Jackson Free Press

Southern cooking maven Paula Deen was at Lemuria Oct. 31 signing her new book, "Paula Deen Celebrates!: Best Dishes and Best Wishes for the Best Times of Your Life." Deen is best known for her Food Network show, "Paula's Home Cooking," and her new show, "Paula's Party." In her new book, Deen shares recipes for holidays and special occasions.

You've been to Jackson a few times now. Your visit last summer was for a cooking demonstration at the Coliseum. How does that compare to book signings?

Seventy-eight hundred people turned out for the cooking demonstration last summer. The book signings are different. I try to look at everybody's face.

The cooking demonstrations are more like your new show, "Paula's Party."

I'm having a ball doing ("Paula's Party"). When you walk out there, and there's an audience, it's like plugging into an outlet, you know. They just feed me electricity.

Tell me about your new book, "Paula Deen Celebrates!"

My new book is wonderful; I'm so proud of it. It's been out about 10 days, and I got word that by the end of last week, it was No. 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. And I'm hoping this next week it could go to No. 3. I don't know, we'll see.

Is your fan base largest in the South?

Believe this or not, according to book sales and magazine sales, one of our biggest bases is California. They're just sick of that tofu and lettuce out there. Gimme that fried chicken.

When you cook for your family, what is their favorite?

My husband Michael's favorite dish is ox tails. That's my brother Bubba's favorite dish that I do. My niece Corrie, if you ask her, says, "Please Aunt Paula, cook me some country fried steak and gravy." If you ask my youngest son, Bobby, he would want me to cook goulash. If you ask Jamie, he'd probably ask for a low country boil.

What's your favorite?

You know, it's hard to pin down. They say you can't ask a fat girl that question. You can look at her and tell she likes most anything. I'm a meat-and-taters girl, though, I have to tell you. I love meat and potatoes.

You've got about 500 people waiting for you to sign your new book at Lemuria.

Really? This tour has really kind of blown me away. The last tour on "Paula Deen and Friends" was big, but this one has taken my breath away. I was in Atlanta a couple of days ago, and I thought, "What is going on here?" You know, I was surrounded by about a dozen police officers to get me where I was going, and we had a police escort, you know, sirens and everything to get us out on the highway. And I said, "Where's Oprah? Do you see her? I know she's got to be around somewhere—this can't be for me."

What do the people tell you when you meet them?

They say, "Paula, I just love you." I'm very drained after a book signing. I always try to give 100 percent of myself, but no matter how hard I try, I feel like I walk away having been given more than I gave. It's just unbelievable. You can almost touch the love in the room. And, of course, I love them, and they know that; they know that I do. I care about them.

I think my favorite Paula Deen cookbook is your first one, "The Lady and Sons." I like it because it's just regular, everyday food.

I think that's another reason people can relate to me is because of the type of cooking I do. It must be delicious. It also must be doable.

You know you're right. I'm not going to cook anything that has a ton of ingredients.

I'm not going to cook anything that I can't find the ingredients in my local grocery store. I'm not going on a Web site and send off for exotic ingredients.

You can still get a signed copy of "Paula Deen Celebrates!" at Lemuria. You can also meet her sons Jamie and Bobby Deen in Vicksburg, Jan. 13, for two shows (1 p.m. and 7 p.m.) at the Vicksburg Convention Center. Tickets range from $29.50-$49.50. For tickets call 601-355-5252 or go to ticketmaster.com