THE LADY AND SONS SAVANNAH COUNTRY COOKBOOK
BY PAULA DEEN
Review by Barb & Ron Kroll
The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook
(Random House) ISBN 978-1400068234 1400068231
A collection of classic Southern recipes from Georgia, this cookbook is a tasty inspiration for hearty, wholesome meals for family dinners, parties and picnics.
Warm and friendly, with 172 pages of delicious and filling comfort food recipes, The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook is organized by dish type—hot and cold appetizers, soups, salads, main dishes, breads, side dishes, preserves and desserts.
Fruit fritters
Each chapter begins with an index. Each Southern food recipe specifies the yield. Some recipes have comments by Paula Deen. For example, in the pear fritters recipe, Paula Deen notes that the fritter batter can also be used for fresh apples, bananas and canned pineapple. Other recipes have variations (e.g., in the pumpkin bread recipe, you can substitute bananas for pumpkin).
Paula Deen frequently suggests prepackaged or processed substitutes, such as a canned pie filling instead of fresh fruit.
Paula Deen cooking tips
In the center of the book, 16 full-page color images depict bacon wraps, foolproof standing rib roast, Southern cornbread stuffing, cheesy broccoli bake, tomato pie, cheese biscuits, coconut cake and other finished dishes.
Culinary tips include adding a teaspoon of white vinegar to a cup of milk to substitute for buttermilk. She also suggests substituting 1.5 cups all-purpose flour for two cups of cake flour and substituting one cup of sugar dissolved in a half-cup water for 1.5 cups of corn syrup.
How to make sweetened condensed milk
The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook provides a cost-saving recipe for homemade sweetened condensed milk as well as a recipe for the restaurant's house seasoning, made with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Examples of Paula Deen's recipes? Pecan stuffed dates. Georgia sugared peanuts. Sesame chicken strips. Shrimp butter. Pickled okra sandwiches. Sherried avocado bouillon. Cranberry salad. Shrimp gumbo casserole. Sausage and grits. Chicken and dumplings. Vidalia onion pie. Eggplant casserole. Savory rice. Banana nut bread. Pumpkin bread. Applesauce bread. Honey mustard dressing. Pepper jelly. Rum cake. Pecan clusters. Walnut praline brie with fruit.
Contents
- A note from the lady
...and a tribute from her sons - Introduction by John Berendt
- Appetizers
- Hot appetizers
- Cold appetizers
- Soups and Salads
- Soups
- Salads
- Main Courses
- Fish and shellfish
- Meat
- Poultry
- Vegetables and Side Dishes
- Breads
- Sauces, Dressings and Preserves
- Desserts
- Cakes and pies
- Cookies and brownies
- Other confections
- Cooking Tips from The Lady
- Index
Author
A prolific author of cookbooks, Paula Deen is a Food Network hostess and owner of The Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, with her boys, Jamie and Bobby Deen.