Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible: The New Classic Guide to Delicious Dishes with More Than 300 Recipes Hardcover – October 11, 2011

I've always loved Paula Deen, I remember watching her with my mom before she got her first cooking show and how Mom would praise her doing things exactly like grandma did. Paula's show was a favorite in our home from the first episode until the day it was cancelled, and we owned most of her cookbooks.I had to move right after my mom passed and somehow I managed to lose the three boxes containing her cookbooks and recipe box. I have mourned that recipe box full of family memories nearly as much as Mom, missing all the family favorites I never learned to make from memory... UNTIL NOW! So many of those dishes Mom loved are in this book, it's almost like having her with me.Thank you, Paula, for taking the time to bring together so many wonderful memories!

I purchased Ms. Deen's book several days ago in support and wrote a lengthy comment at that time to express my opinion. It is the 2nd Paula Deen cookbook I have purchased from Amazon, and truthfully, I don't remember ever using one single recipe from the first. I hope to find more to my liking from this book, but even if I don't it will stand front and center on my kitchen bookshelf. I've always admired Mrs. Deen for her grit and determination and her efforts as a single mother to provide for her family. I have also purchased from Amazon the story she wrote about her life and enjoyed that book immensely. From that book, you learned she isn't a saint, and she doesn't profess to have always lived her life in accord with what some narrow minded people would consider acceptable behavior for a "lady." Had this firestorm not sprung up due to her admission and honesty, I would not have purchased this book. My original comment has not appeared. Perhaps what I wrote was too lengthy, or maybe I used the word that now is even more offensive to some than the "n" word. I mentioned that I was a Christian. I won't repeat everything I wrote, but I do have questions to address to the Food Network, at least one of her publishers, Wal-Mart, maybe Amazon in the future, and particularly to Smitfield Food. You all have had a commercial relationship with Mrs. Deen for years. Did you ever observe any racial tendencies on her part? If not, is it possible those tendencies do not exist? If you did notice these tendencies, are you not hypocrites because you were willing to make money off of her if no one else knew? Why not judge Mrs. Deen for what her life is today, not 20 or 30 years ago, or maybe even 5 years ago? Life events and time do change us and sometimes makes us better people. To each member of the board of directors of companies who have dropped her, look at yourself today, and with honesty, look at yourself in your younger years. Are you the same person you were then? If so, then you haven't progressed at all as a person. Smithfield, out of my home state of Virginia, is in line to be bought by a company out of China. A country that by law limits families to one child resulting in forced abortions or children, most often girls, being placed in orphanages. Smithfield's customers are American families but yet they can't stand by a woman who has admitted to a mistake in her past and apologized but they can accept being owned by a company out of a country that represses it's people? What I've written isn't really a review of Mrs. Deen's book, but in a way it is because I am willing to buy it with no expectations of ever actually using it because I believe it's author deserves my support.

I care about Southern Cooking just about as much as I do Transylvanian Cooking. In other words, I didn't buy this book to set about on a new career path. Until two weeks ago I had never heard of its author. And frankly, if this book were filled with blank pages I'd still be purchasing it. This is probably the first book I ever bought with such a complete disregard to its contents.Cut to the chase - I am buying this book to join the tens of thousands of others disgusted at the treatment this poor lady has, and continues to, receive. I don't know what country I live in any more. I can't recall having ever witnessed an attack of this magnitude for such an insignificant offense. I am a blue-collar working-stiff who has spent his entire life around members of every race and ethnicity. If my co-workers and I were treated in this same fashion, for our verbal offenses, there wouldn't be a one of us left. Yet we forgive one another and twenty minutes later would be hard pressed to remember what for. There just has to be another agenda at play here as the punishment far, far, far exceeds the crime. Ninety percent of our government officials should be behind bars yet the media pursues this woman. I don't know what country I live in anymore.Random House (parent to Ballantine Books) decided to cancel her latest book - a book on track to be a nationwide bestseller. That is their prerogative. They can choose to do so for any reason they wish or no reason at all. As a consumer I can choose to refrain from buying their products too. And trust me, I plan on doing just that. For all of you who are appalled at the treatment Paula Deen has been subjected to I IMPLORE you to do the same. If we don't we shouldn't be able to look at ourselves in the mirror again.When they came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew.When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out. - Martin NiemollerWhen they came for Paula Deen, ruined her reputation, drug her through the dirt, humiliated her, destroyed her career and made every effort to push her into poverty, I went out and bought a Random House book. - An American subject (not a citizen)

Paula Deen is the queen of southern cooking, and it's easy to see why. These recipes are fabulous!As a word of caution, most of the recipes provide American-sized portions for large numbers of people - unless you're intending to freeze a lot of the meals, you'll probably need to adjust the ingredients accordingly.

A brilliant cookbook and in excellent condition, it looks like a new book.Recipes are very easy to follow.

THIS WILL KEEP ME GOING FOR YEARS !!!

I have alot of cookbooks, and am a serious cook/baker. I am not easily impressed and pretty fussy about cookbooks and their content, but this one is a must-have. I was impressed with pretty much every recipe throughout the book - this woman knows how to make good down-home food. (I'm not saying these recipes would qualify for health-food, but they are seriously tasty - you can easily adjust them to suit your own needs.)It is well written and easy to follow, with dashes of Paula's wit thrown in here and there. I love this cookbook, and highly recommend it.

I wasn't expecting to like every single recipe. I was hoping for half, but there is not one recipe in this book that is remotely appetizing. This is the worst cookbook I have ever seen.