Southern Special

Today is all about Southern specials

And Jamie and I have two very special Southern girls in the kitchen with us today

First, y'all, Jamie and I are going to kick it off with a melt-in-your-mouth artichoke dip

and then our sour cream pork chops with a Vidalia onion gravy

Cheers. The ladies show us their secret recipe for their plantation grits

It's getting my belly good. And for dessert, an over-the-top punch bowl layer cake

Oh, these girls eat the same way I ate. I've got two very special girls that's coming on with us today

Jamie and Bobby grew up with these two girls. They were the daughters of my best friend, Susan Beachum Dupuis

I want to hurry up and get the girls out here. So let's get started on old-timey southern favorite hot artichoke dip

What can we put in there to make it different? How about some cream cheese

How about some cream cheese, y'all? This is kind of a redo of this recipe

You know, cream cheese makes everything better, right? Makes it creamy. We're going to drain..

14 ounces of artichoke hearts. Yeah. I've got one cup of mayonnaise. Mayonnaise

Okay. So Jamie and I were in the kitchen yesterday, and I had such a good time with you, son

We always have fun. We're like... We do always have fun, don't we? We give all these other folks in here with us fits because we cut up the whole time

There's about a half a cup. You know, and I'm going to do some more. I'm going to put some more on top. Yeah, we'll want some on top

So I've got your cup of mayonnaise, your cup of sour cream, and that mayonnaise makes it so good and rich

And your cream cheese. This is great if you're having the gang over for a card game or a pool party

How long has it been since you've seen the girls? It's been a few years, I think. I'm going to put this in now

Yeah, Suzette married into the restaurant business. Nothing easy about the restaurant

And Amy went on to get her a degree in education. Which is pretty damn scary

When you know the full back story. She is a teacher. Let's put a little hot sauce

This is the only hot sauce I would ever use. Yes. And this is just a taste

She's got a funny looking old lady on the front. You can't miss it. Does she have horns

No, she does not. They photoshopped her mouth. She's a sweet old lady

When she ain't busy being bad. That's also about the color of your hair

Listen, y'all, I have had every color hair known to man. At one time, you called it frosted, and it was about four different colors

It was a 1971 frosting. Here, son, let me borrow your thing

It was more like the tail of a lemur. And they're wanting money for us to get haircuts either

so there's a good chance that any of the hair that you see in these pictures today would be a homemade haircut

I would be the barber. Mama cut both my ears one time. One night when he was six years old, y'all, I said

now, son, Mama's going to cut your hair. I went to cut around this ear, laid it open with the scissors

Because my hair used to come down to the bottom of my ears. That was the line

Yes. Oh, my God. Just took the bottom off of it. I'm only a little jumpy now because I..

The worst haircuts in the world. My poor baby. And then when I was old enough to afford haircuts

I decided to go with the mullet. So I stayed in the terrible hair realm for a long time

Okay. All right, so 350, about 25 minutes. All right, Jamie, come on down

because we are going to do sour cream pork chops with a five-day gravy

Yes, ma'am. So I got our pan heating up. Okay, I'm on salt and pepper with these chops

Yeah, we've got four nice, thick pork chops that are boneless. I'm going to add the stuff that's going to make our gravy

and I'm going to need one cup of beef stock, a teaspoon of yellow mustard to that

and a little paprika. Right in there. Right in there. This is all ready

I got some parsley for you, too. Okie doke. And that's it

Okie dokie. So we're going to cook these pork chops now, about three or four minutes on each side

Where is your brother? I don't know, Mama. I'm not in charge of him

Well I going to get him on the phone because I talked to him last night and I said Now as soon as that name is here I maybe shouldn have given him a heads up He probably at home sitting on the toilet a nervous wreck wondering what these girls are going to say about him

Jamie cut up about a cup and a half of Vidalia onions

What's so nice about having a girl who's a close friend is that I dated a few of her friends

We would take the kids every year, y'all, to Panama City on school break

They would take 10 up high schoolers, up to no good. No good

No good, y'all. I volunteered as cook, babysitter, dishwashing, laundry, winch, but we had the best time

Let's go ahead and pour all of our stuff on top of it

And we're going to put this on simmer. And we're just going to let this cook

I think the girls are going to love it. Coming up next, we reminisce with the girls

as we taste the artichoke dip and prepare their plantation grits. So creamy and good, y'all

And some things never change, as Jamie and Suzette are still battling for who's best

So let it be known I won. And here we go

Well, y'all, we finally got the girls out. Now, this is Suzette

This is Amy. You know, I didn't have to give birth to any girls

Thank you, Lord. But these are like my girls because your mama and I were best friends

I'm so glad you're here. Bring me one of those. Oh, my goodness

Susan, it. That's hot. Oh, yummy. Yeah, so let me tell y'all

Now, when Amy was a little girl, she was mean as a snake, y'all

I remember one time we were out shopping to the outlet store with y'all

and Amy running around with that straggly hair. And I looked at her one morning, and I was a big fan of Tubby and Lulu

Well, they had this little friend with this straggly hair named Little Itch

I said, oh, my God, y'all, you look just like Little Itch from Lulu and Tubby

30-something years later, y'all, we still call her Little Itch. Little Itch

Little Itch. Little Itch. So, girls, y'all, tell everybody what you're cooking

We're going to make the plantation grits. Paula, we're going to put four cups of half and half in here

Okay. Uh-huh. We put cream cheese in them, and it makes them really good. So that's what makes them plantations

Yeah. And the eggs, too, because it makes them real fluffy, too. Oh, and lots of butter

A lot. Yes. Yes. It's almost like they came from my loins, ain't it, James

They came from right next door. So I'm grating this cheese. Do y'all want me to grate all of it

I'm going to need eight ounces of cheddar cheese. And the Monterey, James. And the Monterey

And lots of mayo. These girls eat the same way I ate. And how many grits are you putting in that four cups of half and half

Oh, I forgot about the grits, didn't I? Yes. Unless we're just going to drink the heavy grits

All right, we need to put two teaspoons of salt and then the cup of grits

The important thing when you're cooking grits, y'all, is to take that whisk as soon as you pour them in

Whisk it. And you whisk it for a couple of minutes. You want to get every one of those grains of grits wet

If Susette used to challenge Jamie to arm wrestling, she would beat his brains out

I can probably still take you down. I'll let you win. I say you still got it, sister. I'm still strong

Let's say we're pretty there. You're strong as an ox. You get it from your mama

I know. I think we need a challenge here, don't you? I do

I double dog dare you, Jamie. Yes. Come on. Let's do it

I'm on it. You take it, girl. We gonna do it professional

Yeah. You ready? All right. I'm not as strong as I am. I'll count

All right, ready? Get ready. Get set. Go! I can't do it

Yes, you can, Suzette. You can do it. You can do it, Suzette

I can see down your shirt. You don't. So let it be known I won, but I cheated

So we'll never know. You're still strong. I still wouldn't foot race you though

I can't run. It didn't take you but 43 years, son. Way to go

I know. I'm out of breath. I can chew my arm hurts. So ladies, what's next for these grits

How much cream cheese? Four ounces of cream cheese. Okay, so I'm using my fingers

Okay. I've done a lot of grits. I've never put cream cheese in grits. Oh, it's good. You're getting

Uh-uh. It's getting my belly good. Let's put a little bit of cheese in there. Okay

Well, we got both kinds ready. Save some for the top. I will. Okay

Our pork chops are still sitting back here We got them on simmer and they still cooking away You know there nothing better than pork chops and grits for breakfast

See that you've got the eggs ready? Yep. You've got your two eggs. Now, these grits are hot

You want to temper a little bit of these first? Yeah, let's do that. All right. Do you know how I met your mother and daddy

Because we lived... I don't know. Because they lived in your mama? I've never heard. You never heard that

Well, let me tell you. After my daddy died, Mama took the garage and turned into an apartment

Your mama came over to look at the apartment, and we immediately just had a bond, the four of us

And your mother went to school in Leesburg, which was the neighboring little town from Albany

So we didn't hang out in high school. So we never crossed paths

I was 19 at the time. Your mama had just turned 20

Some cheese. And we remained close. You can make new friends along the way

but let me tell you something, girls, nothing is like those old friends

No, that gives me chill, Mom. I know. Okay, girls, these are ready for the oven, so how long

Bake those for 25 to 35 minutes at 350. Thank you, Ick. You're welcome

350. You hear that? You think she's from South Georgia. Southwest Georgia

Southwest Georgia. Coming up next, these pork chops and grits make the perfect combination

Cheers. Then I give the girls a quick rundown on our punch bowl cake

So that's baking a cake 101 today, y'all. And later, it's time to start layering this beautiful masterpiece

Who's ready to taste? I am. Girl

Tasting time again, girls. That's great. I'm going to bring our pork chops

You need some help, Mom? Ooh, I got it, son. Ooh, heavy, heavy, heavy pan

I'm going to just move these pork chops around the edge because I'm going to add us

Not sour cream. Yes, I am. I'm going to add a cup of sour cream to our Vidalia onion gravy

We're going to put this on top of our grits. Oh. Oh. It's going to be delicious

What you talking about? What you talking about, Mertis? Ooh. Ooh. Yeah

Yum. How is it, girls? Yeah, I'm just trying to get everything good and wet

That looks good. All right, dig in. I'm about red eye. Uh-uh

Ooh, those grits look like divine. I got to try the grits with that sauce

Yes, look at that. Ooh, cheers, man. Cheers. It's hot. It's hot

Yeah, cheers, man. Cheers. Mm-mm-mm. I'm already chewing. Yeah. The sauce on the grits

Well, listen, I could stand up here and eat this rest of the day

but we got a cake to make. We're going to make a five-flavor pound cake

A standard pound cake, two sticks of butter. Not two sticks. Yes, honey

I know it's a little shy. We could really stand three. But we're just going to do two today because this is a diet pound cake

All right, so in goes the butter. And Jamie's going to add three cups of sugar

and we're just going to beat that until it's creamy. So Suzette

if you would measure out three cups of the all-purpose flour. Amy

if you would be cracking our five eggs. Okay. And then when you get through with that

we need half a teaspoon or a teaspoon of zest from the orange

and lemon. Why don't you go ahead and measure up our flavorings

and just put them into our buttermilk. Because we're going to add that

buttermilk alternately with our dry ingredients. So Mama got the flavorings in the buttermilk. One teaspoon of

vanilla, a quarter of a teaspoon of almond, a quarter teaspoon of my favorite smell in the world

coconut. Coconut. So that's three, and now orange is four, and lemon is five. So that's our five

flavors, right? That sounds great. Yes. And this orange smells so good

It does. And Suzette has, in our dry ingredients, three cups of all-purpose flour, one and a half teaspoons of baking powder, a quarter of a teaspoon of salt

So that's baking a cake 101 today, y'all. I know it. We needed it

So we're going to start, Suzette, and I'm going to add our eggs and beat well after each addition

And you do one egg again? One at the time. And then we get our eggs in we gonna start with our flour and our buttermilk OK There you go

All right. Now we're going to start with our dry. We're home now. Whoa

You're killing me, son. You're killing me. You know, I feel like I've stepped back in time

about 30 years. Ooh, it's jumping so many. When you turn, I know, but you turned that beater on so high

I'm gonna get it mixed up. Whoa! And that's the way they did when they were little

They went on just like this. There you go. Okay. Watch it, son

We put in our teaspoon of lemon and our teaspoon of orange zest

Alright, there we go. Looking good. Alright, about half that, son. Alright, now just do it

Just like that. Just pick up that bowl. All right, girls. Earlier, I buttered and floured our cake pan

Suzette, if you'll just turn his pan now, honey, while he's pouring, that's all right

All right, y'all, we're going to put this in the oven at 325 degrees

and we're going to bake it for an hour and 15 minutes

Let's just make sure that's kind of level. There we go. There you go

There we go. Into the oven, 325 an hour and 15 minutes

And because today is a special Southern day, with you girls being in here with us

we're gonna take this cake, and we're gonna just kind of take it over the top

We're gonna turn it into a punch bowl cake. Coming up next..

All right, let's eat it. We dig into this delectable dessert. That's good, Paula

All right, our cake is out of the oven. It's cooled. We're going to turn this into a punch bowl cake, y'all

But before we do that, why don't we sample our pound cake

Okay? There you go. Is it good? I want some of the top, Mama

Oh, okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's delicious. Isn't it delicious? Just, just from that butter

Mm-hmm. All right, I'm gonna give everybody a job. All right, Amy, I need for you to quarter those strawberries

Suzette, I need for you to drain this crushed pineapple. We got a 20-ounce can

We have got three bananas here, son. And slice your bananas. Now, I've got the custard part already ready

and it's just a coconut instant pudding that I whipped up. So we've got all the ingredients we need

We're gonna turn this into a trifle. And I'm just gonna break half of our cake

And Jamie's just squeezing a little lemon juice on the bananas just to keep them from turning brown

All right, so I'm gonna take our coconut pudding and just spread it around

Kind of put that all over our cake. You got the pineapple draining

All right, I'm going to take half of it. This is kind of like got all the ingredients for a banana split, doesn't it, Jamie

Missing the chocolate. That's it. Yep. And then I'm going to take the strawberry juice, that juice

And then we're just going to put those around. All right, now we need whipping cream

Mmm. Lord. What'd you say, little itch? I said, mmm. Now cake, son

And then the last half of our custard. The last of our pineapple

All right, now bananas, son. The rest of those strawberries. And then the whipped cream

Yum. Yes, and then I'm just going to take the back of that spatula

We're like vultures. I know. Amy, pass me a strawberry. Okay. Gonna fan it and put it in the center of that cake

Ain't that beautiful? It really is. So who's ready to taste? I am

You're getting all the way down at the bottom. I'm trying to get some juice for you, Mama. You know, I've kidded every one of y'all today

and talking about how bad y'all were. You were bad. Especially me

You were much better. Especially you itch. But, no, I want much better

But I'm so proud of the way y'all have turned out. And we just love y'all to pieces

And it's time to say goodbye. All right. Perfect timing. My dessert is slap-a-dash

You wrapped that up, brother. It was good. Well, you can fill it back up, son

From our southern special today, we send all of y'all loving best dishes

and we'll see you next week. See y'all next time. Bye