ALABAMA WEEKEND: TAILGATING & FOLK ART

~Doc Lawrence

Driving into Tuscaloosa means an embrace by the spirit of Alabama. Here, in the city that’s home to the University of Alabama, authors Harper Lee, Howell Raines and  Fannie Flagg matriculated along with countless celebrities including newsman Joe Scarborough and a wonderful Hollywood cowboy, Johnny Mack Brown. If any one spirit dominates today, it is legendary football coach Bear Bryant.

This was another double-header. Tailgating was in full swing before Alabama took on Tennessee in college football. Simultaneously, the Kentuck Arts Festival, now in its 46th year, featured the glory of the country’s largest and best outdoor exhibition of self-taught folk artists showcasing their wonderful works.

A Mary Proctor Original

While there was food galore at both, you owed it to yourself to dine at The Bright Star in nearby Bessemer. Alabama’s oldest restaurant and a James Beard Heritage Award recipient, the menu is filled with Greek-American cuisine with the freshest seafood north of the Gulf Coast. We had shrimp with spicy remoulade sauce, Greek fried snapper, the house special-cut filet mignon, allowing time to enjoy Jack Daniel’s in the unbelievably comfortable lounge.

Kentuck is where I first met Rev. Howard Finster, Mary Proctor, Danny the Bucketman and many others. Only Mary Proctor survives and this was her weekend. Lines formed with people eager to make a purchase and get a selfie with her. 

Alabama is one of our barbecue shrines and no other place embodies the state’s traditions with slow cooking and smoke better than Big Bob Gibson’s, a national champion barbecuer year after year.  I’m not saying he invented white barbecue sauce, but he certainly popularized it to such fame that it is commonly called by the state’s name. When you’re in Decatur, Alabama stop in and enjoy the food and traditions of Big Bob’s. It’s also an easy walk over to the mighty Tennessee River.

Here is Big Bob’s recipe:

Alabama White Barbecue Sauce

 Credit: Big Bob Gibson

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

‘Ol Hank’s Remoulade Sauce

(Perfect for Fried Green Tomatoes)

1 1/4 cups Duke’s mayonnaise.

1/4 cup Creole mustard 

1 Tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika.

2 teaspoons Tony Chachere’s Original Creole seasoning.

2 teaspoons prepared horseradish.

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon Tabasco

1 large clove garlic, minced and smashed.

Note: Tune in to Tailgating Down South on Marilyn Ball’s terrific show, “Speaking of Travel at http://speakingoftravel.net and on the iHeartRadio Network.

Olivia's Poster of the Tailgating Feast