Rating: 
Summary: The Lady Can Cook!
Review: This is a fine compendium of southern recipes most of which are served at Ms. Deen's highly regarded Savannah restaurant. The book is spiral-bound so it will lay flat, the print is large and the margins are wide. The author doesn't mind a short cut or two, and neither do I. The recipes are not taxing, but many are ingenious. When making meatloaf, Ms. Dean lines a jellyroll pan with slices of bread that soak up all that nasty fat. When the meatloaf is done, discard the bread. I was so grateful she didn't demand I use the soggy bread for something I had no intention of making; I decided she was my kind of lady right there.Her recipe for tomato pie was a hit with my family: 4 tomatoes peeled & sliced, 8-10 fresh basil leaves chopped, ½ c chopped green onion, one prebaked 9-inch deep pie shell, salt & pepper to taste, 2c grated mozzarella & cheddar combined, 1 c mayonnaise (Hellman's or make your own) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Layer tomato slices, basil, and onion in pie shell. Add salt and pepper. Mix together grated cheese and mayonnaise. Spread on top of tomatoes. Bake 30 minutes or until lightly browned. This is an excellent side dish and a good helper when you have planted a "few" tomato vines only to find you have wheelbarrows full come July. I would have given the book five stars except a few recipes listed garlic powder as an ingredient. Don't use it! Fresh garlic is cheap and doesn't have a chemical taste. With this small quibble, I recommend the book highly.
Rating: 
Summary: An Appealing, Earnest Book of Southern Recipes.
Review: This is Paula Deen's first cookbook. It predates her regular Food Network series and may predate her first appearance on any Food Network shows. Unless you look carefully to notice the imprimatur of the giant publisher Random House, you may take this for a local, self-published cookbook done by a church or women's social group to raise money, because that is exactly how the recipes come across. They represent your basic southern meat and potatoes and grits and collard greens menu and succeed very well in filling that niche. It may be no surprise to many of you, but there are adults who do not like green vegetables and rice and zucchini and chicken and cooking with wine and pasta with any kind of sauce except a simple bottled tomato sauce. These people are very fond of Paula Deen's recipes, which use Bisquik and Lemon Pepper and Velveeta. I know because my mother is one of them. I'm becoming a dedicated foodie whose heroes are Thomas Keller and Mario Batali and Tom Colicchio. Being presented to eat anything created in Provence or Apulia, let alone Bangalore or Damascus annoys my mother. Her poverty food was baked beans and mashed potatoes. Her delicacies are Pennsylvania Dutch recipes such as corn pie and stuffed pig stomach or anything, which includes cabbage. While my mother is not especially fond of grits or leafy green vegetables, almost every other southern speciality is right down her alley. As far as she is concerned, Emeril can't cook, Martha is too bossy, and Sara is just OK. I'm covering all of this simply to illustrate that while Paula's cookbook has practically nothing in it with a French or Italian accent, it is all very good and it has a large audience on whom creations at The French Laundry or Gotham Bar and Grill are simply showing off to no good purpose. So, if you want that basic, no nonsense, stick to your ribs, feed those love handles kind of food, this is the book for you. The rather inspiring story of how Paula Deen and her sons got into the restaurant business and how they succeeded is a bonus. For the foodies among us, I did find a few things over which to quibble. At one point, Ms. Deen says that she uses new or red potatoes for everything, including mashed potatoes. Since I cook for someone who loves mashed potatoes, I can tell from both reading and personal experience that russet (Idaho) potatoes may be the best for mashed potatoes, and Yukon Gold do well, but that waxy potatoes like many red skinned varieties just do not do as well. And, Ms. Deen goes and uses russets in several recipes anyway. On the other side of the coin, Ms. Deen has a useful little suggestion for keeping a supply of cooked and diced potatoes on hand in the fridge for quick salads. I also would have preferred that better specifications were given when 'lemon pepper' are used as an ingredient. This looks like a generic reference to a commercial product, yet no brand is specified. A brand or a recipe for 'lemon pepper' would have been good. A worse offense was a reference to 'Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt' with no entry in the index whereby one can locate the recipe for it. If the recipe for this stuff is in the book, I can't find it as I write this. This is not, however, a book worth picking nits over. These are the kind of dishes which appeal to a very large number of people, so I am happy to inform them that this is their kind of cookbook. All the recipes are relatively easy with few steps and a very manageable number of ingredients. I like the fact that Paula indicates which of the recipes are actually served at her restaurant. I am more inclined to try that first. This is your 'average Joe' kind of cookbook which should win the day.
Rating:
Summary: The Best!
Review: We spent a week on Hilton Head Island, SC and thankfully stopped in Savannah for a day. We ate at The Lady & Sons and would have to say that of the all the restaurants (most of which were overpriced) this was the best. Her food is fantastic and the recipes are all there, except for a wonderful pecan pie that she said will be included in her upcoming cookbook (my husband described it as the only pecan pie he's eaten that afterward he wasn't gasping for a cup of coffee). The greens are fabulous as is her melt-in-the-mouth fried chicken and macaroni and cheese and, and, and. I wanted to buy the book while in Savannah, but the town was sold out. This is a must-have for every kitchen.
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