"Paula Deen" news and stories

The sons of celebrity chef Paula Deen hope their new magazine will inspire a lot of good old-fashioned home cooking.

The quarterly created by Jamie and Bobby Deen and published by Hoffman Media just launched its first issue -- which features almost 100 recipes. And while Deen Bros. Good Cooking aims to get men into the kitchen, it also wants to bring families together around the dinner table.

"The recession can have some positive effects," Jamie Deen, 42, told Slashfood. "It's going to force people to not go out and eat fast food. We think eating at home is one of the first changes. Get everybody's feet back under the same table."

In that vein, the magazine he co-founded with his brother Bobby, 39, offers a series of simple recipes made with affordable, easy-to-find ingredients – like cheese and beer dip, Creole shrimp, pesto sirloin steak, shrimp and mushroom pasta, tilapia piccata and a grilled banana dessert.

"We're just showing people easy ways to cook good food that's good for you," Deen said. "We keep it real simple."

Hey, y'all, listen up! There's a new food magazine just for you fellas, created by none other than Paula Deen's boys.

The frosted blond TV chef's two sons, Jamie and Bobby, have launched their own quarterly magazine called Deen Bros. Good Cooking. Target audience? Men.

Hoffman Media, which already puts out the bimonthly Cooking with Paula Deen, will be the publisher for the 63-year-old Food Network host's boys, too. President and CEO Phyllis Hoffman tells Media Bistro's FishbowlNY blog that the Deen Bros. will aim to attract a "dual audience" of male and female readers, but will offer "light, easy recipes" that will likely "have strong appeal with men."

Bobby and Jamie Deen, who are 39 and 42, have made appearances on their mother's various Food Network shows over the years and hosted one themselves in 2006 called Road Tasted. When they're not in the public eye, the Deen brothers are in Savannah, Ga., running their mom's now-famous restaurant, The Lady and Sons.

One of our favorite events of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival was the cleverly titled Dim Sum & Disco party at the Setai Hotel. The late-night Asian soiree (it started at 11 p.m.) was hosted by Ming Tsai and the Setai's Jonathan Wright. There were bountiful displays of gourmet dumplings and innovative Ty Ku cocktails. Tsai's offerings included braised oxtail and foie gras shumai with sambal-soy syrup; and Island Creek oysters with a wasabi mignonette. Wright did black truffle and scallop har gau with a truffle emulsion; uni tempura with Osetra caviar and ginger crème fraiche; and fried Kurabuto pork belly with chili jam. Both chefs worked the line and interacted with diners.

After imbibing dozens of fresh and delicious dumplings and Ty Ku libations from master mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim, the stylish crowd danced to Donna Summer until the wee hours of the night. It was by far one of the liveliest events of the festival and one we hope returns next year.

Be sure to follow Slashfood's SOBE coverage on Twitter.

It was only fitting that the queen of comfort food, Paula Deen, hosted a deeply decadent Sunday brunch on the last day of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival. For this mid-morning, Southern-style feast, Deen teamed up with fellow chefs Elizabeth Karmel, Katie Lee, Chris Lilly and Claire Robinson for the buffet to end all buffets. At the Loews Hotel, 600 hungry fans dined on smoked salmon, ham sausage hash, shrimp and crab cake sliders, banana pecan pancakes, collard greens with ham, blackened catfish, pulled pork sandwiches and baked egg casserole with bacon and sausage. While everyone was eating, gospel singer Maryel Epps crooned classic jazz standards.

"I love brunch," Paula said of the event. "Everyone is still sober and I still have energy. I'm past the age of nightlife. Brunch is about good food and good friends. And, of course, you have to have grits. After all, this is the Kiss My Grits brunch."

For Deen, cooking with Katie Lee was a no-brainer. The two Southern women first met at the festival several years ago. "Katie Lee walked up to me and asked if I would be her fairy godmother," Paula recalled. "I was delighted to." Katie Lee's contribution to the brunch was her signature Nutella banana french toast casserole, along with a pomegranate elderflower champagne cocktail. "People liked it so much, and one man came up for thirds," she noted of her successful dish. Katie, herself, had two servings of the pulled pork sandwich.

Happy National English Toffee Day!

For a simple base of butter and sugar, it's incredible what a decadent dessert toffee forms, with its initial -- but not cloying -- sweetness followed by a pleasantly lingering buttery flavor. One could argue that the only thing this dulcet sweet has working against it is surely its pesky ability to cling to teeth...

But then again, we're amazed at how simple it is to make your own tray of the buttery delicacy. Aside from a few ingredients, the main apparatus needed is just a candy thermometer. If you're feeling ambitious on this National Toffee Day, try making some yourself -- and who better to learn from than Paula Deen, the reigning culinary queen of butter? (Heck, in addition to heaping it copiously into the vast majority of her recipes, she's even been known to drink it straight!)

So get cracking on her alluringly simple recipe -- it's divine, y'all.