Jan. 4, 9 p.m., chef Bobby Deen, son of famous chef Paula Deen, premieres his Wednesday 13-episode half-hour series “Not My Mama’s Meals” on Cooking Channel.
“My food interest began at age 7,” he told me. “We come from tradition. My brother Jamie and I started as early as we could focus on a stove.
“I live on Wilmington Island off Savannah. Georgia’s into big-time southern food. My mother suffered with crippling agoraphobia, so she wasn’t doing restaurants. Anyhow, growing up, we had no money. We loved eating, but didn’t eat out a lot.
“I’m 41, 5-foot-9, 178 pounds, work with a trainer seven days a week. I’m active. Do jiujitsu, run, lift weights. Although I just came from the gym, I’m an eater. All together, my mother, brother and I own our own restaurant in Savannah.
“I’m no fancy French-type chef, but I come from a line of real foodie cooks. A light lifestyle way of meals. Low Country Boil. A meal in one pot — shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes. Like a gumbo. We eat with our hands.
“Steamed dishes are all ingredients in one basket then poured onto the table with newspaper laid down. It’s a casual era of food. Like tartar soup with crab and oil and seasoning. Breakfast, maybe scrambled eggs and pancakes.”
What about chemicals we hear are in our food today?
“That’s always on my mind. You must read the ingredients and check product packaging to see no sugar or salt’s added. I’m single. No children. Tougher to cook for one person and not waste food or grab quick packaged snacks. I buy local and organic. Eat as cleanly as I can. Not big on processed anything. And use yogurt instead of sour cream.
“I personally have no sweet tooth. I can pass that up. But I love cheese, olives, savories. And do seconds on chili, which I make great, or on goulash, like a beefaroni. Christmas I baked turkey, which we often deep-fry here. Watching TV, I stuff in my mouth almonds, pecans, macadamias — heart-healthy nuts.
Plus a big glass of water.
“It’s addition by subtraction. Remove the fat. And when the family gathers together, mostly grill.”
DESPITE her daughter’s death generating hatred, a Casey Anthony interview’s been pitched to networks. All have given it the razzberry . . . Tony-nominated Alex Timbers (”Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson”) to direct Hamburg, Germany’s 2012 “Rocky” musical, for which Stallone grunted approval . . . Second Avenue Deli — now on First Avenue — was jammed Christmas Day. Must be nobody but Mrs. Claus cooks Dec. 25.
HOLIDAY parties: Former Gov. David Paterson danced his bones out at Park Ave’s all-night hoo-hah of Blue Star Jet’s Todd Rome, which featured an outdoor bar, Three Olives Vodka, the Jonas Brothers, assorted Slotnicks and some guy claiming he was Meyer Lansky’s partner.
The Clintons — Himself, Herself, the Married NBC-TV commentator and her Marc Mezvinsky husband — did Barbetta. Owner Laura Maioglio’s husband Gunter Blobel won medicine’s Nobel Prize while Bill was president.
Noshing at Serendipity, Sean Parker with girlfriend Alexandra Lenas. The guy, worth $2.1 billion, shlepped takeout of chicken and meatloaf to his $20 mil townhouse in the Village, which has an indoor pool and 30 bamboo trees — but no housekeeper or chef. Listen, you have to economize someplace.
PER the Hollywood Reporter’s Trent Reznor burp: “You put a record out and it’s consumed, stolen, judged and forgotten in a day. It used to be a couple days.” . . . Future queen Kate Middleton’s brother-in-law, HRH Prince Harry, bunked here at 51st and Third’s Brit consulate.
FROM the ex-NBA exec who calls herself “Francine”: Top 10 Things Never Heard from a Jewish Person on Hanukkah: 10) We traded the Caddy for a VW. 9) My son, the rapper . . . 8) Pug noses run in our family. 7) Who needs diamonds when there’s Zirconia? 6) We bought a condo in North Dakota. 5) Anyone for horseshoes? 4) Give me a wrench, hammer and screwdriver and tell me where the leak is. 3) My boyfriend’s name is Ahmad and my folks couldn’t be happier. 2) You’re my wife, not a hooker, so get off me, you sex maniac. 1) Just wouldn’t be Hanukkah without grits.
AFRICA’s Sub-Saharan Zambia. One in seven has HIV. At Lusaka airport, Same Sky ladies (from Francine Lefrak’s jewelry company — a different Francine from the one above — whose proceeds support the local women) sang songs of thanks for believing and bringing hope. And her driver’s name? Médecine. Still, customs insisted on fingerprinting both Francine’s hands. Only in Zambia, kids, only in Zambia.
WILLIAM Rapfogel’s New Year’s resolution: The gym every morning and Vicks VapoRub every bedtime. That’s, he says, how he stays healthy. Mr. Rapfogel’s probably 19.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.