Paula Dean.
So, since my Sandra Lee post got such an overwhelming response, I thought I'd try out another. I'm pretty picky about whose recipes I'll try. I catch Paula Dean's show every now and then and I don't really know what to make of it. I haven't watched enough episodes to know for sure whether I like her food or not. I can't lie, I really love her sothern accent. That makes her instantly likeable in my book, probably because my boyfriend is southern. I know she loves butter more than anything on the planet, but have any of you ever tried some of her recipes? When I search for certain things on the Food Network site her recipes often come up and I don' t know whether I want to try them or not. So, what do you guys think of Ms Paula Dean?
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33 Comments:
I hear a lot of mixed stuff about Paula Deen - very little of it good. I love the premise of good, southern home cookin' but Ms. Paula has taken to using way too many instant products to be taken seriously. Most southern cooks I know would prefer to be doused in honey and dumped in an ant pile (treacherous here in the south...they hurt!) than to use pre-made biscuits e.g. Pillsbury.
Her use of copious amounts of fat is also offputting. I know southerners have a reputation of frying breakfast, lunch and dinner but the sticks and sticks of butter she throws into stuff make my arteries cry and I'm only watching!
The exaggerated "yaw'ling" doesn't do much for me, either. A little southern lilt is one thing but she hits you over the head with a 20 lb. sack of it.
If she ever acts like less like a cartoon character, I might pay more attention to her.
chiff0nade at 7:30AM on 03/01/08
My former in-laws not only cook the way Paula Deen does (I really miss a few of those folks in Kentucky and South Carolina because of the way they cook!), some of them talk and act that way as well. And no, they don't always use "real" ingredients either. They cheat at cooking on occasion just like anyone else.
LunaPierCook at 7:47AM on 03/01/08
I love Paula, but I don't really use her recipes often. I think it's really hard to capture from scratch Southern cooking with recipes. I use her show for inspiration and I go off and put my own spin on a dish. I have to admit that her recipe for cheese straws was excellent:
http://nujoikitchendiary.blogspot.com/2008/02/lagniappe.html
She, like Sandra Lee and Rachel Ray, attracts a lot of negative attention. Paula loves butter, sugar, mayo, pork and alcohol -- all of which are old school Southern staples. Her dishes aren't meant to be healthy; they are about traditional comfort. The ingredients are simple and not exotic. She does not have a cullinary degree; her show is really about home cooking and I think she takes a lot of undue heat for it.
She cooks like my aunts cooked before they had health concerns. I asked one aunt how she cooks cabbage and the first thing she said was, "Get a stick of butter ..." If you're not familiar with that type of cooking, it may seem odd to you. The same with "y'all." How else do you refer to a group??! Just kidding, but if you're Southern and not trying to put on airs, y'all is what you go with.
Every one of my grandmother's girls can cook and I don't think any of them have made biscuits from scratch in my lifetime. I think among the four of them, there may be five attempts at from-scratch pie crusts between them. And since they discovered Glory canned greens, fresh greens are a wrap. I make all of the above from scratch, but I'm at a different place in my life -- I'm a foodie. Later in life, I may not want to make biscuits from scratch either.
Paula has made biscuits from scratch on the show before. You have to think about how to map a 30 minute show. Biscuits from scratch may be the whole show. It's hard to do that and cook 2-3 additional dishes in the 20+ minutes the show is on the air. Besides, you have to cook for the masses. I have two cousins are beginning cooks. They need to be able to watch Paula and not be overwhelmed. Canned biscuits make cooking less intimidating. The majority of today's cooking (if you're not a foodie) is semi-home made.
NuJoi at 7:54AM on 03/01/08
The times I saw her on regular TV (I don't have cable) she made annoying jokes about how she was trying to 'fatten' the thin female hosts of the TV up, used butter beyond what would even make the dish taste good, and just seemed to be creating dishes that were 'too much of a muchness' with processed ingredients and extra fatten crap for the sake of adding extra fattening crap.
HeartofGlass at 8:12AM on 03/01/08
I have to admit I like Paula, I enjoy her vivacity and "down home" atitude. That said I've tried a couple of her dishes and I dont really care for them. To me they are just too much. But as far as using processed ingredients, most older southern women that I know here in Ala. do use these products with alarming regularity. I think it probably started years ago as a fast way to get a meal done and then get back to work.
huney_bumper at 8:22AM on 03/01/08
She is vivacious, genuine, talented and very funny. Not many have such a bubbling personality and joie de vivre. Some of her recipes are really good and some are healthy. Some are great with a little tweaking (removing some of the fat, usually). She really is a wonderful cook, but like any home cook, you have to take the good with the bad. I'm a big fan of her home cooking show and don't watch her live show which is just terrible. What happens to these chefs when they get in front of an audience???
PerkyMac at 9:16AM on 03/01/08
I really like that Ms. Paula is very honest about herself. She is all about family. Two traits I respect. My husband is from the south and when we see people making fried chicken, he always remembers his grandmother's fried chicken, cooked in lard. I suppose she comes by the butter thing naturally. I do not make her recipes, but she can be quite entertaining!
crazyspice at 9:20AM on 03/01/08
I used to kind of like her. I have a lot of southern family (though mountain folk, mostly) and much of her cooking was very similar to their's, which got me all warm and fuzzy inside. That said, I think she's become a caricature of herself. And I loathe Paula's Party. I've only watched it a few times, but I have to say that in those few times, there wasn't a single recipe shown that I would put in my mouth. I think PerkyMac hit it on the head. Something strange and scary happens to these people when you put them in front of a life audience.
chisai at 9:43AM on 03/01/08
I love Paula I cannot cook her food. It is not (cleaned up for those who did not like how I said this last time we were on the subject) what I would serve my family.
My in laws are from the south and they yall and its just a Hey only from down south.
I fear that Paula will burn herself out soon since you cannot go through a day without seeing her cookware, cookbooks, tv shows, magazine, pork, commercials etc.
I think she wants to be the southern Martha. Which I feel was Nathalie Dupree http://www.nathalie.com/ She is all class and her food was down home good.
I often wonder if the formerly about Food network overmarkets because they cannot think ahead. Or if it is a wise plot that says no one is going to be irreplaceable. Either way Ms Deen is overmarketed.
JerzeeTomato at 11:33AM on 03/01/08
@JerzeeTomato.......I think one of the reasons I so highly respect Barefoot Contessa's Ina Garten is that she doesn't let them pimp her out and doesn't participate in their marketing fests. She does have a line of food products now (outrageously priced I might add), but I haven't seen her hawking them herself, nor does she hawk anything for any company that I'm aware of. You can be sure she could have her name on any number of products, but must have chosen not to. I admire her more than all the rest of them put together. I'm talking about those on FN only.
PerkyMac at 11:44AM on 03/01/08
I can't get through the" Ywall "grates on my nerves like fingernails on a blackboard and Paulas parties means auto change on the t.v. I'm sure she's a great cook, but please quit with the syrupie persona.....
Markbb at 1:28PM on 03/01/08
she shills pork for Smithfield.
that is evil.
intheyearofthepig at 3:09PM on 03/01/08
With all due respect and best wishes, how I feel about Paula Dean is the way many people feel about RR!
srhcb at 4:51PM on 03/01/08
Oh lawdy, I can't watch that lady. I'm sure she is just as sweet as pie, but when she attempts to say oil (aaawwwwlllllll) my ears start to bleed. (And my Northern Midwest accent would aggravate many, as well, I'm sure.) She seems genuine and passionate about her Southern cuisine, but I agree with the others' comments previously about the "live" shows. They are so contrived and the cooks (not chef, in this case) try to be sooo "on", they don't come across as a person; only a mere caricature of themselves.
When her show comes on, my remote is literally smoking from the fast and furious clicking to get that thing (show) as far away from me as quickly as possible. I've never actually tried one of her recipes because I've never been able to maintain my composure for an entire show.
I'm not getting the warm and fuzzy; only the annoying and gaggy. Sorry, to you PD lovers.
frederika at 5:34PM on 03/01/08
I don't really care for Paula's Party, because, as several have already pointed out, her act becomes garish. Being originally from the South, I will say that her food is definitely old-school, best enjoyed in very small quanities. I find many of her recipes unusable due to the large amounts of mayonaise, and my even larger hatred of it.
beth1 at 8:05PM on 03/01/08
What I like about her is that she makes no apologies for what she likes and who she is. She loves her butter and it shows and it doesn't bother her one little bit.
I generally don't watch her shows because there are others I prefer, and there's only so much TV I'm going to watch. I've seen Paula's Party maybe twice, and didn't care for it.
As far as any of the Food TV people using prepared foods, it doesn't bother me. They don't have the time in an episode ot make everything from scratch, and it would be annoying to watch an episode where they keep pulling out jars of pickles that they canned last month and tomato sauce that they cooked last summer and croutons that they toasted from yesterday's stale bread. And then the online recipe would be a nightmare of complications for all that scratch-made stuff. Sometimes you have those things home-made and handy, but in real life there are grocery stores. If you don't have chicken stock in the freezer, buying it might make a lot of sense if the stock isn't the star ingredient.
Better to buy some things from the store and make a mostly home-made meal than feel gulity that you can't make the whole thing from scratch and go for take-out instead.
dbcurrie at 2:10AM on 03/02/08
I was a huge Paula fan when she first showed up on foodnetwork but I think they said hey Paula the audience is loving the southern bit - lets overplay it with more ya'll's. I can only take very small doses of her now - too bad. I agree she is on the path of overexposure and turning in to RR
labrown13 at 11:25AM on 03/02/08
We much prefer the coooking shows on PBS - only Alton Brown, Tyler Florence and Ina Garten get the nod here. I miss Sara Moulton.
Brown did a whole show on biscuits some time ago and I like his recipe.
I think that a cooking show should be helpful and the recipes should be practical. Scratch the hype and phony accents.
Jacques Pepin's books get a lot of use in my kitchen and I'm enjoying a few from Dorie's newest book.
suegsf at 12:41PM on 03/02/08
Paula lost me when she made "Eye-talian" stuffed shells with cream cheese instead of ricotta. This was back when she just had one show, before the Food Network started promoting her to Emeril-esque status.
Bakerloo Line at 2:23PM on 03/02/08
Hee. I don't know what to tell y'all about the whole "y'all" thing. That's just how we talk down here. People may think Miz Paula is putting it on (and she may ham it up a little for the cameras), but that's how most people I know talk, yours truly included. :)
sheeats at 2:39PM on 03/02/08
If anyone wants authentic Southern cuisine, check Edna Lewis or Scott Peacock. That's authentic.
frederika at 4:07PM on 03/02/08
I love Paula, she's so affable (in my opinion). I'm actually going to a taping of Paula's Party on April 17th, it's going to be at the Food Network studios in New York and not in Savannah. I was hoping to go to GA but when Paula's Party called me and told me I got tickets there was no way I could turn it down. I'm so excited. Has anyone here ever been to a taping?
bearsilber at 7:05PM on 03/02/08
I watch Paula Deen because of her almost annoyingly entertaining personality, but I never make her recipes for some reason. I make a lot of recipes I see on Food Network, just not Ms. Deen's! I find her very entertaining though.
ag3208 at 7:06PM on 03/02/08
When Paula comes on my partner and I both jump - leap actually - for the mute button, and then the channel changer once it's safely quiet. We both apologize for not being quicker, and for not knowing the schedule well enough to change the channel before she comes on.
I've lived in the south and traveled extensively in the south, and in my opinion she is an abrasive caricature of a southern lady.
I've discovered that I have to be careful about saying that, though, as my best buddy is from Kentucky and apparently his sainted elderly mother is ...just...like...Paula.
Nursie at 1:26AM on 03/03/08
I'm among the instant channel changers, too. I tried watching a few episodes of this party show, too. I could handle the thick southern accent if it weren't for the constant cackling.
Then there is all the kissing and coming on to the much younger men. I know it's all supposed to be an act, but her utter delight in it coupled with the discomfort it causes most of the men and it's just gross, no matter the intention. That cougar is just too old to hunt.
Calichef at 5:49AM on 03/03/08
On Paula:
1. Her changing in front of the camera may be in part due to the anxiety issues about going out in public that she's discussed.
2. She's less a caricature of "southawn lady" than "Down Home with the Neelys" is a caricature of southern "black folk." (Have you seen their show? So irritating!)
but 3. Her recipes are too hit-or-miss (mostly miss) for me. Last thing I made from her was a macaroni recipe that curdled. Yuck.
pookywookyster at 1:14PM on 03/03/08
The original Paula Deen was a really good cook. The new and improved Paula Deen is not. I've used several of her recipes from the first couple of years of her show with good results. Now, with her impractical new set (so full of geegaws and junk there's little room for cooking), her recipes have gotten sortof overwrought. She's left her roots of traditional Southern or low-country cooking for "cuisine". Catch a rerun from the old days and you might find a recipe you like that gives good results.
pamelamarie44 at 1:39PM on 03/03/08
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it's a matter of locale, for lack of a better word.
I'm from the Midwest and I personally find Paula quite amusing and fun to watch. Would I make her meals every night for dinner? No, not unless I wanted to gain 30 lbs. Would I make it for my beau, who was born and raised in Savannah, one of her meals for a special occasion? Yes.
On the other hand, I cannot stand to watch Barefoot Contessa and other TV personalities from the North because they lack the personality that those in the South seem to have, which is obviously what I'm comfortable with and enjoy more. All just my opinion of course...
It's just different... I'm sure I'd get made fun of for my use of y'all too.
TaraTot at 1:54PM on 03/03/08
She cooks like all the old time southern ladies cooked. My father's aunt was one of the best. She slow cooked vegetables which is mostly what they ate with lots of butter. Lots of greens, peas, beans corn.
eatorama at 2:33PM on 03/03/08
I don't really watch Paula as much as I used to. Food Network switched her Paula's Home Cooking late afternoon slot with She Who Will Not Be Named on Serious Eats, which conflicted with another show I used to religiously watch. (I'm embarrassed by the show--it's a trashy talk show that's not Jerry Springer.) Food Network moved Paula's Party in the same time slot as E!'s The Soup, another show I religiously watch and prefer to see when it first airs as opposed to seeing a rerun. I stopped watching Paula's shows because I don't want to follow Paula to her new timeslots. Since I'm from the South, however, I was not offended by her drawl and constant use of "y'all"--just those monstrous creations she made on Paula's Party.
heartnibbler at 2:56PM on 03/03/08
I don't find Paula's recipes to be workable; there's no subtlety, just a lot of showing off.
Maybe some recipes would be good as a step-up from fast food; we all have known parties where everyone has a lot of fun and, for whatever reason, The Colonel is the only caterer you need, and a Paula dessert would go well with that.
I think the recipes on Paula's Parties are written for maximum ooh-and-ahh from the audience. A pound of cream cheese! An apple pie as big as your head! a "Cinnamon Roll" flavored smoothie!
For workable recipes which result in edible food, I rely on Alton. for impressive food which might just break the bank, Ina Garten.
I would love to see Ina and Paula head-to-head on Iron Chef... when Paula made a play for Ina's beloved Jeffrey, we'd see murder, middle-aged style.
annien at 3:13PM on 03/03/08
I don't mind her too much, but I did gasp when I saw the Ladies' Brunch Burger this week. Burger, fried egg, bacon, on two donuts instead of a bun. Even she looked like she thought it was ridiculous.
orangemiles at 10:56AM on 03/04/08
I love Paula Deen. She cooks the way I do, and she has fun doing it.
There seems to be a lot of food-snobbery backlash against most of the Food Network hosts and it's just Paula turn as a target.
PhotoKirk at 8:46AM on 03/08/08