This newsletter – some call it a blog – is a new way for me to share with the Auburn – Opelika community. My brief first issue was in May 2023. It is still available on this site. What followed was a full edition from June forward.

In the newsletters I’ve talked about food products, shared recipes and experiences with restaurants. On top of that, I was able to add information about wines we have had recently. I’m able to say more now and freely share my opinions. Sure is fun.

I hope you will consider supporting 1856 in the Culinary Center at Auburn University, and Byron’s Smokehouse in Auburn. Sure enjoyed my recent visits.

BTW – The links in the newsletter are live. Click in an underlined name and it take you to their website or Facebook page.

New Items at Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A has a new sandwich. I’ve been hearing about it all summer and the market trials. On August 28^th the Honey Pepper Pimento Cheese Sandwich was offered nationwide. This is the first time the company has offered a seasonal twist to its signature sandwich.

Here’s what you get. An original chicken filet topped with pimento cheese. There are pickled jalapeno slices under the filet when served. The chicken is drizzled with honey before the top bun goes on.

I got mine on the 29^th. A regular lunch Wednesday with my friend Fred Varner. He went inside and ordered the new sandwich with CFA’s waffle fries and tea for him. I had my own signature water at home. I still can’t get up from regular seating. We have lunch at my house.

The sandwich was presented in a box with his name on it and marked as a carry out. It came with a smile, too.

The pimento cheese is very good and made in a creamy style. It is prepared with green chilis and red pimentos along with grated Cheddar. A little honey goes on top at service. The slight sweetness is really nice with the savory pimento cheese and fried chicken. The sweet hits you as an after effect. The pickled jalapenos are mild.

All in all this is a fine addition to the Chick-fil-A menu. Adds variety in a solid product. These folks have also added a Caramel Crumble Milkshake made with butterscotch caramel flavors at the same time.

BTW – CFA is also testing a new grilled chicken sandwich!

Recent Wines

Lots of us enjoy wine with our food or just as a beverage before or after we have our evening meal. Favorites? Sure. But most of us enjoy the adventure of a new wine. Often with a familiar grape. Chardonnay for example. Sometimes we find something new. It attracts us. We want more. Can be disappointing too. Maybe not that one again. The good thing is another brand may be so different that the loser becomes one we like. Good reason to keep looking for new wines.

Over the last month we revisited a few wines from years back plus some new ones. Here’s a look at some of them.

Bonny Doon Vineyard Vin Gris de Cigare. My friend David Weiss introduced me to this wine over 30 years ago. It’s a California Rosé made by Randall Graham. He calls it “Pink Wine of the Earth.” We got it as part of our Summer Sippers selection a few months ago. It’s worth looking for.

Stars Touch of Rosé. This is a sparkling Cava from Spain. It’s a pale pink, has a refreshing flavor and lots and lots of tiny bubbles. It looks great in a flute glass.

Hall Ranch Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is from the Paso Robles area in California. Unlike some Sauvignon Blanc wines, this one is crisp yet smooth and very food friendly. It’s easy to sip too. Pear and apple are stronger than the grapefruit. We enjoyed ours with braised chicken, fresh bread, a fruit salad made from yellow tomatoes and strawberries.

Pedroncelli Zinfandel. This one is an old friend – the mid 60’s. The winery has been around for almost 100 years in Geyserville, CA.

Zins tend to be jammy and juicy. Perfect with BBQ. Often avoided by wine folks though. Given some time in the bottle, they smooth out and drink well with food. There’s still good color but a pleasing softer edge.

Buy a few bottles of one you like and lose it for a while. Like a few years. When you open it, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Pierre-Henri Gadais Vendange Nocturne. This wine is made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape in the Loire Valley in France. Grapes for this wine are harvested at night. The clever label has the moon and stars on it. This wine is organic and also truly vegan.

We had our Nocturne with shrimp. It’s quite seafood friendly. Its medium body and fresh flavors make it just right for sipping.

Clos Fourtet. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. This Merlot-driven Bordeaux is from the highest part of the area. Along with Merlot there is both Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes for this wine are grown on just 47 acres. The winery’s website is nicely done and worth a visit.

This 1995 wine was smooth and quite complex. We had plenty of sipping time before having the rest of the bottle with our dinner. A fine Friday night festival.

Keep looking for special wines to try. Visit my friend Stan Hagan, wine consultant at Kroger in Auburn. He’ll help you with a fine selection.

Crabmeat Festival

David Fuller Seafood. That’s my friend Dave Fuller’s company. He’s based in Nashville but also has a presence at Lake Martin on Highway 34. Consult his website for what he has and when you can get it.

I said all of that because that’s where I got my jumbo lump crabmeat for our recent Crabmeat Festival. It was excellent quality and very well picked of shell. Dave’s my source of fine Gulf fish.

The first dish I usually make with fresh or pasteurized crabmeat is West Indies Salad. At Jimmy’s, I developed a different recipe for this flavorful dish. It varied from the traditional Bill Bayley version. That one is simply layers of onions and crabmeat soaked in oil, vinegar, and ice water. The crab and onions are spread on crackers and served as an appetizer.  

What I did was part company with most of the onion and oil. It’s so heavy otherwise and covers the crabmeat or at least the delicacy. The original was made with what was on hand. Me too. Just a little different.

I used Champagne vinegar for a long time. This year I changed to white balsamic. I like the difference. A little sugar is dissolved in the vinegar. Then in goes a spoon of finely chopped sweet red pepper and chives or green onion tops. That sits refrigerated for an hour.

For the crabmeat I use jumbo lump blue crab. No spreading at service for me. If so, use regular lump – not claw. I allow the crabmeat to sit in the vinegar mixture for about 10 to 15 minutes tops. I like to serve the West Indies in a martini glass or small bowl. Drizzle with a little good extra virgin olive oil. Don’t break up the crabmeat. You paid extra for those jumbo lumps.

If you want to serve on a plate, then use a lettuce leaf as a base unless the plate needs to shine through. Pile in the crab and top with some of the peppers and chives. Then add a spoon of the sweetened vinegar and good olive oil. I serve a few saltines on the plate. A cocktail fork is perfect. Enjoy. Hard not to.

There’s another great salad that uses crabmeat and shrimp. We served it at Jimmy’s as a special. It’s a Godchaux Salad. It has been on Galatoire’s menu since the 1920s. Mr. Godchaux’s Canal Street store was very close to Galatoire’s. The gentlemen were good friends. Mr. Godchaux frequently lunched at Galatoire’s. This version of the salad was named for the famous New Orleans store owner.

It is prepared with lettuce, lump crabmeat, shrimp, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, and a Creole mustard-based vinaigrette. We offered the original’s anchovies as an option. French bread crostini went with our version.

During this year’s crabmeat festival, we made 2 pasta dishes. The first was linguine made with parmesan cream then topped with crabmeat. Richness upon richness.

The other time we used fusilli. The sauce was a fresh one made with sliced garlic and tomatoes mixed with luscious olive oil and fresh basil. Then came plenty of jumbo lump crabmeat. Gosh this was so good. The two dishes were quite different. Both were based on pasta – long and short pieces. The first sauce was cooked. The other fresh. Each balanced the rich sweet crabmeat just right.

There’s yet a third pasta dish planned. It uses orzo with lemon cream. Details next month.

Who cannot mention crabcakes? We sure had some good ones. There are lots of recipes that work. Most rather effectively. More breadcrumbs or crackers, the easier to make, the more mediocre the final product. Less filler then, the harder to hold them together. Egg is a binder but makes the cakes wetter. More crab tastes better. A few taste enhancers like garlic, onion, and peppers equals more flavor. Ditto for seasonings. Think Tony’s or Old Bay.

Wow, that’s lots of things to think about. Absolutely.

We used a little sweet red pepper and green onion tops. Tony’s. Beaten egg. Panko. Of course, plenty of crabmeat.  

Formed them loosely and sautéed in butter. If too fragile, finish in the oven rather than trying to turn them over.

Serve just like they are with butter from the pan poured over. We like remoulade with ours. Tartar sauce is preferred by others. Some go for cocktail sauce. A few would vote for ranch. They put it on pizza, too!

One of our favorite dishes is Crabmeat Imperial. Easy to make and enjoy. Plus it’s usually served over rice. Yummy.

Similar to our crabcakes, we use sweet red pepper and green onions – all of them this time. Garlic too. Sauté in butter. Cream goes in to make a sauce. Tony’s is our choice to season. Crabmeat goes in to warm. Just move around. Don’t stir.

Jasmine rice works for us. Make sure there’s plenty of salt and butter in the pot.

Put a serving of rice on a plate. Add the crabmeat mixture over the rice. A sprinkle of something green on top looks good. This time we used basil. It was growing by the back door. Smelled really good.

Crabmeat isn’t cheap. It goes a long way. A pound made 10 full-size dinner portions. That’s $4.00 per portion for fine quality fresh jumbo lump Gulf blue crabmeat. That’s a fair price for a regal splurge.  

BTW – fresh crabmeat is hard to find where we are. It’s really good but has a short shelf life. Ten days or so from its pack date. Pasteurized crabmeat can be very good and has a long shelf life. Easy a month from processing.

Also remember that fresh and pasteurized crabmeat, snow crab, and Dungeness crab are cooked. They are not raw when you buy them.

Blake’s Pies

New Hampshire is the home of this nearly 100-year-old company – Blake’s Pies. Clara Blake started with a 25-acre farm in 1929. Wow. 20 years later, her son Roy was operating a fresh-dressed fresh turkey farm. Free range. All natural. The place for holiday turkeys in New England at the time.

Come 1970, there was enough extra turkey that Charlie Blake was in Concord selling pot pies from Clara’s recipe. A few decades later there was a real distribution operation using the same recipes and hand-cut methods.

20 years ago, organic was easy to accomplish. It was their way already. With a close look at Clara’s recipes, shepherd’s pie, mac and cheese, plus mac and beef were added to the chicken and turkey products. There’s a gluten-free option, too.

Now Blake’s pies are carried at Publix and Kroger in our area. Some Wal-Mart and Target stores have them. Take a look at Amazon. They carry Blake’s in their far-reaching network.

Recently we had 3 different Blake’s pies. All of them came from Publix. We enjoyed all of them and found them to be a fair value. The chicken pot pie has lots of veggie chunks and potatoes plus real chicken pieces. There’s real gravy and not just juice. Actual flaky pastry as well. We did not try the turkey pot pie.

Another classic offering is shepherd’s pie. It’s more classic New England style and made with ground beef and not chucks of lamb as the name implies. Lots of corn and potatoes come with plenty of beef.

Our third different dish was not a pie. It’s a visit to here in the South. Chicken and Dumplings. It has plenty of chicken and tender dumplings. Good hearty gravy too.

We enjoyed all of our Blake’s products. They are ample and easy to prepare. Plus they look good. We used the oven method of preparation. You can also finish them in your microwave. Both methods cook from frozen. No need to defrost ahead of time.

Blake’s pies are surely worth a try. If you happen upon one of those BOGO deal, hop on it. That’s a real value.

Chicken Tagine

A Chicken Tagine is simply a flavorful chicken stew. It’s a popular dish across the Southern Mediterranean. Go north into Europe on the eastern side and it’s there too. Like in Armenia, Turkey, and others.

We used chicken thighs, along with carrots, onions, and garlic in our version. Chickpeas go in to stew as well. Seasonings were salt, pepper, coriander, ginger, turmeric, and cayenne.

Dried fruits are common. Apricots went in ours. Raisins work too. These go in with chicken stock. After simmering for about 45 minutes, we added olives and cashews. Preserved lemons become a part of most tagines. Fresh parsley and cilantro are usually added, and the tagine is simmered for another 10 to 20 minutes. Off the heat a little butter gets stirred in. More herbs on top is fine.

You can toss on a fresh chili or two for a special kick. We used ripe figs on one we served.

Basmati rice was our choice for serving with our tagine the first time. When we had the rest of it later in the week, we chose tasty, toasted bread. Rice is traditional. The bread was a pleasant alternative plus it came with those luscious figs and roasted green onions.  

Don’t miss the chance to add a tagine to your special chicken dishes.

Lost September-born Food Pros

In January 2000, we lost the very famous Craig Claiborne. He was a native of Mississippi – born in September 1929 – and held true to his Southern roots. He was a solid part of the New York Times for 29 years, beginning there in 1957. He served as the food editor and at times its restaurant critic.

Claiborne wrote over 20 books that managed to get regular home cooks to open up to fine foods and his favorite, French cuisine. He was assisted by his close friend Chef Pierre Franey.

We can thank Claiborne for the 4-star rating system used by restaurant critics and writers. He was able to make food writing and especially the review process a real writing task and not some advertising dribble.

He was kind to restaurants and didn’t just plow them down. His words made the chefs better and brought people there to dine. Claiborne was a star of American food writing and knew his way around a kitchen as well.

Chef Charlie Trotter was born in September 1959. In his health-shortened life, he made a significant contribution to the American restaurant scene. A major one was proving Chicago could be a solid restaurant city. His restaurant, Charlie Trotter, became a place to dine and be served to perfection. He operated his restaurant for 25 years.

Chef Trotter was known for the now popular tasting menu approach to fine dining. He was the first major chef to serve a fully vegetarian option. He was a true visionary in restaurant operation and not just the chef part. He used ingredients before people had even heard of them. Now those are part of the food scene.

Numerous books came from Charlie’s pen. Cooking tomes plus those focused on service and operation. He had the admiration of chefs across the country. Oprah produced a documentary on Trotter.

Here’s what Emeril Lagasse had to say about Trotter in Food and Wine Magazine: “Charlie Trotter will always matter. He changed the way that we think about food.”

Chef Trotter passed away in 2013 leaving his stamp on food in America.

October Cooking Class Schedule

Our cooking classes in October will feature German Cuisine. This marks the first time we have looked at that European food array in the fall. Classes begin on Sunday October 8th at 2:00. Then on to Monday the 9th at 1:30. Thursday the 12th at 6:00. That weekend features a dinner cooking class where participants assist the preparation of of each course before actually going to table to enjoy each one.

There’s a regular class on Monday October 16th and one on Thursday the 19th at 6:00. The final class scheduled at this point is on Sunday October 22nd at 2:00.

Currently some seats have been purchased. The dinner class is already full. Now is the time to get yours.

News – It’s Official

Beginning Thursday, August 24th, my weekly column appeared in the Auburn Villager. Nikki approached me about writing for the paper. She and Brian later came to see me and I said “yes.” What an honor. I am so excited to be able to share with the community in this vibrant way. It will be different content from the newsletter. Please look for me in The Auburn Villager. Read both of them.

Until Next Time

l hope you have enjoyed this edition of my online newsletter – What’s Happening. As you have seen, I can talk about lots more than is possible in a newspaper. I’ve included some of my personal feelings and experiences.

Next month we’ll explore a local restaurant. This time, the candidate I picked didn’t work out. I’ve got another one in progress already.

I’ve heard from a few people about problems finding All I Do is BBQ being open. I contacted Kenzie to find out. His family has some serious health issues. Lupus. Cancer. Kidney failure. Big stuff. Some family staff are involved. It’s a small family operation and he’s doing the best he can. Give them a call and make sure before you go.

Our Canadian classes were great fun. Surprising dishes that were easy to make and just as easy to enjoy. October German classes already have takers. Don’t miss your seat. Make your plans now.

I encourage you to let me know about anything you want me to explore. Also, please share this newsletter with others.

They can go to inthekitchenwithchefjim.com and register there.

Thank you. “Keep Cooking – Keep Exploring.”