5
essential dishes
Alabamian
every should know how to make
By Jennifer Kornegay
T
he Alabama Tourism Department’s “100 Dishes to Eat Before You Die” round-up presents some of the tastiest bites being served at restaurants around Alabama. But while our state has no shortage of locations to enjoy a delicious meal out, we’ve also got a hefty helping of outstanding home cooks. For our kitchen wiz readers, we’ve created another Alabama-food-focused collection. We enlisted the help of several Alabama food aficionados (chefs and restaurant owners, writers and a foodways expert) and asked them to share their
picks for dishes that Alabama cooks ought to have in their recipe repertoire. Read on for the Essential Alabama Dishes list we compiled with their input. But note: We’re not claiming these are our state’s only powerful or popular foods; they’re just a few mouthfuls out of a deep and wide pot. Also note: We don’t think you should make these dishes just sometime before you die; we think you should find an appealing recipe in one of your cookbooks, (or get on Google) and get cookin’ right now!
Cornbread In 2014, cornbread was finally and officially elevated to the place of prominence it has long held in many a Southern food lover’s heart (and stomach). That year, it became Alabama’s state bread, beating even the showy biscuit for the title. And yet, it’s still a humble dish, relatively cheap and uncomplicated to make, rarely adorned with more than butter. The hardest part may be deciding which version of cornbread to go with. There’s more than one type, and some debates on what constitutes “authentic” cornbread can get as hot as the cast iron skillet your grandmother used for hers, but for our purposes, we’re including any kind with cornmeal as the majority grain. Bob Carlton, a veteran journalist who writes about food for AL.com, This is Alabama and The Birmingham News, included cornbread on his list of iconic Alabama foods along with an admonishment for those who are cornbread-challenged. “If you don’t already know how to cook cornbread, you need to rectify that situation right now,” he says. “A wedge of hot-out-the-skillet cornbread smeared with a melting pat of butter brings back memories of my childhood, and no home-cooked Sunday dinner is complete without it.” His mention of how memory can factor mightily in the foods 12 MAY 2022
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we cherish mixes well with Lisa Thomas-McMillan’s thoughts on a different kind of cornbread, the fried cornbread fritters that topped her list of essential Alabama dishes. The owner of Drexell & Honeybee’s in Brewton — a “pay what you can” restaurant feeding the needs of its community (featured in the Dec. 2018 issue of Alabama Living) — believes that fritters often draw curious diners precisely because they’re a bit different from what some are used to. “Just the idea that it is not a muffin or a hunk of cornbread makes people anxious to try fried cornbread fritters,” she said. www.alabamaliving.coop
4/13/22 11:46 AM
