How to Pair Wine with Favorite Foods

With Fried Foods: Prosecco or Riesling

Rieslings are extraordinarily versatile with food.

  • Fried chicken
  • Fried gator bites with raspberry jalapeno sauce
  • Calamari Christiano
  • Empanadas
  • Deep-fried loompyas
  • Egg rolls
  • Fried pickles

Spicy: Gamay, Zweigelt, Schiava, and some Pinot Noirs 

Why: Avoid red wines with high levels of tannin and oak, as those will make the spicy food seem all the spicier. 

  • Chicken jambalaya
  • Jerk chicken
  • Spicy basil chicken
  • Chicken wings

Tomato-y: Cabernet sauvignon/Zinfandel

Why: The richer the red sauce you have in your pasta or pizza dish, the more tangy and bold you want your red wine to be.

  • Pizza
  • Bread and sauce
  • Lasagna
  • Meatballs and sauce

Sushi, seafood, spring vegetables:  Dry, austere, and crisp, chenin blanc and pinot grigio are the wines to reach for when serving lean, white fish cooked simply. Flounder, halibut, walleye, snapper, raw clams, or oysters all do well with these wines.

  • Shrimp tempura
  • Lobster roll
  • Falafel
  • Shrimp wrap
  • Spring roll

A Taste of Jeni’s Sorbet

Dairy-free, gluten-free and guilt free is what you get to experience with Jeni’s sorbet. She has multiple flavors including banana, lemon and even a Frosé. I sampled the frosé. I was looking for a hint rosé. Instead the exoerience resembled the taste of a mouth full of frozen strawberries. Rosé is listed in the ingredients. Jeni’s sells pints and mini 3.6 fluid ounce containers.

Vegan Oyster Mushroom Po’ Boy Recipe

Mushroom Po’Boy from Cafe Le Fleur

Until I was dining with a vegan friend at the restaurant Cafe Le Fleur in Laurel, Mississippi, I never entertained the idea of Cajun/Creole vegan cuisine. Although, not on the menu, my dining partner said the restaurant always obliges her with making a Mushroom Po’ Boy. Thus, after dining I did my research to find out if mushroom po boys were in a thing in the vegan/vegetarian community and low and behold it is. I found a couple of recipes for the vegan oyster mushroom po’ boy. Take your pick:

Vegan Oyster Mushroom Po’ Boy by Vegnews.com

Vegan Oyster Mushroom Po’ Boy by foodrepublic.com

Vegan Oyster Mushroom Po’ Boy by loveandlemons.com

The Legend of Alabama White Sauce & Recipe

Image from the Tasteandtellblog.com

As a member of the casting team of Home Town, I had to watch what was going on Home Town Takeover. Eddie Jackson from the Food Network stopped to help some Wetumpka, Alabama bar & restaurant owners with his special spin on a burger with a touch of Alabama White Sauce. I had to know the story of this legendary sauce which I’d never heard about.

History of Alabama White Sauce

Seven days a week, folks from all around make the pilgrimage to the port city of Decatur, Ala., to discover the wonders of a magical liquid concoction known simply as “Alabama white sauce.”

Decatur, a city of about 55,000 people on the banks of the Tennessee River in North Alabama, is considered the birthplace of that famous barbecue sauce, and one of its favorite sons, a towering railroad man aptly named “Big” Bob Gibson, is the one who originated the recipe nearly a century ago.

So, among connoisseurs and curiosity-seekers alike, a visit to either of the two locations of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur is like going to the promised land.

“Big Bob Gibson is a destination,” says Chris Lilly, a world champion barbecue pitmaster who is married to a great-granddaughter of the legendary Gibson. “At any time, if you go out into the Big Bob Gibson parking lot, you see license plates from all over. READ MORE

Click Here for Eddie Jackson’s Alabama White Sauce Recipe

Restaurant featured on Home Town Takeover was Coaches Corner.

Ms. Dot’s Poundcake Recipe: Featured on HGTV’s Hometown

The hit show Hometown on HGTV made not only fans excited but folks with southern roots excited by featured recipe by a local by the name of Ms. Dot.

Ingredients

  • All purpose flour – 3 cups
  • Sugar – 3 cups
  • Six eggs
  • Butter – 3 sticks
  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Ms. Dot Sharing Recipe

And Whatever you do, don’t preheat that oven – Oh no, no no!

Click for Recipe

Love Hometown? Thinking of moving to Laurel, Mississippi and don’t mind being featured on the show? Contact hometowncasting@rtrmedia.com

New Orleans: C & A Seafood

Although most restaurants in New Orleans are worth the wait in the more touristy locations such as Jackson Square, Magazine St and Bourbon St, you’ll find C&A seafood off the beaten path of Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and close to the major interstates by 5 minutes or less. My mother at age 75 was not up to standing in line or walking the streets so we searched for a non-tourist location.

Shrimp Po’ Boy

C&A is Asian owned so not only will you find New Orleans cuisine but a few Chinese offerings. This would not have been my pick for an authentic experience. I wanted the glamorous trendy/classic but it seems C & A has repeat local business so that was a good sign.

Sitting outside at picnic table eating gumbo

The front the building has a pleasing decor with picnic tables fun for eating with friends or family. Perhaps you’ll share a tray of crawfish or crab boil tray you can order.

However, my mother and ordered smaller classic New Orleans cuisine such as gumbo and a Shrimp Po Boy. We were both pleased.. Including the one large tea, the price was $23 bucks.

Address: 1429 S Jefferson Davis Pkwy, New Orleans, LA 70125-1729

Order a to go tray of the crab boil or crawfish

Phone: +1 504-822-8497

Laurel, MS: Sweet Somethings Bakery

You’ll find a variety of sweet somethings at the Laurel, Mississippi based Sweet Somethings bakery. Upon entry, to your right stands a section for ice cream, on your left the bakery treats from sticky buns to cupcakes to honeybuns and to your center lies a view of where the baking magic happens.

They also serve a few savory varieties of breakfast crossaints.

Address: 543 Central Ave

Laurel, Mississippi

Website: https://www.sweetsomethingsbakery.com

Phone: 601- 340-3880

Mississippi: The Smokehouse of Laurel

Beef Brisket from the Smokehouse of Laurel.

The Smokehouse of Laurel doesn’t disappoint. You can walk in or go through the drive through. Expect okra, fries and slaw among the sides and whether it is a smoked brisket sandwich or a pulled worked sandwich, you’ll find robust flavor. If you are not into beef or pork, don’t worry because you’ll find chicken on the menu too.

If Laurel, Mississippi sounds familiar, it the town in which HGTV’s Hometown is filmed.

Driving through for food.