Wade on Birmingham

Birmingham’s Best Eats: In search of Eggs Birmingham

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Preparing the sunny side portion of
Eggs Birmingham. Photo by John-Bryan Hopkins.

By John-Bryan Hopkins

The pantheon of civic foods includes Buffalo wings and Chicago deep-dish pizza. But what of Eggs Birmingham?

Birmingham's Best EatsWatching the 1956 Tennessee Williams movie, “Baby Doll” [aff. link], a friend had heard “Birmingham egg” mentioned several times. He asked me for the recipe.

I had never heard of such a dish, but discovering lost recipes and food histories is my specialty.

A Google search turned up vague references to an Australian dish: boiled eggs battered, deep fried, then covered in a curry sauce. One site featured a version of Toad in the Hole, toast with a hole cut out, then cooked in a pan with an egg fried sunny side up in the center.

I then turned to my secret weapon, my grandmother. I asked about the mysterious breakfast dish. “You mean Eggs Birmingham?” she replied.

“I guess so, sure,” I said.

It was indeed a winter version of Toad in the Hole.

Eggs Birmingham is a plate of greens stewed with cured ham, topped with a thick piece of potato bread, fried egg and red-eye gravy. Sounds good to me.

Let’s see which local restaurant will be first to put it on the menu. Birmingham deserves a dish named after it.

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John-Bryan HopkinsBirmingham’s John-Bryan Hopkins loves talking about food facts, their origins and, most of all, what food means to us.

His site/blog is Foodimentary (@Foodimentary).

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Hungry for more? Check out the menu of Birmingham’s Best Eats!

6 Yips for “Birmingham’s Best Eats: In search of Eggs Birmingham”

  1. Tweets that mention Wade on Birmingham » Birmingham’s Best Eats: In search of Eggs Birmingham -- Topsy.com
    Friday, August 13, 2010, 9:39 am
    1

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Wade Kwon and Shaun Chavis, Deborah Lockridge. Deborah Lockridge said: RT @WadeOnTweets: Bham's Best Eats: What are Eggs Birmingham? @Foodimentary cracks the case. http://itswa.de/bbe-eggs-bham #bhameats […]

  2. morty
    Friday, August 13, 2010, 12:26 pm
    2

    I never heard of this in my life. But hell, I’d give it a shot…

  3. Wade
    Friday, August 13, 2010, 6:59 pm
    3

    It ain’t even green eggs and ham, just regular-colored eggs and ham.

  4. Wade on Birmingham Writer Foodimentary
    Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 10:22 am
    4

    […] Wade on Birmingham Author Previous Topic: 2nd Ranked Food Critic on Sulia Next Topic: A History of Coconut Torte […]

  5. jim
    Sunday, December 28, 2014, 2:32 pm
    5

    Been looking fir this recipe for years periodically on the web after seeing the movie Baby Doll some years back. Glad someone finally cracked this nut. Thanks for the dish, wish it was on a menu somewhere. Maybe I’ll make it.

  6. Wade Kwon
    Sunday, December 28, 2014, 4:41 pm
    6

    Jim, glad you found it. Maybe 2015 will be the year a restaurant gives it a shot …

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