Georgia

Peter Dale’s Pecan Muhummara

muhummara4

[Our final Sauce Week post comes to us from Chef Peter Dale, of The National in Athens, Georgia. Take it away, Peter!]

I first had this dish in Jordan several years ago, and it was served as a dip with hummus. You can certainly do that, but I like using it as a sauce. It works particularly well with lamb, but would also be great with chicken and a meaty fish like swordfish.

Cheese from Georgia

When I was in Birmingham for Food Blog South, I met a nice guy named Mat Willey who works for a company called Sweet Grass Dairy. “We make cheese,” he explained, “in Georgia.”

Cheese from Georgia? Even though I lived in Georgia for 7 years (Atlanta, to be exact), I wasn’t particularly excited about eating cheese from The Peach State. I mean, I wasn’t against the idea, but it wasn’t causing me to hop up and down with excitement. He kindly offered to send me some cheese in the mail (a risky proposition, but there are ice packs) and I almost forgot all about it until the cheese arrived at my door.

One-Eared Stag & Cardamom Hill

I’m writing to you now from Emory Village, a flash from the past, as I prepare to speak to Emory Students at 2 PM, sign books at the Emory Book Store at 4 PM and then hustle over to Empire State South where I’m hosting a dinner at 6:15. There are still seats available, so, Atlantans, please come! Call 404-541-1105.

Now before all of this happens, I want to tell you about two incredible meals I’ve had so far since arriving in Atlanta on Friday. Let’s start with the brunch I had yesterday with Atlanta Magazine food critic Bill Addison at the One-Eared Stag near Imman Park.

Eid-Al-Adha (The Sacrificial Feast)

[We all know the big American food holiday that’s fast approaching–most food blogs, magazines and TV shows are going crazy over it–but there’s another food holiday that’s fast approaching too, a holiday that I didn’t know anything about until last year when I decided to work on a book proposal about religion and food called “Food of the Gods.” The book, unfortunately, never got off the ground, but this sample chapter is something that I’m really proud of and eager to share. So, pull up a chair, take off your shoes, and join me as we journey to Elberton, Georgia for a taste of what might be for you, as it was for me, an unfamiliar holiday: Eid-Al-Adha, the Sacrificial Feast.]

“Elberton is a Red. Neck. Town.”

These words come from Gina, a red-headed native of Elberton, Georgia and occasional helper to the Jalil family, who is driving me and my friend Shirin from Atlanta to Shirin’s family home—the Jalil family home—in Elberton, two hours away. We are going to observe an Islamic holiday, Eid-Al-Adha, a holiday that one doesn’t normally associate with rural Georgia.

Scroll to Top