The Inspiration network serves up a second season of "State Plate" tonight with a trip to Alabama for fried okra and fried green tomatoes, among other delicacies.
Each episode of the award-winning culinary travel series sends host Taylor Hicks on a quest to assemble plates that represent each state's most historic, famous and tastiest foods.
He has sampled crab cakes in Maryland, chili in Texas, potatoes in Idaho and all manner of other dishes on his visits to farms, ranches, markets and festivals to uncover each state's unique food traditions. These heaping helpings of America's best-loved cuisines are rich in history, folklore and flavor.
Hicks may be best known as the Season 5 winner of "American Idol," but his career also has included a Broadway stint and national tour of the musical "Grease" and headlining gigs in Paris, Las Vegas and other Caesars Entertainment properties. In addition to his "State Plate" duties, the platinum-selling entertainer is on a nationwide concert tour and is working on a new album.
The Alabama native also has added "restaurateur" to his bio as a co-owner of Saw's Juke Joint, a barbecue and blues bar in Birmingham, where he will showcase another of Alabama's emblematic foods, Chicken With White BBQ Sauce.
Also featured in tonight's episode, which premieres at 8 on INSP (Comcast Cable channel 244, EPBFI channel 21 in Chattanooga), are Red Fish Dip from Flora-Bama Lounge & Oyster Bar in Orange Beach and bourbon-laden Lane Cake from The Cakerie in Birmingham.
Other episodes this season will showcase foods from Mississippi, Vermont, New York, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Oregon and Washington. Season 1 followed Hicks into Maine, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Georgia and Wisconsin.
His trip to Georgia featured boiled peanuts, coastal shrimp, grits, Vidalia onions, pecan pie and peach ice cream.