Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style
by Paula Deen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paula DeenEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-03-22
ISBN: 0743267222
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style
Book Review: Inexpensive Resource for Southern Entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
`Paula Deen & Friends' by, you guessed it, Paula Deen and `Savannah Magazine' columnist, Martha Nesbit is Deen's fourth book, her first without the plastic many-fingered loose leaf format and her first for publisher Simon and Schuster. It is also the one with by far the largest `As Seen On food Network' logo of all recent publications by that cable channel's culinary stars.
I really sort of miss the plastic binding, although Ms. Deen and her Simon & Schuster handlers seem to have kept the price of this volume down in spite of the fully sewn binding. This format really seemed to match the `church fund-raiser' flavor of her recipes.
The premise of this book is Ms. Deen's statement that she loves to cook, and she loves to entertain, but she hates to plan parties. And, since she expects this attitude is not hers alone, she sets out to prepare for us 21 menus and their component recipes to relieve us of the task of putting together a lineup of dishes to fit these and similar occasions.
The good news, and the bad news, is that these premises for parties are not your usual Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day, Easter, Fourth of July, occasions. There is at least one birthday menu and a New Years day menu, but all others are for events which you may never encounter, such as a bridge club supper, a tailgating party, a boss comes to dinner menu, a hunt (fox?) lunch in the field, a christening brunch, a Kentucky Derby party, and a christening brunch. Now obviously, a `bridge club supper' can be adapted to any number of different sit down dinner occasions, especially since, like all of Deen's recipes, none of the ingredients are very pricy.
One complaint I have about the recipes in the menus is that none of them are scaled for a large number of people and in parties where one may expect a large number of people, the recipes are not scaled to the same number of people. Thus, in the `cooking shower', the Tomato Tarts makes 24 count, the shrimp and grits serves 4 as a main course, the fish serves four, the roasted new potatoes serves six to eight and the fresh fruit tart serves eight. I think it should not have been too difficult to scale all the recipes within a menu to the same number of people, and make that number appropriate to the type of occasion. On the other hand, each party menu includes six to eight dishes, which means that you can always leave one or two out if you are serving just four people. Similarly, this gives a nice variety to please a wide range of tastes if you are serving eight to twelve.
Being a Mario Batali kind of cook, I am not especially fond of Martha Deen's brand of Southern recipes, as I always seem to find her dishes too sweet for my tastes. And, if I want to go ethnic, I always have my Pennsylvania Dutch style of sweet tooth cooking on which to fall. But I really happen to like her show on the Food Network and I think her style of cooking has a lot of appeal to a lot of people, and this book simply adds a new dimension of utility to her published recipes.
Like all her earlier recipes, there are virtually no expensive ingredients used. The number of prepared foods in the recipes is relatively small and relatively unobjectionable. And, virtually all recipes are relatively straightforward, requiring few special appliances or techniques. There are some recipes that understandably do require a rather large number of ingredients, such as the recipe for gumbo. There are also some dessert recipes that are a bit involved, but most take all available shortcuts, such as the one for apple strudel. My Austro-Hungarian heritage forces me to point out that strudel dough is NOT the same as the Greek phylo dough used in Ms. Deen's recipe, but it will get the job done a lot more easily than a trip to Vienna for a crash course in strudel making. Note that the title of this book should make it clear that many of these recipes were created by Paula's friends and neighbors, to whom she gives ample credit in the Acknowledgments and headnotes.
Part of the charm of a lot of cookbooks based on cooking in Italy, Provence, or Spain lies in the little stories that surround the recipes. It is easy to forget that just because Ms. Deen's terroir is close to home, she does not have some very heartwarming stories of her own.
Paula Deen is your Down Home Savannah version of the more scholarly James Villas. And, it isn't exactly Martha Stewart either, but it's a darn good, darn cheap (far cheaper than Ina Garten's similar volume) bindle of suggestions for entertaining.
Summary of Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style
Sharing a delicious meal is everyone's favorite way of bringing together friends and loved ones. In her new cookbook, Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style, Paula Deen -- author, restaurateur, and Food Network star -- turns to her friends to share their stories, ideas for entertaining Southern style, and, most important, more than 150 of the prized recipes they serve to their family and friends.With the trademark Southern charm that has made her beloved by fans everywhere, Paula's new book features delicious, down-home entertaining menus, with recipes that are guaranteed to be instant crowd-pleasers. Whether you're planning an intimate family dinner, hosting an elegant cocktail party, or feeding a hungry crowd for lunch, these mouthwatering meals are the perfect way to share any occasion with good friends -- and have fun doing it! From a tailgate picnic to a bridge supper, a christening to a camping trip, and a family dinner to an ice cream social, there are recipes to delight any gathering.
Throw a down-home Birthday Bash with Beer-in-the-Rear Chicken, Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Corn on the Cob, and Buttermilk Pound Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream. Or host a casual Cookie Swap with friends and watch those Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes and Rolled Oatmeal Cookies disappear! An outdoor lunch wouldn't be complete without real Southern Fried Chicken and Buttermilk Corn Bread. And comfort foods like Quick Crab Stew, Shrimp and Wild Rice Casserole, and Black Bottom Pie are soul-satisfying dishes that warm the heart and soothe the spirit. There are also recipes for refreshing cocktails and beverages, from the Southern traditional favorites, like Plantation Iced Tea and Mint Juleps, to Lemonade and Hot Cranberry Cider.
Entertaining Southern style is about much more than the food; it's about spending time with the people you care about. Paula and her friends are the experts when it comes to creating delightful meals that are easy to prepare, so you, too, can relax and enjoy the fun with your guests. Each chapter is filled with helpful tips and time-saving techniques, as well as the memorable cooking stories that inspired Paula and her friends to create these recipes. You'll be inspired to share memorable meals and occasions with family and friends, as Paula Deen & Friends invites you to live it up, Southern style.
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