Remember the Classics

We are gonna pay homage to, like, Southern classics

I love it. Bobby and I are starting out with a favorite, y'all

Fried chicken skewers with lemon garlic sauce. Jackpot! And then cookbook author Christy Jordan joins us

I like you, Christy girl. And I show her one of my favorite Southern staples

Bacon, pimento, macaroni and cheese. Everything's better with bacon. And finally, Christy shares one of her own family favorites, a vanilla wafer cake

That is a beautiful cake. You're with a Southern classic

Classic means kind of old, don't it? Antique-ish. Antique-ish. Well, I'm it today, y'all

Never goes out of style, I think. Well, let's get going. Fried chicken skewers with a lemon garlic sauce

All right. So I'm going to put in a half a cup of flour in this one

Now, along with a half a teaspoon of salt. And if you will do a cup of breadcrumbs and a half a cup of pincol

Okay. And you can see we've got the steps going on. We're going to flour, egg wash, and then into the..

You got it. You got it, son. And I'm going to beat our two eggs

Ow! How'd that feel? Oh, my goodness. That was a good one

That was like a bunch of needles. Golly. That was dumb. That was so dumb

I'll bet you're going to do it again. All righty, Bobby. All right, so we've got chicken tenders

Yes. We're using tenders because they're easier to shred on the skewer

These are clean and ready to go. So I'm just going to thread and watch it

Those are like hypodermic needles. That's enough. I get it. Does that hurt

So we're just going to skewer them about like this? I would say not only sort of

Just like that? Exactly. And I'm going to go ahead and start to run these through the wash here

In the flour, into the beaten eggs, and then into the panko breadcrumb mixture

Get that nice and covered. And I've got our fryer heated to 350 degrees, and it'll probably take about six minutes

So it won't take very long. All right, let's drop them in. All right. I adore what Panko does to anything fried

It gives you that really crisp, crunchy outside. These are a great appetizer for a cocktail party

It makes it so easy to eat because, you know, you don't even have to have a plate

It's got a handle. Yeah, it's got its own fork. Bobby, I'm thinking these are done

Yeah, I'd say that one's done. Yeah, I got about three here that I think is done

All right, these are frying along good. All right, son, while these last few are frying, why don't we come on down here and make our sauce

I see what the main ingredient is. Garlic and butter. All right, you can mince this, and we're going to heat it up in that butter

We've got a clove of garlic, two tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley, and two tablespoons of lemon juice

That's simple. I know, that's it. I mean, what's better than melted butter? Nothing

To dip our fried chicken in? Nothing. I don't remember this sauce from when I was a kid

Oh, sometimes I would make it, son, just for steaks or lobster

If we're having a surf and turf where you need the butter, and then if a piece of your steak falls in... Accidentally

Whoa, jackpot. All righty, son. Don't these look delicious? They do look delicious

How can that not be good? How simple, how good. All right

You know what? A guilt-free meal. Something you can feel good about

Something you can feel good about when you feed your family. Are you smart-mouthing me

As hard as I can. How is that? Here's your fried chicken, son, with your side of drawn butter

Gobble it down. I think you're making fun of me. I am making fun of you

But you know what? But I know it's good. It is good. And I certainly not suggesting that you eat this every day You know melted butter strong butter But if you having some friends over

It's a great little... That's a party food. It's a party food

All you need for this is a napkin. They look great. And an appetite

They look great. Look how pretty that looks. It does look pretty

So, are you still smart-mouthing me and making fun? It's exactly what you think it is

It's fried chicken dipped in butter. Which means that it's fabulous. So good

Very good. This is out of this world, y'all. The lemon juice

This is fantastic. When we come back, we've got a special guest. Her name's Christy Jordan

And we're going to be doing more classics. And this one is a baked macaroni and cheese with bacon in it

And pimenta. Here, y'all. You want to stick around. Coming up, cookbook author Christy Jordan is here

and she's going to help make our heavenly macaroni and cheese. If macaroni lives a good life, it gets to end up in this dish

Yes, yes. And then Christy's whipping up her simple southern dessert. There is no way this cake can fail

No, ma'am. And I like those kind of cakes, y'all. Hey, y'all. Welcome back

You know, I told you today that we're doing Southern Classics, and I had a young woman joining us in the kitchen today from Alabama

Her name is Christy Jordan. Welcome, Christy. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming, honey

Thank you for letting me come. Let's get going on this next classic

I want to show you my bacon, fermented mac and cheese. Christy, I have got a big job for you, honey

Yes, ma'am. I need three cups of smoky cheddar and three cups of Parmesan grated

Yes, ma'am. I'll get your work. And I've got about probably six strips of bacon

Oh, that looks good. That we've diced and fried off. Whoa, Bobby, we're getting a facial

My hair is going to fall. I have pulled out our bacon

I'm going to drop a half a cup of flour in here. Okay. And just to make sure we have enough fat, to make us a roux, I'm going to add a half a stick of butter

Okay. And if you would, son, just... I got it. I'm on it

Let that tighten up, so we'll have a nice, creamy sauce. That sounds like a kitchen

Welcome, Christy Jordan, to our kitchen. I'm thrilled to be here. As you all can tell, we're doing Southern Classics, and Christy is a Southern girl from Alabama, right

Yes, ma'am. I love your book. Thank you. I couldn't help but think, this is a great cookbook for a new bride

Oh, thank you. Because it's got your backbone, your staples that are on so many southern tables

You see, I tried to make it the recipes I grew up with that I just could never live without

You know, this is all my mamas and grandmamas cooking and stuff in there. Absolutely

I want everybody to get to know Christy. Yeah, just slowly kind of stir it in

You've got a quart of half and half, son. You want to start with a little and incorporate it and get it smooth

Here, let me pour your, let me hold your milk for you so you can get both hands on that

You got your book there? And whisk, whisk, whisk. I got it all, son

She's a mama. You look like a boy. I handle anything. Yeah, we have to multitask

Yes. Sonny boy, whisk, whisk. Now, will yours let you kiss him in public

You know, he will let me kiss him in public. Oh, of course, yeah. I'm not ashamed of my mama in any way

I get so upset when I make him sit in my lap and let me rock him

I noticed he does not like that in public. And I'm going to add a fourth of a teaspoon of ground red pepper

All right. This has become really thin. Yes, but it's going to tighten back up

Now I'm going to stick in two eight-ounce packages of cream cheese

That's what's going to do. That are at room temperature. Now we've got a small jar of diced pimento peppers

And so you pronounce it right, pimentos. Pimentos. How do most folks do it

I think they say pimentos. They actually pronounce that. Well, you know, the southern accents tend to be on the lazy side

We won't take a word all the way through. We just make it pretty. We make it, you know, we round it off a little bit

We're lazy. I gotta tell you, my daughter is six, and when she found out I was coming here, she said

Mama, have you ever met her before? And I said, no, baby. And she said, when you get to her house, how are you gonna know who she is

And I said, trust me, baby, Mama will be all right. I'll take care of it

She's afraid she's gonna get lost in my house and not recognize us

Well, how cute. Here, Christy, let me help you grate that parmesan

I hadn't grated cheese since I was a little girl. Mama would sit me to doing it so I stay out of her hair while she could Set me to doing it Did y hear that You know what I think Alabama folks and Mississippi folks are more Southern talking than Georgia folks

Really? Yes, I do. Oh, I don't know. You sound a lot more Southern than I do. Honey, you make me sound like a Yankee

Oh, my goodness. I thought you were way more Southern than I was. No

No, sister. You win, Christy. All right. Well, I tell you what, Sonny boy

trade horses with me. Okay. You get on that horse and I'll get on this horse

And now the rest of our bacon. Yum. All right. Now, Bobby had cooked off a pound of elbow macaroni noodles

So I'm going to add that to our sauce. This is like macaroni heaven

It is like... If macaroni lives a good life, it gets to end up in this dish

Yes, yes. You want to add some cheese? I think we've got enough cheese

Two cups of each. We're just using our... This is my favorite kitchen tool is your hands

All right, son. If you'll bring that pot right here. Okay. Christy, I'm going to spray these

And y'all can load those up. And then we're going to sprinkle it with a little bit more

I can just eat it right now. Yeah, it looks good already. Everything's better with bacon

We are not going to bake this. We're going to broil it

So all we want to do is melt the cheese on top because it's so thick, so creamy, so full of goodness

There we go. All right, into the oven. All right, in the broiler. Perfect

Ah, that's dense. Now, when you broil, when you broil, you want to make sure that you leave your oven door cracked, y'all

because that broil heat is direct straight from above, and you will burn your food so quickly

so you'll want to be careful. Keep that oven door cracked. Stand right in front of it and keep your eyes on it

Coming up, this macaroni and cheese just might take your breath away

You like? Oh, my goodness. And later, Christy's dessert is a shown-up showstopper

This is going to be too pretty to eat almost. But I'm a trooper. Welcome back, y'all

Hey, Mama. Hey, Sunny Boy. In the kitchen today with you and with Christy Jordan

And she's with us doing kind of classic stuff. She has got such an accent, y'all

You ain't gonna... Speaking of stuff being classic, I think the macaroni and cheese is ready

I think it is. This is what I'm waiting on. Bring it home, son

Hey, this is the only reason I'm still here, because I gotta go

Well, I'll eat your share if you want. Okay, I'm just gonna taste it. Where are you going

I'm going to the restaurant, Mama. Somebody has got to work. Oh, this looks wonderful

So, Christy, thank you, ma'am. You are welcome, ma'am. Christy, I sure have enjoyed meeting you

Well, thank you. It was wonderful meeting you. And I hope that y'all have a good... Thanks and enjoy this cooking

I hope that y'all have a good time. I'm so sorry. He has to go to the restaurant

God love it. We'll eat the rest of it. Look at that. Look at that, y'all

You like? Oh, my goodness. What's not to like? This is macaroni heaven

Oh, my God. That's delicious. Oh, my gosh. All right, I gotta go. I love you

Nice to meet you. I love you too, darling. Nice to meet you. Y'all have a fun time. Give me a hug before you go

It was great to meet you. Be good, baby. Thank you so much. Don't work too hard. Oh, don't worry

Bye, y'all. My boys are devils. I've never had mac and cheese like this

It's wonderful. It's good. Well, listen, I'm excited because I know that you're going to share a recipe with us that's been in your family for a long time

This is my Mama Reed's vanilla wafer cake. Put me to work

Paula Deen's going to be my sous chef. Yes. I need you to use your fancy little chopping skills and chop me about a cup of those pecans

Pecans. You say pecans. Okay, I say pecans. That's strange. It tastes the same

Yes, you can pronounce it any way you want to. And these are vanilla wafers

It's about a box worth. And what I'm going to do is pour them in this plastic bag here

And I'm going to use my special rolling pin. It's an heirloom rolling pan of mine

Let me put this out of her way here. And I'm just going to run over these to crush them a little bit

This is a real simple cake. Mama Reed, she had ten kids

Oh, my goodness. And she cooked three meals a day. And she was known for her wonderful cooking

That's probably all she did was cook. Just about. My great-grandmother bought this for Mama when she was 13 with green stamps

She bought her this heirloom pan. Your great-grandmother. When I came in here a while ago, I started noticing some things that had not been in my kitchen

This was one of them. And I have licked many an S&H green stamp

In fact, some of my favorite wine glasses that I have in my cabinet, I got them with S&H green stamps

Isn't that amazing? When I was 20 years old. This bought Christmas Yes You know back in the day that was Christmas and rolling pans So thanks so much Christy for bringing these nostalgic

things that bring back so many good memories. Isn't it wonderful? Yes. Our rich

heritage, our very rich heritage. Being so poor that we had to lick green stamps

That's our rich heritage, though. Look, I've got these all nice and crushed

here. I'm going to just dump them in this bowl here. Okay. And then

I'm going to crack my eggs about six eggs. You got these nice brown eggs. These are my favorite. They're so good. I'm going

to add my eggs in here. All right, does this look like enough nuts? That looks good. That

looks perfect. And where do you want them? Dump it in there, please, if you don't mind. I don't think that's quite a cup, Christy. Well, you know what? Paula Deen is always

right, so you add more. It's your kitchen, and you're right. That's what I always say

I'm just going to chop you a few more. That's a half a cup of milk I put in there, and I'm

I'll give you two cups of sugar here. Okay. This is a real sturdy cake, and I like it because it's sweet, but it's not too sweet

and it kind of fills you up, you know? Those desserts that are real sweet and don't fill you up, you can just keep eating and eating. Yeah

And I'm going to put a cup of sweetened flaked coconut. This is not one of those kind of cakes that you have to dance around

You don't have to fuss with it. You know, it's a good, sturdy, old-fashioned recipe. And now we're going to take our pan here

And you just mix it up by hand like that. Yes, ma'am. You know, I never knew my Mama Reed, but I know about her through her recipes

Whenever Mama made one of her recipes, she would tell me all about her grandmother and what a wonderful woman she was

So whenever I make one of Mama Reed's recipes, I just really feel like, you know, I have that connection. Yes

Okay, now I'm going to just get this spray and just spray my pan real good. Give it a good coating

So it's not going to rise a whole lot, but it's going to cook and it's going to be awful good

Let me, this bowl is heavy. And we'll just kind of put this in our pan, spread it around there a little bit so it's kind of even

I like this cake, y'all. Come on, Christy, and I'll open the oven for you

Well, thank you. Because these doors are kind of heavy. $3.50. For one hour

For one hour. Coming up, you're going to love how we dress up this dessert

We're going to Paula it up a little bit. Oh, good. Well, Christy and I are fixing to finish up our time together

and she has shared her grandmother's recipe with us, a vanilla wafer cake

Yes, ma'am. And we have baked it for one hour. We have let it cool

So you ready, done, baby? I am ready. I'm getting hungry. Come on, baby

Work with us. Isn't that pretty? That is a beautiful cake. It's like a magic cake, y'all

No flour. it there is no way this cake can fail no ma'am and i like those kind of cakes y'all but i'm

gonna show you something easy if you'll slice me two kind of thick old slices of that okay

what i'm gonna do do that is put me about two tablespoons of butter in this skillet we're gonna

paula it up a little bit oh good good i'm gonna how's that for thickness that looks good this makes

It's a great, like a breakfast bread cake. It is, and it's also a good coffee treat

Mama makes it when she has company coming for the weekend because they can just kind of snack on it all weekend long

It's just real good. Did I slice them too thick? You done did. I like you, Christy girl

We're going to toast these up a little bit on each side. All right, now tell me what you've got in our cups here

This is my apple juleps, and it's from my cookbook. I was going to say you have found my mint julep

cups. Isn't it pretty? Yeah, it is pretty. Now this is my little daughter's

favorite. There's no alcohol in them. It's just a blend of different fruit juices and it's very

refreshing and just real good. Well, I can't wait to try it. Now you can

go to foodnetwork.com and find this recipe. Yes, ma'am. It's very simple and easy

The children will love it, won't they? It is. And you just whip it up and it makes them feel special

Yum. It's so good. Let's see. Now we're going to plate this for you

and oh, this is going to be so good. This is going to be too pretty to eat almost

But I'm a trooper. We've gotten to have our veggies. There you go, man

So there you go. And a little powdered sugar. And then I've got, as an extra treat for your cake, a little caramel syrup

You were reading my mind. A little caramel syrup. Oh, my goodness

and this with our apple cheats. Boy, Heidi. Well, Christy, thank you so much

Mm. Delicious. I'm glad you like it. You can't beat this. Can't beat it with a stick

For a quick, easy take, y'all. I hope y'all have enjoyed being in the kitchen with me today

and going down memory lane with Southern Classics. And I will see y'all next week

and until then, love and best dishes, y'all