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Recipe for Oh, Man! Fried Catfish:

Come to northwest Alabama.
Get your fishing gear, a couple of buddies, and head for the lakes and rivers.
The fish will jump right into your boat.

Assemble all ingredients—5 pounds of fish, a propane cooker, the guy who’s going to clean the fish, and a blues singer.

This recipe works best if you cook right next to the water. Soak thin catfish filets in a quart of buttermilk, 4 eggs, a cup of mustard (the table kind, not greens), beer, salt, red pepper, garlic, and lots of those other spices your MawMaw keeps around the kitchen. If you can stand to wait, soak filets all night.

Sift fine cornmeal and seasonings into a paper bag and shake fish every which way but upside down. Turn the burner on full blast; test the oil with the tip of a kitchen match. Drop fish tenderly one piece at a time.

Tell about the one that got away.

Fry catfish until it’s golden on the outside and so flaky tender on the inside it brings tears to your eyes. Meantime, cook up a big pot of turnip greens and pot liquor, shell some fresh purple hull peas and simmer them with ham, stir up an iron skillet full of melt-in-your mouth cornbread and bake it until it’s the color of butter on the inside and crispy sweet on the outside, make a molasses and sweet potato pie, and mix up a pitcher of ice cold sweet tea.

Serve with sweet bacon and onion hush puppies lightly fried in spittin’ hot oil.

Eat it all with ketchup; you will hear yourself involuntarily say Oh, Man!

Dining

Soutern Eats & Treats - Food for the Mind, Body & Southern Soul

360° Grille – Where the only thing better than the gourmet cuisine is the magnificent view of the Shoals from 300 feet above the Tennessee River. Located at the top of the Renaissance Tower, you will enjoy a fine dining experience while slowing rotating 360°.

800 Cox Creek Parkway

Florence, AL 35630

(256) 246-3600

Marriott Shoals

Dale’s Restaurant – Famous for their fine steaks, marinated in a patented sauce, melt-in-your-mouth breadsticks and French onion soup, this fine dining steakhouse has been a local favorite since 1962.

1001 Mitchell Blvd

Florence, AL 35630

(256) 766-4961

Trowbridges – Local icon since 1918, this traditional soda fountain restaurant offers malts, milkshakes, hand dipped ice cream, hot dogs, homemade sandwiches.

316 North Court Street
Florence, AL 35630
(256) 764-1503

Stagg’s Grocery – Wrap your hands around the juiciest cheeseburgers in the Shoals where you will hear the latest town gossip and dine with local characters. If the cops eat there, you know it’s got to be good.

1424 Huntsville Road
Florence, AL 35630
(256) 764-7382

Barbecue: Bunyan’s Barbecue or Singleton’s Restaurant – To channel your true southern soul you must savor our vast array of barbecue pork, beef or chicken and slaw dogs. Smother your selection with a plethora of mild, hot, barbecue or local specialty – white sauce.

Bunyan’s: 901 West College Street

Florence, AL 35630

(256) 766-3522

Singleton’s: 4220 Huntsville Road

Florence, AL 35630

(256) 760-0802

Ricatoni’s Italian Grill – The happening place to be for the college crowd, young professionals, families of all ages and the visitor looking for hunting a fun and energetic dining experience. Start off with fresh oven-baked bread dipped in olive oil and a secret mixture of herbs and choose from a large assortment of Italian fare.

107 North Court Street

Florence, AL 35630

(256) 718-1002

www.ricatonivalentino.com

Newbern’s Restaurant – No trip to the south would be complete without a heaping plate of fried catfish and hush puppies.

3406 Florence Blvd

Florence, AL 35634 (256) 766-6866

Stanfield’s Steakhouse – Life is short, so eat dessert first! Save room for their mouthwatering, to die for, homemade Red Velvet, Peanut Butter, Italian Cream or Brownie cake, pecan, Hershey bar or peanut butter pie and many other delectable delights.