BBQ | 20something cupcakes

These blue cheese grits have been a long time comin’. In fact, it was these grits that inspired the rest of my Southern menu and dinner party.

BBQ Shrimp + Blue Cheese Grits Appetizer

This is how a menu comes to life, more often than not: I become obsessed with one idea, and then it builds from there. I believe I actually first dreamed these up to rest alongside a chicken-fried steak. But alas – I realized Thomas Keller’s fried chicken would make an equally perfect pair, and more importantly – a perfect video!

{Be on the lookout for that tomorrow – Dan captured me doing a happy dance for the chicken … which I decided to include, because it’s something I do embarrassingly often in the kitchen. Keeping it real, that’s for sure!}

I was surprised to learn that most of my guests had never had blue cheese grits. And then I thought, “Have I ever had blue cheese grits before?”

F0r a long time, I was searching for this recipe.

I couldn’t quite find what I wanted, so I pieced together a few different ideas and came up with my own. I knew I wanted to make my pork in the slow cooker, so I found this recipe via Good Housekeeping and used it as a guide for timing. Even though, there’s not much to that, other than leave it on low and let it cook all day – or in my case, overnight.

Next was the barbecue sauce. I’d seen Alex Guarnaschelli make barbecued chicken on one of my favorite shows, Alex’s Day Off. Love her. Her barbecue sauce had intrigued me, so I sort of manipulated that recipe into my own. I love how it turned out – the flavors were very bright and sharp. I think the slow cooker causes them to mellow a bit, so it worked out perfectly.