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Village Tavern Mary Grace HowardVillage Tavern’s Corporate Chef Mary Grace Viado Howard shares recipes.

By Jan Walsh

Photography by Beau Gustafson












Mary Grace Viado Howard is the Corporate Chef of all Village Tavern restaurants. So she gets to choose which location to call home. And she chose Birmingham—many years ago—and has lived and worked here happily since.  The Birmingham location is at the lower level of The Summit and is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, and brunch on weekends. Today she shares her scrumptious, scratch made, fish and chips, along with her recipes for coleslaw and tartar sauce.

Fish and Chips Ingredients:

2  (for each serving) 4 ounce cod filets
1/8 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/8  Teaspoon Coarse Grind Black Pepper
All Purpose Flour, enough to coat
Beer Batter (see recipe)
1 Leaf Lettuce, for each serving
1 Cup Coleslaw  
1 Cup French Fries, seasoned with Sea salt
¼ Cup Tartar Sauce (see recipe)
1 Each Lemon Wedge (see recipe)

Fish and Chips Procedure:
Season Cod Fillets with Kosher salt and black pepper. Dust with all  purpose flour. Dredge in Beer batter and coat evenly. Drop  in 350º fryer (or you can use a pot with Oil over the stove) for four to five minutes. Drop frozen fries in 350º fryer for two minutes and 15 seconds. Once cooked, shake to drain excess oil. Sprinkle Sea salt over French Fries.  Shake to cover all. Once the fish is cooked, place on plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil. Place leaf lettuce at 10:00, top with coleslaw. Place lemon wedge beside coleslaw at 9:00 position. Place ramekin of Tartar sauce at 2:00 position. Place hot French fries between 4:00 to 9:00 position. Lean the fish filets on the French fries. Serve with Malt Vinegar if desired.

Beer Batter Ingredients:village tavern fish and chips
2  Cups full body beer, Warsteiner, Dos XX  Amber, or Yuengling  
1  Tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2  Teaspoons kosher salt
¼  Teaspoon white pepper
2 Eggs per serving
¼  Teaspoon baking powder
2 ½ Cups all purpose flour

Beer Batter Ingredients:
In a mixing bowl using a wire whisk, combine all ingredients until well combined.

Coleslaw Ingredients:
2  Cups cabbage, coarse shredded
¼  Cup carrots, finely shredded
1/2  Cup mayonnaise
1  Teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
1/8   Teaspoon white pepper

Cole Slaw Procedure:
In a mixing bowl, add shredded cabbage and carrots and toss. In another mixing bowl using a wire whisk, mix mayonnaise, sugar, salt, white vinegar, and white pepper. Mix dressing with cabbage completely, store and refrigerate until needed. Makes one cup.

Tartar Sauce Ingredients:
1  Tablespoon yellow onion, finely diced
¼  Cup dill pickles, finely diced
2  Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
¾  Teaspoon parsley flakes
1  Cup mayonnaise

Tartar Sauce Procedure:

Finely dice onion and pickles. Place in a mixing bowl. Add Dijon mustard, parsley flakes and mayonnaise, fold together with a rubber spatula. Place tartar sauce in storage container and refrigerate until needed. Serves 1-2.

Published, B-Metro magazine, November, 2014



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