Chef Spotlight: Paula Deen

Paulann Hiers, popularly known as Paula Deen is a renowned American TV personality and is also popular as a Chef, restaurateur and author. She is one of the rare chefs in US who has International reputation as a chef.

Since Paula has made her zeal as TV personality, she could conduct cookery shows which people love and admire. She has authored five famous cookery books. Her program ‘Paula’s Home Cooking’ had bagged her two Daytime Emmy Awards in 2007.

Paula started her culinary career by starting a catering service where she made sandwiches and other meals. She is being helped by her two sons, Jammy and Bobby in her professional endeavors. In 1996, she opened her own restaurant, ‘The Lady & Sons’ in downtown Savannah, on West Congress Street and within a few years, the restaurant moved to a larger building in Savannah’s historic district.

This restaurant won national reputation and it was named the “International Meal of the Year” by USA Today, a prominent American daily in 1999. Here, the main specialty is the buffet, which may include sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, deep-fried Twinkies, fried chicken, cheesy meatloaf, greens, beans as well as creamed corn. The meal comes with a garlic cheese biscuit and one of Paula’s famous hoecakes. The professional dedication of Paula Deen helped her start another restaurant called “Paula Deen Buffet” at Harrah’s Tunica Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.

Paula is equally good an author too. Her books, “The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking” and “The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking 2” were self published in 1997. These books earned much appreciation as she focused on traditional Southern recipes such as ‘Gooey Butter Cake” or “Chess Cake”. Paula’s personal life is featured in “Extraordinary Comebacks: 201 Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph, and Success”. In 2007, Simon & Schuster published Paula’s memoir, “It Ain’t All about the Cooking”. She did not stop here and went on to launch a lifestyle magazine called “Cooking with Paula Deen” in November 2005.

The association with Food Network helped her start the famed TV show ‘Paula’s Home Cooking’ in 2002. Paula’s televised biography was aired on an episode of the Food Network’s ‘Chefography’ program, in March 2006. In December 2007, she teamed with Cat Cora and faced Chefs Tyler Florence and Robert Irvine in battle Sugar on the holiday special of ‘Iron Chef America’ and at the end Paula and Cora won.
No one can stop a skilled and successful chef from trying out new ventures. This was proved when Paula announced in September 2009 that she planned to unveil her own dessert line at ‘Walmart’ featuring signature pies such as Apple Crunch Top, Dark Rum Pecan, Old Fashioned Fudge and Gooey Butter Cake bars. These recipes had earned her much reputation. She also proved that a Chef can be an actor too when she made her film debut in ‘Elizabethtown’ by playing the role of the aunt of Orlando Bloom’s character. The film also gave her the chance of exhibiting her culinary skills. No wonder, such multi faceted Chefs like Paula Deen can really change the way in which Chefs and other Culinary experts are looked upon.

Follow in Paula’s footsteps and find the perfect Culinary School for you.