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Down Home with the Neelys: A Southern Family Cookbook

by Patrick Neely, Gina Neely, Paula Disbrowe

Knopf (May 12, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0307269949
ISBN-13: 978-0307269942

Meet the Neelys: Pat and Gina, husband-and-wife team, hosts of their own television show, and proprietors of the celebrated Memphis and Nashville eateries, Neely’s Bar-B-Que.

The Neelys’ down-home approach to cooking has earned them the highest accolades from coast to coast. It has also won them millions of viewers on the Food Network. Simply put, the Neelys are all about good food and good times. In this, their eagerly awaited debut cookbook, the Neelys share the delicious food they have been cooking up for years both at home and in their restaurants.

Pat and Gina hail from families with a boundless love of cooking and bedrock traditions of sharing meals. At the Neelys’, mealtime is family time, and that means no stinting on “the sauce.” Indeed, that’s one of the Neely secrets: the liberal application of barbeque sauce to almost anything—spaghetti, nachos, salad, you name it. Of course, there are other secrets as well, and you will find them all in the pages of Down Home with the Neelys, along with more than 120 mouthwatering recipes.

Here are the tried-and-true southern recipes that have been passed down from one Neely generation to the next, including many of their signature dishes, such as Barbeque Deviled Eggs, Florida Coast Pickled Shrimp, Pat’s Wings of Fire, Gina’s Collard Greens, Grandma Jean’s Potato Salad, Nana’s Southern Gumbo, Memphis-sized Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Slaw, Get Yo’ Man Chicken, and Sock-It-to-Me Cake. Certainly, no self-respecting southerner would dream of offering a meal to a guest without a proper drink, so Pat and Gina have included some of their favorite libations here, too.

The Neelys work, laugh, love, and play harder than any family you’ll ever meet. Their love for good food is infectious, and in Down Home with the Neelys, they bring their heavenly inspired cooking down to earth for all to share.


About the Authors

Patrick and Gina Neely are owners of Neely’s Bar-B-Que in Memphis and Nashville and hosts of the Food Network series Down Home with the Neelys. They have been married since 1994 and live in Memphis with their two daughters (and scores of other kin nearby).

Food writer Paula Disbrowe’s cookbook Cowgirl Cuisine was published in March 2007. She lives with her husband, daughter, and menagerie of animals in Austin, Texas.


REVIEW

My mother introduced me to the Neelys. Every Saturday she came home from dialysis talking about these wonderful people who cook food that had her wishing she was there so she could eat it.

For Christmas I gave her The Neelys first season on DVD. I spent one day watching it with her and I was hooked. When I heard they were writing a cookbook, I knew I wanted a copy. I was not disappointed. The recipes are easy to understand and something you could see yourself making. The pictures make you hungry and want to cook something.

My first recipe was the turkey barbeque meatloaf, simple and delicious. My next recipe will be the pound cake. I’ve always wanted to make a pound cake. If you’re looking for some down home recipes, check out the Neelys and if you’re in Nashville or Memphis, stop by their restaurant. LCH