Published: August 03, 2007 11:31 pm            

Deen brothers cook with top chefs at Empty Bowls event

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Rachel Paytee said she was nervous upon being selected by the Food Channel’s Jamie and Bobby Deen as one of the winners of America’s Second Harvest Empty Bowls contest, but she soon came close to stealing the show.

“I wanted to meet the woman who uses not one, not two, not three, not four but five cheeses in her macaroni,” Jamie Deen said upon calling Paytee’s name for her selected recipe of Rachel’s Amazing Mac & Cheese, which actually uses anywhere from six to a dozen cheeses.

As Jamie described how his wife would rather eat a box of Kraft macaroni than macaroni from his “mama,” famed cook Paula Deen, Paytee said, “So ...,” as she stepped around him to the boiling pot of water for the macaroni noodles.

“Don’t let me get in your way,” Jamie Deen said, backing away from the stove on stage. Laughter.

“She’s not so nervous now,” Bobby Deen added, as he returned to the recipe, holding up several bags of different types of cheese. “You use all this cheese?”

“Mmm-hmmm,” Paytee said, “you may need a laxative the next day.” More laughter.

Asked if she liked her macaroni with that much cheese, Paytee, a Southern Building Supply employee and New Horizons volunteer, stepped back from the stage countertop and said, “Don’t it look like I like to eat?” More laughter.

Paytee began creating her macaroni dish as a child. “Mama didn’t cook it like I wanted,” she said, “so as an adult I perfected it.”

Lynne Broome, Lake Park, was the other entrant whose recipe was selected by the Deens. “Mama makes Georgia Cracker Salad using saltine crackers,” Bobby Deen said, “ so we were curious about a pie made with saltine crackers.”

Broome’s selected entry was a mock-apple pie that uses saltines crackers. She learned the dish from her grandmother.

“How many crackers do we need?” Bobby Deen asked.

“Sixteen saltine crackers.”

“Why 16?”

“That’s what my grandmother told me,” Broome answered, adding, “If I use a big dish, I need 24 crackers.”

America’s Second Harvest received several recipes from local folks looking for a chance to make their favorite dish with the Deens, the famed sons of Paula Deen who are the sons in Savannah’s popular The Lady and Sons restaurant. They also have a Food Channel show called “Road Tasted,” and best-selling cookbooks.

The Deens’ fame helped America’s Second Harvest sell out this year’s Empty Bowls event raising funds for the food bank’s Kids Cafe program, which feeds hundreds of children throughout South Georgia. More than 750 people attended Friday evening’s event.

“Kids Cafe is about healthy, happy, hopeful children and that’s what we do every day,” said Frank Richards of America’s Second Harvest.

The event was also a bit of a reunion for Jamie Deen and a few Valdostans. Jamie, a former Valdosta State student, brought a dish of coconut strips for Valdosta friend Brenda Taw, mother of the food bank’s Shannon Zapf. The Deens greeted numerous people in the audience, with several people shouting out questions. If an audience member rose to leave the room, the Deens would shout out, “Is it No. 1 or No. 2?”

As a Valdosta State student, Jamie worked at Jeph’s, Jeff Lind’s one-time Valdosta pub. Lind introduced the Deens Friday evening. Hiring him in the mid-1980s, Lind said he first thought Jamie was like the smarmy Eddie Haskell from “Leave It To Beaver,” but “I soon learned (Jamie) really was that nice.” Lind recalled how he gladly traded his pub’s sandwiches for Brunswick stew made by the then-unknown Paula Deen.

Jamie Deen said he has based much of his management style on what he learned from Lind. “I learned from Jeff there is a fine line between being a friend and a boss,” Jamie said, before recounting a tale of Lind buying him a beer once after a night’s work then calling Jamie at 7 the next morning ordering him back to the pub because he didn’t sweep the floors properly before closing.

The Deens’ presentation was more of a recipe for business management than a cooking presentation. They shared both humorous and motivational recollections of starting their business with only $200, their mother’s talented cooking, and a lot of hard work.

“It took a lot of hard work,” Jamie Deen said, “but it doesn’t hurt when your mama’s Paula Deen.”



Dean Poling writes for The Valdosta (Ga.) Daily Times.

        

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