Restaurant to River: Michael Foreman’s Guide’s Day Snack Pack

There’s something about the end of a long day on the river.

The rods get put away. The waders come off. Somebody cracks a cold beer. And the fish caught earlier in the day somehow get a little bigger with every retelling.

For Williams ambassador and longtime guide Michael Foreman, that moment deserves something better than a bag of chips from the truck.

His answer is what he calls “Restaurant-to-River”, a guide’s day snack pack built for his VIP groups and served at the end of a day on the water. It’s part tailgate, part charcuterie board, and distinctly Southern.

The spread brings together homemade pimento cheese, sweet potato mustard, pickled smoked sausage, and black-eyed pea hummus. Pack it all into the cooler before you leave and you've got one hell of a way to finish a day of fishing.

As Michael puts it, it’s designed to end the day with “a cold beer, exaggerated fish stories, and a full soul.”

We can get behind that.

Michael Foreman’s Restaurant-to-River Snack Pack

Serves 6

The full spread consists of four recipes that can be made ahead of time, packed cold, and broken out once you're back at the truck, boat ramp, or wherever the day happens to end.

Pimento Cheese

A proper Southern spread needs pimento cheese. Michael's version starts the night before, soaking sharp cheddar in buttermilk before bringing everything together with red pepper relish.

Ingredients

• 5 oz shredded cheddar cheese

• ¼ cup buttermilk

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tsp salt

• 2½ Tbsp red pepper relish

• ¼ cup mayonnaise, plus additional as needed

Method

1. Combine the shredded cheddar and buttermilk. Cover and allow to soak overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Add black pepper, salt, red pepper relish, and mayonnaise.

3. Mix thoroughly, adding a little more mayonnaise as needed until you've reached your preferred consistency.

4. Keep refrigerated until you're ready to pack the cooler.

Serve it with crackers, toasted bread, vegetables, or whatever else makes it into the pack.

Sweet Potato Mustard

Four ingredients and about two minutes of work. This sweet and spicy mustard is especially good alongside the smoked sausage.

Ingredients

• 3 oz Lusty Monk Mustard

• 1½ oz sweet potato purée

• 1 Tbsp sorghum

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly until smooth and evenly incorporated.

3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pickled Smoked Sausage

This is the one you need to plan ahead for.

Smoked sausage gets packed with peppers, onion, garlic, mustard, sorghum, citrus, and a tangy vinegar brine, then rests for three days before hitting the cooler.

It's worth the wait.

Sausage & Vegetables

• 1 lb smoked sausage, sliced into ¼-inch discs

• 1 red onion, julienned

• 1 red bell pepper, julienned

• 1 jalapeño, julienned

• 1 poblano pepper, julienned

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed and roughly chopped

For Poaching

• 4.8 fl oz water

• 1 tsp salt

Pickling Liquid

• 2.4 fl oz rice wine vinegar

• 2.4 fl oz apple cider vinegar

• 1.2 fl oz water

• 1 tsp smoked salt

• 1 Tbsp pickling spice

• 1 Tbsp Lusty Monk Mustard

• 1 Tbsp sorghum

• 1 orange, zested and cut into wedges

Method

1. Combine 4.8 fl oz water and salt in a small stockpot and bring to a full boil.

2. Pour the boiling salted water over the sliced smoked sausage and let it sit for 2 minutes.

3. Drain thoroughly and allow the sausage to cool completely.

4. Combine the cooled sausage with the red onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, poblano, and garlic.

5. In a medium stockpot, combine the rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, 1.2 fl oz water, smoked salt, pickling spice, mustard, sorghum, orange zest, and orange wedges.

6. Bring the pickling liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

7. Allow the liquid to cool to approximately 100°F.

8. Pour it over the sausage and vegetable mixture.

9. Allow everything to cool completely before refrigerating.

10. Refrigerate in the pickling liquid for 3 days before serving.

Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

This might be our favorite twist in the pack.

Instead of chickpeas and tahini, Michael takes a Southern staple and turns it into an incredibly simple spread with garlic, lemon, fresh herbs, and olive oil.

Ingredients

• 7.5 oz cooked black-eyed peas, thoroughly cooled

• 2 garlic cloves

• 2 Tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped

• 1 tsp fresh sage, chopped

• ⅓ cup olive oil

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor.

2. Process until velvety smooth.

3. Taste and adjust the seasoning or consistency as needed.

4. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

How to Pack It for the River

The beauty of this spread is that most of the work happens before you ever leave home.

Pack each component separately in sealed containers and keep everything well chilled in your cooler. Bring along crackers, good bread, fresh vegetables, or anything else you want for dipping and building bites.

Don't forget a cutting board and a good knife. There will inevitably be something that needs slicing once the spread comes out.

Then comes the easy part.

Find a spot to sit. Open the cooler. Crack a few cold ones. Put the day's best fish stories through the usual rounds of exaggeration.

No reservations required.

A Guide's Way to End the Day

There's a reason food and fishing have always gone so well together. Both are better when they're shared.

Michael's Restaurant-to-River spread isn't about making the end of a fishing trip fancy. It's about taking a little extra time to turn a good day into something memorable.

The fishing might be over, but nobody said you have to head home just yet.

Cold beer. Exaggerated fish stories. Full soul.

That's a pretty good way to call it a day.