Morgan Murphy - Southern Living Off the Eaten Path: On the Road Again: More Unforgettable Foods and Characters from the Souths Back Roads and Byways

Southern Living Off the Eaten Path On the Road Again Morgan Murphy Yall, As much as I love searching the Internet for Kanye West memes and finding old Caddy parts on eBay, you cant Google good restaurant and get results that match your tastes. The recipe-packed goodness youre holding right now required a road trip covering 60 cities, 15,000 miles, scores of restaurants, and several hundred thousand calories. I researched this book the old-fashioned way: by visiting each diner, farm, restaurant, steakhouse, and burger joint; devouring everything in sight; interviewing owners, wait staff, and customers; and cajoling the recipes from cooks and chefs. My tastes are simple. I judge a restaurant as a stool that stands on three legs: food, service, and ambiance. To make these pages, a restaurant must be excellent in all three, and be Southern and family-owned as well.

Also, you should know that I am not a food snob. I eat just about everything from fried green tomatoes to foie gras, so thats reflected in the recipes, too. The food in On the Road Again is as varied as the South itself. What it is not is low calorie: If youre on a diet, put the book down and slowly back away. That said, though the dishes here are rich, you wont find artificial flavors, shortcuts, preservatives, or ingredients you cant pronounce. Visit as many spots as I do each year and youll see that Southern restaurants in particular anchor their communities.

Dine at these places and I promise youll make new friends. Owners such as Lisa Sissy Garza, who has a thing for Champagne and fried chicken at her , charms customers with 50-cent happy hour, fried cornbread, and fritters crafted from pimiento cheese. If you leave and dont want to hug Lisa on your way out, you may need both a personality and taste bud transplant. When you visit these restaurants, take a pic and tag me @_morganmurphy on Twitter or Instagram. Whether you craft these dishes in your kitchen, or map out your own Southern road trip adventure, thank you for supporting the culinary artists who make our region shine. I wish you full plates, glasses, tables, and hearts.

Eat up! 2015 Time Inc. Books 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Southern Living is a registered trademark of Time Inc. Lifestyle Group. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, excepting brief quotations in connection with reviews written specifically for inclusion in magazines or newspapers, or limited excerpts strictly for personal use. eISBN: 978-0-84875-310-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015932678 Printed in the United States of America First Printing 2015 Oxmoor House Creative Director: Felicity Keane Art Director: Christopher Rhoads Executive Photography Director: Iain Bagwell Executive Food Director: Grace Parisi Managing Editor: Elizabeth Tyler Austin Assistant Managing Editor: Jeanne de Lathouder Off the Eaten Path: On The Road Again Editor: Sarah A.

Gleim Project Editor: Emily Chappell Connolly Editorial Assistant: April Smitherman Senior Designer: Melissa Clark Assistant Designer: Allison Sperando Potter Assistant Test Kitchen Manager: Alyson Moreland Haynes Recipe Developers and Testers: Stefanie Maloney, Callie Nash, Karen Rankin Food Stylists: Nathan Carrabba, Victoria E. Cox, Margaret Monroe Dickey, Catherine Crowell Steele Photo Editor: Kellie Lindsey Senior Photographer: Hlne Dujardin Senior Photo Stylists: Kay E. Clarke, Mindi Shapiro Levine Senior Production Manager: Sue Chodakiewicz Assistant Production Manager: Diane Rose Keener Contributors Writer: Morgan Murphy Executive Editor: Katherine Cobbs Copy Editor: Donna Baldone Proofreaders: Lauren Brooks, Adrienne Davis Indexer: Mary Ann Laurens Fellows: Laura Arnold, Kylie Dazzo, Nicole Fisher, Loren Lorenzo, Anna Ramia, Caroline Smith, Amanda Widis Recipe Developers and Testers: Leah Van Deren, Tamara Goldis, R.D. Recipe Editor: Julie Christopher Food Stylist: Ana Kelly Photographer: Art Meripol (front cover) Photo Stylists: Mary Clayton Carl, Missie Neville Crawford Time Home Entertainment Inc. Publisher: Margot Schupf Vice President, Finance: Vandana Patel Executive Director, Marketing Services: Carol Pittard Publishing Director: Megan Pearlman Assistant General Counsel: Simone Procas ALABAMA ALABAMA JULY 30 Depart Gulfport, Mississippi for Orange Beach, Alabama for late lunch at The Gulf (try fried grouper sandwich). Spend the night.

JULY 31 Meet with Tin Top Cafe owner Robert Missildine in Grady, Alabama at 11 a.m. Return to Birmingham. AUGUST 11 Meet Acre chef and owner David Bancroft in Auburn at 1. Make butter bean gnocchi. Dinner at Melt, Birmingham. Tin Top Cafe 24319 Troy Highway
Grady, Alabama 36036
(334) 584-7518 I like to hop into my big, old Cadillac and motor down to the Tin Top Cafe in Grady, Alabama, for some country cooking like no other.

Owner Robert Missildine will sit on the porch with you and swap stories about politics, fishing, and that time Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr. sang about the Tin Top. Its a hole in the wall, kinda small, but the people are real nice. (Theres music video proof if you search for Redneck Paradise on YouTube.) The Tin Tops menu is traditional Bama meat and three, which might set you back $10 if you order sweet tea and leave a big tip. And God bless em; its one of the last spots in America where you can order orange fluff and not be at a church revival. Corn Salad Nothing beats the taste of freshly shucked corn.

Its that flavor, plus a good mayonnaise (preferably homemade, but Dukes if youre short on time), that is the key to Tin Top Cafes corn salad. 3 ears bicolored fresh corn, husks removed cup mayonnaise 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme tsp. table salt tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1 cups diced seeded tomato 1 cup chopped green bell pepper cup thinly sliced green onions Cook corn in boiling salted water in a large Dutch oven 6 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Let stand 20 minutes or until cool. Cut kernels into a large bowl to measure 3 cups. Discard cobs. Stir together mayonnaise and next 3 ingredients until blended. Stir mayonnaise mixture, tomato, and remaining ingredients into corn. Cover and chill 30 minutes.

Makes: 9 servings Acre 210 East Glenn Avenue
Auburn, Alabama 36830
(334) 246-3763
acreauburn.com