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    Home » books » The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook - Delicious Wants You to Kiss Her Grits, but Will Give You a Cookbook Instead

    February 2008 books

    The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook - Delicious Wants You to Kiss Her Grits, but Will Give You a Cookbook Instead

    lee brothers southern cookbook
    **UPDATE** By the way, yes, this cookbook won not one, but TWO James Beard Awards: the 2007 James Beard Award Cookbook of the Year and Food of the Americas. (Wait, why am I giving this book away?!)

    The Short: Leave a comment to win The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook.

    The Long: Contrary to what you may believe about last names, the Lee brothers are not Chinese. Do you know any Chinese men - or men of any Asian nationality for that matter - named Matt or Ted? Matt, maybe because it's short for "Matthew" which is from the Bible, but Ted?

    Matt and Ted are totally white. In fact, the Lee Brothers are so white that I couldn't put the entire cover of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook in the picture because their shining white faces caused too much of a glare.

    However, that is not the reason why I am giving away this cookbook that the publishing company so generously sent me to review several months ago. That would be racist, and if there's one thing I am not, it's racist! I have a good friend who's white.

    I am giving away this cookbook because...after quitting my job, I finally found myself with the time I didn't have before to do basic, everyday things that I have to do like clean my apartment, pay bills, go through stacks of magazines still in their protective plastic mailing covers, eat, and of course, take showers. Everyday things took all of three days before I was left again with time on my hands. Gloriously lounging around my house in blue silk pajamas like a small Asian female version of Heff lost its glamour when buxom bunnies didn't show up after seven-and-a-half hours, and strangely enough, it had been so long since I had experienced "leisure" that I had no idea what to do. I was at a loss.

    For all of about sixteen seconds.

    Whom are we kidding, here?!?! I can go to the Farmers Market without making up some weird excuse about a sale on supplies at Office Depot! I can cook! (Real food!) I can bake! I can blog! I can read!

    Good Lord, I can read. Books. Yes, I could finally read the books that had been sitting in precariously unbalanced stacks around my apartment for months. Novels. Short story collections. Non-fiction. Cookbooks. I finally got to lay on my bed for hours at a time, stomach down, A-for-Asian chest propped up on three pillows with a notepad and extra fine point Sharpie and flip through as of yet untouched cookbooks.

    I am giving away The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook because I flipped through it, was charmed by the sincerity of the prose and the purity of the recipes, and want to share things like Sunday Fried Chicken, Red-Braised Beef Short Ribs, and Bacon Cheddar Grits (!) with someone.

    red velvet cake
    the teaser shot. (marketing 101)

    Plus, I need to distract you eleven readers while I compose a thoughtful essay about the Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting I made from a recipe in the book (this ostensibly makes the book "used" but let's just ignore that technical detail for the sake of this rare little display of generosity, 'k?)

    The Red Velvet Cake (cake, not cupcakes) is coming soon, but for now, leave a comment and I'll randomly draw a winner when the number of comments is sufficient enough that I don't look like that awkwardly short girl at the Bloomfield Hills Middle School monthly dance who stood in the corner by herself during "Eternal Flame" and "Glory of Love."

    That never happened to me.

    tags :: food : and drink : cooking : southern : recipes : cookbooks : books : reviews : los angeles

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    Comments

    1. lillian says

      February 27, 2008 at 4:06 am

      ooh! that cake looks divine. (and that cookbook sounds marvelous! ;-) ). Not that I'm trying to be a mooch, I really ought comment more...anyway.

      Reply
    2. Anonymous says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:28 am

      wow, still waiting on acme oyster... and yes, ikko. i've pretty much given up on the latter.

      my vote goes to giving the book to lillian since she was the first to comment and it sounds like she would actually use it.

      keep writing.

      Reply
    3. Anonymous says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:28 am

      wow, still waiting on acme oyster... and yes, ikko. i've pretty much given up on the latter.

      my vote goes to giving the book to lillian since she was the first to comment and it sounds like she would actually use it.

      keep writing.

      Reply
    4. santos. says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:37 am

      don't get me started on all the asian matts i know! and not only am i related to an asian ted, but i know an asian teddy as well.

      i am so totally being a mooch. i heart the lee bros. but not enough to buy their book. of course if they were asian....i am *so* not racist. i have a good friend who is married to a white person.

      Reply
    5. Teresa says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:49 am

      i am boldly going to own up to being a mooch. plus i'm going to give reasons for why i should get the book:

      1) i AM Chinese (though my last name is not Lee)

      2) i just moved back to CA from TN so i miss things such as that divine red velvet cake which you baked

      3) oh heck, you had me at "grits". book or no book.

      Reply
    6. oddlyme says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:54 am

      The picture of the Lee Bros. is like the south - a tiny bit frightening but oddly alluring.

      My they are pale!

      Reply
    7. mel CH says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:55 am

      I'm not bitter about not winning the Cocktails book. Really, I'm not.

      Reply
    8. Sun says

      February 27, 2008 at 6:58 am

      Yum, the recipes sound delicious!

      I do know an Asian Matt & Ted actually...neither of them Lee's though.

      Reply
    9. Gin and Tonic Extra Lime says

      February 27, 2008 at 2:57 pm

      Yum! I've been intrigued by these guys for awhile. I believe they won a James Beard Award for this cookbook.

      Reply
    10. Rozzie says

      February 27, 2008 at 3:16 pm

      I want it.

      Reply
    11. S. Carrico says

      February 27, 2008 at 3:53 pm

      Living in Idaho, schooled in Olympia, and foodified in Asia, I’m admittedly…. Skeptical of southern cooking. But then again, I was once skeptical of tomatoes, so clearly, I cannot be trusted. I am a sucker for sincerity, though, so I too would like this treasure.

      Reply
    12. christianne says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:27 pm

      I want it too! I'm a native Californian so I know little about grits - obviously I need an instructional guide.

      Reply
    13. christianne says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:27 pm

      I want it too! I'm a native Californian so I know little about grits - obviously I need an instructional guide.

      Reply
    14. H. C. says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:53 pm

      Haha, I saw that cookbook before and they're definitely Lees in the Robert E. Lee sense. They are also unusually thin for Southern cooks -- like a hybrid of Paula Deen and Giada de Laurentiis.

      Reply
    15. sarah says

      February 27, 2008 at 5:56 pm

      HC: Though I don't want to offend them, they're also, "Lee" in the Sandra Lee sense.

      And that is so funny - I never thought about how skinny they are for southern cooks!

      Reply
    16. smoykim says

      February 27, 2008 at 6:15 pm

      Let me help you not look so awkward by commenting (I'm a lurker). How was the cake? In my opinion, anything with cream cheese frosting has got to be divine!

      Reply
    17. Kate says

      February 27, 2008 at 6:55 pm

      Yum! Excellent teaser shot of the Red Velvet Cake!

      Reply
    18. Laura says

      February 27, 2008 at 7:06 pm

      I just found your blog today from taste spotters. Muuumm Greek food.

      I actually just had Red Velvet cake for the first time in all my 31 years last weekend and wondered what rock I had been living on to miss that!

      Reply
    19. lauriel says

      February 27, 2008 at 8:50 pm

      I would love the book! Reading cookbooks, especially with those where the personal voice and stories comes through, is my favorite pastime. I've been casting longing glances at it for a while now, but haven't committed... I like to torment myself a while before giving in to the temptation. :) But this would be sooo lovely~ Thank you for considering me!

      Reply
    20. XD says

      February 27, 2008 at 10:48 pm

      pick me, delicious!

      Reply
    21. Julie says

      February 27, 2008 at 11:40 pm

      i just made red velvet cupcakes! mmm and they were delicious. i'm curious to see what it's like to make it in regular layer form. pick me, please!

      Reply
    22. Julie says

      February 27, 2008 at 11:40 pm

      i just made red velvet cupcakes! mmm and they were delicious. i'm curious to see what it's like to make it in regular layer form. pick me, please!

      Reply
    23. b104607 says

      February 28, 2008 at 12:11 am

      I'm Chinese & my brother's name is Teddey.

      Reply
    24. lunettes says

      February 28, 2008 at 1:00 am

      Mr. O and I were just having a conversation about Red Velvet Cake the other day, and now I want to make it. Looks gorgeous!

      Reply
    25. tristan says

      February 28, 2008 at 1:02 am

      i love red velvet anything... if i don't win, i may have to take a trip down to the bookstore and copy the recipe. well, i'm not made of money, you know!

      p.s. love your site! am i being a KA? partly...

      Reply
    26. sarah says

      February 28, 2008 at 1:03 am

      b104607: please tell me you will change your name to matt. that would make my day

      Reply
    27. Tai says

      February 28, 2008 at 1:07 am

      I've been looking for a good red velvet cake recipe - and this looks amazing.

      Congrats on quitting your job. I wish I was so brave.

      Reply
    28. Joe Randazzo says

      February 28, 2008 at 1:11 am

      Great photo! I look at this book nearly everytime I'm in a bookstore. I'm hoping I get it for my birthday this year (which is only a couple weeks away!! ) :)

      Reply
    29. David says

      February 28, 2008 at 1:51 am

      that books sounds awesome. any book with recipes that will send me on the road to high blood pressure AND diabetes is a book worth reading.

      Reply
    30. Tiff says

      February 28, 2008 at 1:52 am

      I *heart* red-velvet cake. Growing up in Indonesia and Singapore, where food-colouring in desserts is a definite draw, what could be better than bright red chocolate cake....unless it's in the shape of an armadillo.

      Reply
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