Silver-haired Savannah beauty and Food Network star Paula Deen has nothing against letting her now-famously familiar hair down. The author of a brutally frank autobiography (Paula Deen: It Ain’t All About the Cookin’, 2009), Deen’s no stranger to speaking candidly. Whether she’s trading barbs with Anthony Bourdain, filming one of her many shows or gearing up for a national tour in support of her most ambitious title yet, Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible, the Georgia native doesn’t hesitate to step out of the kitchen and into the fire.

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Deen talked to us about her improbable road to success, her aversion to the food police and why she considers herself a cook and not a chef.

That is some whopper of a title. Did you think twice before going with it?

I had my reservations. I was afraid people would say, “Who does she think she is putting Bible in the title?” It made me a little nervous. But my editors and publishers all loved it. They fought me on it, pulling one way and then another. Writing over a dozen books does not make me an expert and in the end I had to go with them.

I’m real excited about the book, and I’ll tell you why. When I got married at 18, my mother’s best friend gave me a shower. I received one lone cookbook, the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. Now that was my Bible. If I couldn’t get my Aunt Peggy, my grandmother, Aunt Trina or my mama…to help me learn how to cook, I turned to that book. I still have that book displayed in my kitchen. I wore out the pages. What I’m hoping for this book is that it will be an updated version of that Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.

Every recipe in it—even crown roasts—takes four or fewer steps to make. Is that to help cooks short on time?

Listen, when people walk into their kitchens I don’t want them to be intimated. In most families, there is a minimum of two workers, and it’s just very hard to put a good meal on the table. I want it to be easy and delicious. I don’t want to send them into a tailspin looking for ingredients.

You often make the point of calling yourself a cook and not a chef. Why?

To me, a chef is someone who has dedicated time and money to a program in an accredited school, and they’ve earned that title. [But] just because you’ve gone to school doesn’t mean that you’re going to be the best of the best. I learned firsthand from my Grandmother Paul’s own home-cooking school, and I would not have taken anything for that experience. The title of cook is almost more reverent to me than chef.

You’ve honed quite a tart riposte to your critics about the health effects of your liberal use of ingredients like canned biscuits, copious cream and sticks of butter…

Yes! When Oprah asked me what I say to them—I looked at her like she had two heads and said, “I’m your cook! Not your doctor!” And that Food Police! Oh I’m so sick of them! And the way the government is getting into the restaurant, counting calories and fat and all. I may be weird, but I think that we are all responsible for ourselves. And I try to be an advocate for moderation.

What about that Elvis Pie in your new book? It’s got two cups of cold heavy cream, cream cheese, peanut butter…

You don’t eat a whole damn Elvis Pie! It’s a fallacy that people think Southerners eat fried chicken and biscuits at every meal. Now that I’ve had a chance to travel I would put Southern food against any other region. Up north you eat meat, steak, pasta. Come down South and have our fresh corn, okra. We eat so many vegetables. 

Have you ever thought about being a vegetarian?

Never once! I do love my fried chicken. How could I give that up?

Among celebrities, is there anyone you are intimidated by?

Not really. Though, naturally, I was a little nervous meeting Oprah that first time. But she put me at ease. 

There’s been only one person who made my heart race, and [made it] hard for me to talk. I mean, I was nervous as a cat on a hot roof. And that was Rosie O’Donnell! Now I got to know Rosie later, and she is a lovely person. I think she’s into crafts, too, because she made me a little box with a picture of me and my grandson Jack on the cover. But it was when I was shootin’ Paula’s Party and she came on as a guest. I didn’t know what she was gonna come out with or what to expect from her. She had been in the news a lot fighting with Donald Trump and leavin’ The View. I knew Rosie could be controversial—I don’t like a lot of controversy. I want everybody to get along and have a good time.

Well, during a break she turned to the audience and says, “Does anybody have any questions? Anything you’d like to talk to me or ask me about?” And I said to myself, “Oh no! Here comes the shit!” And before I knew it, she was talkin’ about the war and the amputees…The audience went from a great time laughin’ to hearin’ a pin drop…She finally said, “Paula, this is your party and I’m bringin’ it down,” and we moved on to something else. She is a lovely person.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I’m ready to get out of this heat! Can’t stand it! Never could get acclimated to it, and I sometimes swear I must be a misplaced Yankee! I am sweatin’ in this heat and let me tell you fat girls don’t sweat cute!