‘Oh, good, y’all,” Paula Deen says, stirring a pot of grits. “I see you have some extra butter. That little half a stick was kind of a trick, wasn’t it?”
Not a trick so much as a test – of whether Deen would live up to her reputation. When she comes to town and offers to demonstrate her way with this Southern specialty, recipe amounts fly out the window, especially when it comes to one of her must-use ingredients.
Four tablespoons of butter go into Whipping Cream Grits at the outset, but in The Post’s kitchen, she stirred in another couple of tablespoons at the end, right after the cream that gives them their name.
And then she plopped another large pat of butter on top once they were in the bowl.
You know, for garnish.
“I like to put something in that’s gonna make it a little creamy,” said Deen, 60.
A little? Deen’s grits are salty, smooth and richer than rich. Come to think of it, that pretty much sums up Deen herself.
On a book tour for her bestselling new memoir, “Paula Deen: It Ain’t All About the Cookin’,” the one-woman empire came to The Post last week, took off her Blackglama mink coat, grabbed a wooden spoon and proceeded to hold court. In person, she has a few more wrinkles than on the book cover, but her blue eyes and many diamonds sparkle just as much.
It might as well have been a scene from “Paula’s Party,” one of her two Food Network shows, as she stirred, tasted, seasoned and served while fielding compliments from a growing crowd and answering questions about the best ways to cook up her favorite side dish, the ground dried corn we call grits.
“Folks, in the state of Georgia, we’ll eat grits three times a day, and we’ll find a different way to eat ‘em each time,” she said.
That includes the classic Low Country shrimp and grits, fried grits cakes with sausage, smothered quail over grits, even a key lime grits pie she developed for “The Lady &Sons Just Desserts.”
But her favorite, the way she learned from her grandmother, is the simplest. She doesn’t start with “fancy grits,” the coarsest stone-ground ones served in “some of the uppity restaurants.”
No, regular quick-cooking but not instant ones made by Jim Dandy, Quaker or Aunt Jemima will do just fine. Especially if there’s butter and cream, milk, whipping cream, sour cream or maybe cream cheese to stir in.
Deen’s cooking lesson, with husband Michael Groover and assistant Brandon Branch in tow, came the morning after she kept a sold-out crowd of 500 enraptured at a speech hosted by the Smithsonian Associates at the Museum of Natural History.
Radio host Jim Bohannon tried to interview Deen onstage, but her tangential stories and inability to stay in her seat pretty much rendered him, as he declared, “superfluous.”
“Superfluous?” Deen said with a smile and a wink at the crowd. “What does that mean?”
The topic was her book, which debuted last week at No. 2 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list. With the help of co-author Sherry Suib Cohen, Deen writes about her days as a high school cheerleader in Albany, Ga.; the untimely deaths of her parents and the agoraphobia that followed; her failed first marriage; her regrets as a mother; her struggles to build a restaurant business; and her ongoing love affair with Groover.
Branch called the crowd quieter than some at other recent appearances, which he says have taken on the feel of a “revival,” but there was still plenty of testifying as Deen brought her triumph-over-adversity message to life. One couple held up pictures of a baby granddaughter wearing an apron, shouting out that she would be perfect for Deen’s infant grandson, Jack.
A row of women nodded and whooped when Deen described the romantic appeal of eating oxtails: “You girls know what I’m talking about,” she said.
In the Post kitchen, a relatively subdued Deen, who blamed a cold, accepted our on-the-spot challenge to turn some leftover grits into a new dish, picking and choosing from ingredients laid out for her. (See the recipe for grits cakes with creamy mushrooms and country ham.)
As she passed around forks for tasting, her husband, Groover, politely declined. He’s on a diet and has lost 20 pounds.
“It’s portion control,” he said. “I’m going to write a book: ‘I Married the Butter Queen and Still Lost Weight.’”
Deen’s calorific approach is so intertwined with her persona that at the Smithsonian event, audience members were calling out “Butter!” before Deen even had the chance to answer questions such as, “What’s the secret to good Southern cooking?”
Besides books, she has signed more packages of fans’ Land O Lakes than she can count. Nonetheless, at The Post, she brushed aside suggestions that Southern cooking isn’t the most nutritious way to eat.
“We eat so many vegetables in the South. We don’t eat fried chicken every day. I don’t eat biscuits and gravy every day. I want to, but I don’t,” she said, while acknowledging that her breakfast that morning had been steak and eggs. “It’s about taking responsibility for yourself, and everything in moderation.”
Her parents died young, but she says her father’s heart attack was related to rheumatic fever he had as a child, and she believes her mother’s death soon after was hastened by grief.
The rest of her family is known for longevity, including a grandmother who lived to be 91 while teaching Deen that the best collard greens “are when they’re greasy.”
“It’s genetic, y’all, I’m telling you,” she said.
Deen says that even though she’s carrying 40 extra pounds (“I’ve got to go on a starvation diet, y’all”), she’s as worried about overexposure as about fat.
Besides the TV shows and cookbooks, she has two restaurants in Savannah (The Lady &Sons, which she owns with her sons, Bobby and Jamie, and the newer Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, which she owns with her brother), the popular magazine Cooking With Paula Deen, endorsement deals and a growing line of products.
“Because people trust me, it’s very, very important that whatever I do, it makes sense,” she said. “I have to be able to look in somebody’s eye and say, ‘Why, that is the best ham I have ever eaten.’”
If Deen were to continue to chart the same course as fellow food queens Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart, a talk show would seem to be in the offing; friends already refer to her as Okra (a Southern, white Oprah). She says she has tossed around ideas for just such a plan, but isn’t sure she wants the workload. Ray, she points out, is a much younger woman.
“My plate is pretty full,” Deen said.
Paula Deen likes to use grits that “aren’t fancy” – for instance, not stone-ground – to make this simple and creamy version.
1/2cup uncooked regular grits (not instant or quick grits)
1teaspoon salt
2cups water, plus more as needed
6tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for garnish (optional)
1/4cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1-2tablespoons finely chopped chives or parsley, for garnish (optional)
Combine the grits and salt in a small bowl.
In a nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the water to a boil and add 4 tablespoons of the butter. Add the salted grits, stirring for several minutes to combine. When the liquid just begins to bubble at the edges, cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the grits have thickened. Add up to 1/4-cup water, as needed, to keep the grits smooth. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the heavy cream, stirring to combine. Serve immediately, with a pat of butter in the center of the bowl and a sprinkling of chives or parsley, if desired.
Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 277 calories, 2 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 23g fat, 14 g saturated fat, 66 g cholesterol, 710 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber.
Adapted from “Paula Deen Celebrates!”
When Paula Deen was growing up, her family cooks used to refrigerate leftover grits in a jar, then pry out the congealed contents in one piece, cut it into inch-thick slices and toast it in the oven until crisp on both sides.
This could be a side dish for roast chicken or steak; the recipe can be doubled or quadrupled.
The grits cakes are crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside. The bits of country ham provide all the salt you’ll need for the creamy mushroom-ham sauce.
For the grits cakes:
1 1/2cups cooked, chilled grits
Pinch salt
1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-2tablespoon flour
1large egg
3-4tablespoons canola oil
For the sauce:
1tablespoon olive oil
1tablespoon salted butter
1/4cup finely chopped onion
1/4teaspoon ground thyme
2tablespoons white wine
1cup thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms (may substitute coarsely chopped portabella mushroom caps)
1/4cup chopped uncooked country ham, such as Smithfield brand
1/4-1/3cup heavy cream
1/4teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Parsley or chopped chives, for garnish
To make the grits cakes: Combine all the ingredients except the canola oil in a medium bowl, stirring to combine. Form 2 biscuit-size cakes, about 3/4 inch thick.
In a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil until it shimmers. Add the grits cakes and cook for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, until they are crisp and golden brown.
Meanwhile, make the sauce: In a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and butter. When the butter has melted, add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 to 8 minutes or until it becomes translucent. Add the ground thyme, then the white wine, mixing well. Add the mushrooms and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until they have softened and become aromatic. Add the ham, then the heavy cream, stirring constantly, and cook until the sauce has thickened and the cream has reduced a bit. Season with pepper.
Place the cakes on a plate, with one slightly atop the other. Spoon the sauce mixture over the top; garnish with parsley or chives. Serve immediately.
Makes 1 serving (2 cakes). Per serving: 762 calories, 31 g protein, 65 g carbohydrates, 40 g fat, 12 g saturated fat, 281 g cholesterol, 1982 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber.
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