Celebrity Chef Paula Deen Gives Back for the Holidays

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," December 16, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: With the recent downturn in the economy, many families are struggling to make ends meet this holiday season. Well, celebrity chef Paula Deen is here to help.

Earlier today she delivered 25,000 pounds of meat to a Savannah Food Bank, as part of her Helping Hungry Homes initiative. In total, she and Smithfield Foods have combined to deliver nearly 70,000 pounds of meat this year.

Joining us now is the author of "My First Cookbook," the undisputed queen of southern cuisine, Paula Deen.

Paula, good to have you on "Hannity & Colmes." Thanks for being here.

• Video: Watch Sean & Alan's interview

PAULA DEEN, AUTHOR, "MY FIRST COOKBOOK": Oh, gosh. It's great to be back. How are y'all?

COLMES: Great, great. Tell us about delivering this — how do you deliver that much in one day to so many needy people? How do you do that?

DEEN: In a tractor-trailer truck, baby.

COLMES: That's terrific.

DEEN: You can't put that in the trunk of a car.

COLMES: That's amazing.

You know, your own story is really remarkable. First of all, congratulations on doing that. It's terrific that you do this, especially this time of the year, for needy families.

DEEN: Thank you.

COLMES: Having read up about you, your personal story that you were agoraphobic, didn't leave the house...

DEEN: Yes.

COLMES: And therefore, because the place you went was the kitchen, and you learned to do as you did and created a whole new life for yourself.

DEEN: Yes.

COLMES: What a great story.

DEEN: Yes. Yes, yes. When I — when I was on that roller-coaster ride with agoraphobia, you know, I realized that I had a love affair with my kitchen, and so, you know, it's all paid off in the end.

COLMES: Well, obviously, it has. Some of your — some of your recipes. What are "ho cakes"?

DEEN: Ho cakes is a pan-friend...

COLMES: Whoa! Wait a second. Wait a second.

DEEN: Pan-fried cornbread.

COLMES: That sounds — and then you've got Chess Pie, Gooey Butter Cake.

DEEN: Yes, Gooey Butter Cakes. That's one of our signature items here at The Lady and Sons, and we have come up with more ways in our kitchen to come up with different flavors of Gooey Butter Cake. It's unbelievable.

In fact, we just had a contest for people to send in new recipes for the Gooey Butter Cake, and we declared a new winner a couple of weeks ago. And I can't even remember the ingredients, but it was — it was a wild Gooey Butter Cake.

COLMES: That's northern — that's just like northern food. We probably can't get that up north, right? That kind of stuff?

DEEN: Well, it's so easy to make. You could. But no — restaurants are probably not serving the Gooey Butter Cakes.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Hey, Paula, how are you, darling? Good to see you. It's your good friend, Sean.

DEEN: Hey, Sean.

HANNITY: Now, you have the best fried chicken. I've — I've tasted it right here in the studio, and your hot dogs were terrific, and I enjoyed every bit of it. And by the way, I...

DEEN: We cooked hot dogs together.

HANNITY: We did, and I did pretty good, right?

DEEN: Yes, you did real good. Well, of course, you're an ex-chef. So I didn't expect anything less.

COLMES: You're an ex-chef?

HANNITY: That's right. Well, I don't know if I'd call myself a chef, but I did — I was a cook in a restaurant. And, you know...

DEEN: And that's all I am too.

HANNITY: You didn't know that?

COLMES: No, I did not know that.

HANNITY: Alan didn't know that. We've been working together all these years.

COLMES: Do you serve only Republicans?

HANNITY: Of course. I don't want to poison the restaurant.

You know, by the way, you suffer...

DEEN: Yes.

HANNITY: ... I suffer Colmesaphobia sometimes. You know? Fear of Colmes.

COLMES: And he runs screaming in the opposite direction.

HANNITY: Let me...

DEEN: What can I say?

HANNITY: By the way, it's a great thing you're doing. But I've got to — my wife's going to kill me after tonight's show, but I'm going to throw it out anyway.

DEEN: Yes.

HANNITY: I do most of the cooking at home, you know, or we eat out a lot, or we order in a lot. You know, my wife can't fry an egg, Paula.

And tonight she was trying to, you know — God bless her heart, she was trying to cook chicken, and she just burned the living daylights out of it. And I said, "Honey, that's a little dry and not too good for the kids."

And she goes, "No, it's really juicy."

And I'm like — what do you do if somebody can't cook and doesn't — wants to start from the beginning?

DEEN: Maybe, Sean, she needs to roast her chicken, rather than fry it.

HANNITY: Can I send her to you for a week? Would you take care of her?

DEEN: Send her on down, honey. Send her on down. No guarantees that I'll be here, but you can send her on down. We can put her in the kitchen at The Lady and Sons. How's that? And when you get her back, she'll be...

HANNITY: I brought her this weekend — you'd be very proud of me. I brought her French toast in bed, and I have a special way...

DEEN: Are you kidding?

HANNITY: I did.

DEEN: Why?

HANNITY: I just felt like it.

DEEN: Wow.

HANNITY: Because I'm such a great guy.

DEEN: You just wanted to?

HANNITY: I just wanted to.

DEEN: Oh, gosh...

HANNITY: Now, this is a little disagreement. She likes, you know, Aunt Jemima syrup, and I like — I like the real stuff from Vermont. How can anyone eat that other stuff? I don't get it.

DEEN: Oh, my gosh. Isn't it out of this world? And down here, Sean, we like that strong cane syrup that almost looks like motor oil.

HANNITY: Like — say that again?

COLMES: Motor oil.

HANNITY: Say "motor oil" again? What is that?

DEEN: Motor oil.

COLMES: Sean did cook for me once, but my food taster died.

HANNITY: What a shame.

All right. Paula, we love you.

DEEN: Are you guys ready for Christmas?

HANNITY: Thank you for helping all these great people out. We love you. You know that. God bless you.

DEEN: Sean, it just gives me the warmest feeling to be able to do like — like we did today.

HANNITY: Yes. You're a great American.

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