By Chanda Temple
Alabama chef and TV personality Martie Duncan has some pretty dedicated friends and followers.
Three and a half hours before kick off of the Nov. 30, 2024 Iron Bowl, which is the biggest SEC football showdown in Alabama, several of Martie’s fans lined up inside of a historic store in downtown Huntsville, AL to get her newly-released cookbook, “The Alabama 100: Best Recipes, Restaurants & Road Trips.” The book highlights noteworthy dishes and restaurants from across the state.
In her fifth cookbook, Martie shares recipes for the Pimento Cheese Tomato Pie from Helen in Birmingham; Lucy Buffett’s Famous Seafood Gumbo from LuLu’s in Gulf Shores; and Crab Cakes from the 360 Grille at the Marriott Shoals Hotel, just to name a few. She also gives cooking tips.
“I love the simplicity of all the recipes that Martie features. And when I see her on TV, everything that she cooks is easy to follow,” said Misty Robinson of Hazel Green. Misty and her family drove to Huntsville on a bone-chilling Saturday morning to get the book, which features 100 recipes and 253 restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, bars and a few dives.
And Charity McLin drove in from Athens, AL to pick up a book for her mother and one for herself. Like Misty, she has other books written by Martie, and she said she is drawn to the books to try recipes for the foods she loves.
“She writes great books and the recipes are always easy to follow,” Charity said. “I can’t wait to get home and look through it.”
A Food Network Star finalist and award-winning cookbook author, Martie drove more than 5,000 miles across Alabama, worked with 3,972 images shot for the book and tried 1,012 dishes to produce content for the 239-page book. And if people don’t want to cook, they can just use the book as a reference on where to go to try some the most delicious food in Alabama.
“This book is more of a travel guide and incorporates so many more restaurants than I’ve ever been able to do in any book ,” said Martie. “Even though we focus on 12 main cities, there are other towns and cities mentioned in the book.”
Birmingham is one of the Big 12 highlighted in the book. The other cities include Auburn, Homewood, Mountain Brook, Fairhope, Huntsville, Mentone, Mobile, Montgomery, The Beaches, the Shoals and Tuscaloosa. Smaller towns that get a nod, too, include Goshen, Abbeville and Attala, for example.
On page 45, she has a list of 28 locations known for their fried chicken. While well-known Birmingham places like Cafe Dupont and Eugene’s Fried Chicken are highlighted, there are other spots from much smaller cities such as the Stagecoach Cafe in Stockton, Lucy’s in Auburn and the Chicken Shack in Luverne.
Martie writes that Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg once traveled to Camden, AL in 2017 just to try the fried chicken at Jackson’s Station.
“I’m excited that we are able to shine a line on some of these places that wouldn’t necessarily get much attention,” said Martie, who is the publisher and editor of the book.
The release of Martie’s book comes at a time when Alabama is celebrating the Year of Alabama Food, a campaign the Alabama Department of Tourism launched to highlight locally-owned restaurants across the state. For decades, the department has had the list, “100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama.” Martie used that list as a sort of a guide as she gathered information for her new book. She also included new locations and suggestions from readers.
She has the recipes for the Crispy Fish Collars from Automatic Seafood Restaurant; the Alabama Corn Fritters from Cayo Coco Rum Bar & Restaurant; the Salmon Croquettes from Yo Mama’s; and Saw’s BBQ’s Pork ‘N Greens. These restaurants are in Birmingham, and each recipe has a story about the dish and its creator. Martie opted to give that treatment to all recipes featured in the book.
“It’s my great honor to be able to tell the stories of the people in the book,” said Martie, who is based in Birmingham. “I want people to know the people behind the food because a lot of time they work the line or in the back of the house and you don’t ever see them.”
“I try everywhere to include the people. They may never have a cookbook. But guess what, this is their book. It’s about them.”
Savor This! Martie’s next book signing will be Tuesday, Dec. 3 at The Alabama Booksmith in Homewood, from 4 to 6 p.m. On Wednesday, Dec. 4, she will be at Greystone Marketplace on U.S. 280 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then at Books-A-Million in Trussville from 5 to 7 p.m. On Thursday, Dec. 5, she will be at Bromberg’s in Mountain Brook from 4 to 6 p.m. (A full list of her December book signings can be found here.)
For more information on Martie and her books, visit Martie’s website here. For a list of where Martie’s new cookbook is sold, go here.
I worked on the first two books Martie released: “Birmingham’s Best Bites” and “Magic City Cravings.” After that, she released “Alabama Cravings: The Most Requested From Alabama Restaurants Past and Present” and “Martie Duncan’s Sweet Home Alabama: Destinations and Dishes Worth the Trip.”
Chanda Temple is an award-winning writer living in Birmingham, Ala. She blogs at http://www.chandatemplewrites.com. If you have a food story idea, email her at chandatemple@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram at @chandatemple.
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