Uncle Bubba's Savannah Seafood: More than 100 Down-Home Southern Recipes for Good Food and Good Times

Learn how to make finger-lickin'People travel form far and wide to taste the fresh and delicious seafood served at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House in savannah, but now you can stay home and let chef and owner Earl "Bubba" Hiers treat you to his famous Southern hospitality. His first-ever cookbook tells you how to prepare both the dishes that made his restaurant famous and the home cooking that he and his older sister, Food Network star Paula Deen, grew up eating in their Granny Paul's kitchen.

Learn how to make finger-lickin' Dixieland favorites like Low Country Boil, Lip-Smackin'-Good Chicken Casserole, Salmon and Grits, and Oyster Stew. Right off the restaurants menu are dishes like BBQ Shrimp, Gumbo, and Shrimp and Grits. And because good cooking seems to run in Bubba's family, recipes like Raised Biscuits, Kathy's Dig Deep salad, and Cheesy Squash Casserole come straight from the recipe boxes in the authentic Southern kitchens of Bubba's grannies, aunts, and friends.

Desserts are Bubba's favorite, and there's no shortage. Try Aunt Glennis's version of the classic Dixie staple, Red Velvet Cake, or the Lemon Cheese Cake, which true Southerners know is not a cheesecake at all. There's also Chocolate Almond Pie, Butterscotch Pound Cake, Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie, and three recipes for truly scrumptious desserts that are Paula's gift to her baby brother. Plus, along with the recipes, you'll get family stories and photographs that bring Bubba and Paula's Georgia childhood to life.

Like his restaurant, Bubba's recipes are casual -- perfect for summer cookouts and picnics where paper napkins and plastic forks are just fine, and the card playing and story swapping begins when the Chargrilled Oysters are put on the table, and doesn't end until long after the last bite of Georgia Peach Cake is cleaned from the plate. Soon, just like Bubba, you'll be spending long afternoons around the grill, bragging on your barbecue and waiting for the Beer Rolls to come out of the oven.

It's not everybody who's lucky enough to make a living at what they love best. Me? I'm one of the lucky ones, and boy, don't I know it! My whole life has been about cooking, eating, and swapping stories.

Now that I have a restaurant where I get to do those things on a daily basis, I try never to forget just how blessed I am. Most every day I put on my baseball cap and visit with the fine folks who are eating in our restaurant. I stop by each table and eyeball what they've ordered. Could be a plateful of my chargrilled oysters or Georgia sweet shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce. Either one will make you want to clean your plate and beg for more.

I always say, "Hey, y'all, I'm Uncle Bubba. Where y'all from?" People appreciate the personal attention and lots of times say they never realized that there really is an Uncle Bubba. I say, "Yep, that's me, and I'm proud to be a good ole Southern boy."

My family and I have never been what you would call fancy diners. Growing up in southwest Georgia, we never had white tablecloths or silver candlesticks. We just wanted to eat good, laugh a lot, and have a good time. When I opened the doors at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House I tried to carry on what I describe as down-home Southern style. I want people to come just as they are and enjoy what I think is the greatest seafood ever, like my oyster stew, for instance. It's just like the stews I ate when I was a boy growing up, made by my Mama, Corrie Paul Hiers, and my Granny Paul. (That's what I preferred to call her; Paula called her Grandmomma Paul.) To make oyster stew, we start with sautéed onion, pour in real milk, add some real butter and a few other special ingredients, and then add the best oysters you've ever put in your mouth.

Like I said before, I'm proud of the name Bubba. Yep, people kid me about it all the time but I just laugh because it's a nickname that fits my personality. I was named for my daddy, E