Recipes › Appetizers

Contagious Dish

A good food photo goes viral, triggering recipe requests.

By Jan Walsh

I recently purchased 10 vintage crab ramekins from the 1940s to make deviled crab. I crave it at but don’t find it often in restaurants. After scouring the internet for five-star recipes, I took a little bit of this and a little bit of that to create my own.

fresh organic cranberry sauce spread Fresh Organic Cranberry Sauce & Spread Recipe 

My favorite Thanksgiving cranberry sauce doubles as a Christmas appetizer. 

By Jan Walsh 


I grew up watching the two generations, before me, open cans of jellied cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. It would slide out of the can whole, and presented circular can impressions on the slimy, giggly, log, which would then be cut into slices. Hmm, guess the slicing is what those circles were really for… But I never understood why such an otherwise beautiful Thanksgiving meal had to be accompanied by canned cranberry. Even if you liked it, which I did not (at least the one bite of it I ever tasted), it was not worthy of the turkey and dressing it was there to enhance. 


Village Tavern Mary GracePack a picnic with Village Tavern’s deviled eggs.

By Jan Walsh

Photography by Beau Gustafson

       
Summertime, and Village Tavern’s Corporate Chef, Mary Grace Viado makes the cooking easy. She shares her recipe for pimento cheese deviled eggs. They are prefect for a summertime picnic or family gathering and pair well with Village Tavern’s Cubano Sliders.

Spring Salad

Chef Tom Saab shares Bistro 218’s West Indies Salad.

By Jan Walsh

Photography by Beau Gustafson

Can’t cook? No sweat. Prepare Bistro 218’s West Indies Salad without a stove. “This salad originates in Mobile Alabama and is our homage to Alabama cuisine,” Chef and Owner, Tom Saab describes. Bistro 218’s version of West Indies Salad adds the tasty additions of aioli and tomato to the traditional recipe. Yet crab remains the star of this dish with its delicate flavor shining through. “When cooking with crabmeat at Bistro 218 we strive to not mask the flavor with seasonings or fat.” And he achieves excellence in this delightful dish.

Bamboo Chef AbhiMake Chef Abhi Sainju’s momos at home.

By Jan Walsh

Photography by Beau Gustafson


Chef Abhi Sainju is a self-trained chef. As a native of Nepal he began cooking in 2006 because he could not find the same food in the U.S. that he had growing up with in Nepal. His fare first became popular with his catering business, Everest Sushi in 2013. Today he shares one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, Momos, in an easier, make at home version.

George Reis 5 point oyster bar Chef George Reis prepares Alabama oysters at 5 Point Public House Oyster Bar.

By Jan Walsh

Photography by Beau Gustafson


Chef George Reis has shucked many an oyster at Ocean Restaurant. But today we are shucking and frying Alabama oysters next door at his new restaurant, 5 Point Public House Oyster bar. Here Reis serves his succulent oysters with two special touches, his own house made hot sauce and house made crackers.


shulas fried lobster tail recipeLobster Lover

Shula's Flash Fried Lobster in 10 Simple Steps

By Jan Walsh

Photography by Beau Gustafson


I have an ongoing, and well publicized, love affair with Shula's Flash Fried Lobster. After covering it in Birmingham magazine's "One Dish" column and in "The Birmingham 100" for 2008, I am back for more. Today I want to learn the secrets of how executive chef of both Shula's Steak House and The Wynfrey Hotel, Rick Daidone prepares this wonderful dish.

Lovely Lobster

George Reis shares his secret seasoning and grilling technique for lobster tails. 

By Jan Walsh

Photography by Beau Gustafson

The hickory wood fired, grilled baby lobster tails at Ocean and 26 are divine. They are consistently moist, succulent, and sweet. Executive chef and co-owner of Ocean and 26, George Reis shares his secrets. One secret is the art of building a hickory wood fire in a wood burning grill-and knowing how to cook on it. Another secret is "The Love," which is a seasoning that goes on every piece of grilled fish at Ocean.