Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Food & Life / Food media He got GameDay
Posted by David Lee Simmons on Wed, Aug 15, 2007 at 6:40 PM
Over the past two years, Johnson -- who in full disclosure I must confess is a friend of mine with whom I shared more than one evacuation experience out in his native southwest Louisiana -- has busied himself with his steady gigs with the New York Times and Bon Apetit. But now he’s really rebounded with a different culinary tour altogether. Last month, Johnson produced ESPN GameDay Gourmet: More Than 80 All-American Tailgate Recipes. Published by ESPN Books with lots of football-friendly help from network sportscasters Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso, GameDay Gourmet is a breezy collection of cutely named football-season recipes.
There’s everything from the Benchwarming Hot Chocolate to more regionally exciting barbecue recipes (he drew heavily from the mind and palate of North Carolina food writer Fred Thompson, not to be confused with the Republican nonpresidential candidate of the same name).
It also includes the New Iberia native’s signature South Louisiana Red Beans recipe, for which I can vouch; his Monday night gatherings at his Uptown apartment usually featured about two vats of the stuff, and it was delicious.
Unfortunately, the Georgia references are spare, but for some casual Georgia Tech and University of Georgia nods.
Note: Don’t forget to read his acknowledgments in the back of the book. When he says that “Stuart Wade gave a great crash course in NCAA nuance,†he’s not kidding. Whenever Johnson mentioned football, it was usually about why anybody cared about it.
But it looks like he’s found a new way to play to his passion. Kudos, Pableaux. Good to see you back in the game.
P.S. Georgia Tech tailgating begins in Atlanta Saturday, Sept. 1, against Notre Dame (3:30 p.m. on WXIA-TV/Channel 11), while University of Georgia tailgating begins in Athens Sept. 1 against Oklahoma State (6:45 p.m. on ESPN2).
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