are y'all enjoying cooking school? We are to dessert time now. And I have to tell y'all that I have more friends across the country that I've never met that send in recipes

And I treasure everyone that I get. So I've got a special treat for everybody

We're going to go to a home here in Savannah. And the lady of the house is sharing a recipe with me

But she does not realize it's me coming to the door. I fixing to go knock on this door because I understand there a real sweet woman in here that got a recipe for me for a chocolate rum cake

And I hope the dogs don't eat me up before I can get her to come to the door

You know, I've got folks out there that are wanting to share their history and things that their grandmother did for them

She's not expecting me. She thinks we're coming to take her picture. So she's going to be surprised, I hope

Surprise! I looked down the window like, oh my God, it's Paula Deen

Hey, Karen! You weren't expecting me, were you? My daughter said, somebody's coming up the driveway

It's them like, oh, they're lost. They took the wrong one. They looked down and was like, oh my God, it's Paula. Some of the children have gone upstairs going, we need to change clothes

Well, can I come in? Being from Savannah and knowing about her before the rest of the world knew her

just from eating at her restaurant and enjoying a cookbook and now watching her on TV

and she's just so warm and genuine, you just kind of feel like you know her

Well, where is this cake? It is in here in the kitchen. Well, take me to the cake

I noticed that Karen had two cakes on the counter. Well, I found out that they had two different toppings

because one child like this and one child like that. which goes back to what I'm always saying

that a recipe is just a starting point. We've loved doing rum cakes for years, well, me before, I had children

And then it's just got to be a tradition. So there's like a little bit of chocolate woven in the batter

and then it's swimming in a pool of chocolate for the glaze with some crumbled chocolatey peanut butter crunch stuff all over it

So I've got... I can have a bite. Absolutely. Karen, where did you get this recipe

My daddy came home one day, and a client had baked him a rum cake

and I just about ate the whole thing and asked for the recipe. So then I did that, and I was like, well, it doesn't quite have..

It was great when she made it, but it must be something different, so I tweaked it over time. Lee, you want to see who all wants a piece

That looks pretty good, huh? Lee, you gave your dad the piece I wanted. That was my piece

We have enough. We've got plenty. There you go. See that extra dime of chocolate

Oh, okay. Well, this is yummy. It's like liquor and sugar. Pretty much

I can see what it is. It's very sabbatical. And I couldn't let it just stop with me going to their homes

I felt like I just had to bring them back into the cooking school with me

and let everybody meet them, let my family meet them, and let my family meet their food

Nice to see you. Hey, Karen, how you doing? I should have known you as a bulldog when I saw this cake

Go Dawgs. How about them Dawgs, baby? This cake looks so good Okay Wow it smells like rum It smells like rum I like it when you can smell it It is delicious Karen and my boys have hardly uttered a word besides

mm, mm, mm. I have so much fun in these cooking classes

I mean, for goodness sakes, fried chicken and cheese biscuits can make me cry

What can I say? But that's the way I feel. It's my past

It's my present. And it's my future, God willing. Oh, I want to thank y'all so much

My heart's so full being here with y'all. But our time is up

And before I leave, I just want to run by one more quick time the dishes that we made

The cheese biscuits helped take a business to where it is today

And the fried chicken, I shudder to think how many chickens it's taken to feed everybody that we've fed over the last 16 years

And, of course, a meal is not a meal without the collard greens. And I think I made a believer out of a couple of folks that didn't like collard greens today

And the shrimp and grits, you know, you just can't live on the coast and not have those as a regular part of your diet

And this sweet, sweet dessert that has blossomed a new friendship, which is what food is really all about

You know, in two hours, I cannot teach you how to cook if you don't know how to cook

But in two hours, there is something that I can teach you

And that's how to have fun. grab your family, get in the kitchen

make memories and live every moment that you can with a smile on your face

so until next time I send y'all best dishes from my heart to yours applause applause applause applause

I took away more than just great recipes I just took away a lot of

inspiration and Just a lot of confidence for what women can do out there

Anytime that I have the opportunity to really be close enough to touch the people

whether I'm here at the restaurant or doing cooking classes, I always go with it in my head, I'm going to blow these people away

I'm going to give them so much more than what they thought they were coming to get

but inevitably when I'm finished and I cut out the light and I walk away I

realized that one more time these people have given me back more than what I

gave and that's just too good to be true