Bountiful Birmingham, by Merle Exit

Given a choice of Birmingham Alabama FAM (Forever A Meal) tours, a culinary experience was in order. I was so looking forward to that “down home” inspired southern fare. Just about every state produces wines as I thirsted for a tasting of three wineries on the Alabama Wine Trail Tour.  Ozan Vineyard and Cellars was the first. I loved sitting outside with a free feeling view of the vineyards while sipping their peach wine, my favorite of their wines.  

Vizzini Farms Winery was most interesting in learning about their Sicilian history and their wine making.  The steel containers are imported from Italy and they use oak chips to flavor the wine to give that oak barrel taste.  They couldn’t have come up with a better wine for me: Chocolate Raspberry Merlot.  The nose gets the chocolate while the taste begins with a fruity merlot and then receives the chocolate flavor at the back of the tongue as it passes.  Morgan Creek Vineyards focused on Muscadine grapes.  Although I was open to engaging in a full wine tasting none of their wines particularly appealed to me.  

The itinerary read, “Dinner at Highland’s Bar & Grill with Chef Frank Stitt”. This guy is a biggy here with all kinds of kudos. We had the opportunity to really sample the menu.  Showcasing Gulf seafood I ordered their seafood sampler, Guadalupe Special and got: a dozen Apalachicola Oysters (I just didn’t want any others); Bayou LaBatre crab claws with a homemade ginger sauce (tiny but really tasty); and Shrimp Cocktail (shrimp didn’t taste too fresh).

Loved the Beef Carpaccio but wasn’t wild about his signature Stone Ground Baked Grits surrounded by country ham, mushrooms, thyme and parmesan. I did like the roasted duck filled with ricotta, spinach and apples with a mushroom sauce and dessert of Chocolate Bread Pudding. As for Chef Frank Stitt, he never showed. I asked where he was and told that he was at his other restaurant located about 3 blocks away and wouldn’t stop by for a photo op. 

The next morning breakfast took place at Jones Valley Urban Farms. Now here was cool thing. A 5-acre vacant lot in downtown Birmingham where locals take a plot and grow their own organic fruits, vegetables or flowers. His name is Clayton Sherrod a Year of Alabama Food Ambassador and president of Chef Clayton’s Food Systems. Our buffet consisted of such goodies as baked brie with pecans atop and a peach sauce and his signature Shrimp & Grits. He even gave us a demonstration of how he makes the Shrimp & Grits served as if you were having a shrimp cocktail with creamy grits and sauce at the bottom of the glass.  

Birmingham’s Pepper Place Saturday Market introduced me to the world of corn products when I met Frank and Helen McEwen, owners of McEwen & Sons, a company specializing in converting corn kernels into a nitty gritty cuisine that both Sherrod and Stit make use of.  

It was a few years back that I spent some time at Country Corner in Alpha Illinois learning about varieties of corn. There is the sweet corn that we cook up and splatter with butter. Take an ear of popping corn and simply flick off the kernels and pop away in either an air popper or right over the stove. Indian corn is for show and not for eating. It’s the field corn the is used to feed livestock as well as being the source for corn products such as corn meal, grits and polenta.

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