Cutting Up in the Kitchen: Food and Fun from Southern National’s Chef Duane Nutter

Chef Duane Nutter’s fusion style of cooking blends modern American bistro with regional direction and global inspiration that adds a new blast of flavor or a twist in the preparation to make familiar Southern food even better.

Chef Duane Nutter is a storyteller with his Southern-fusion cuisine, his comfortable yet informative writing style, and his humor. Cutting Up In the Kitchen: Food and Fun from Southern National’s Chef Duane Nutter offers more than 100 Southern-leaning recipes composed of familiar ingredients that are often infused with international flavors. While widely praised for his cooking prowess by the likes of the James Beard Foundation, the New York Times, and the FAB (Airport Food and Beverage) Awards, Nutter is also known as The Mad Chef from his stand-up comedy act.

This cookbook, full of sophisticated yet approachable recipes, is organized like a comedy act with chapter titles such as The Set Up (Cocktails), Stock Material (Sauces and Condiments), Open-Mikers (Appetizers, Salads, and Soups); Bit Parts (Side Dishes); The Hook (Fish and Seafood Main Courses); Headliners (Main Courses), and Curtain Calls (Desserts). You will find recipes for Spiced Rum Iced Coffee and Coconut Negroni to whet your whistle; Smoked Paprika Compound Butter and Mustard Green Chimichurri to flavor dishes; Arugula Salad with Golden Beets, Pickled Grapes, and Spiced Pecans along with Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs to start the meal; Sautéed Royal Red Shrimp with Bourbon Maque Choux or Lamb Burger Helper for a main course, and Buttermilk and Honey Ice Cream, Citrus Bread Pudding, or Cheesecake Flan to close the show. A good time will be had by all!

Born in Louisiana, grew up in Seattle, Washington, and raised on Creole and Southern cuisine, Chef Duane Nutter began his culinary career at the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta. After splitting his time between the kitchen and open-mic nights doing stand-up comedy as The Mad Chef, Nutter was named the chef and spokesperson of the National Peanut Board. He then went on to work at the Ritz Carlton in Palm Beach, Florida, and the famed Oakroom in Louisville, Kentucky.

Nutter competed on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” and cooked at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City before accepting the position as One Flew South’s executive chef. In 2017, Nutter opened Southern National in Mobile, Alabama, before moving it to Atlanta in 2023. Chef Nutter is the chef and owner of the Southern National restaurant and the Southern National Market. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn is an Atlanta-based photographer specializing in food, interior, flower, and people photography.