Grits: Not Just for Breakfast

If there is one seminal Southern dish, it is shrimp and grits. This recipe is from Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill, NC-- a for real Southern restaurant. My only complaint is that it calls for mushrooms, which seems a little strange to me.

Grits is the official state food of South Carolina, so we get a little proprietary about them. And shrimp and grits is the speciality of the Lowcountry, so we may want to defer to Crook's Corner's southern neighbors for another recipe: from acclaimed Chef Robert Stehling of Hominy Grill in Charleston. Heh, he calls for mushrooms too. Maybe Paula Deen and I are missing something.

And if this spurs you to feed your Southern side, you can always visit The Lee Brothers' website, or order Southern classics (like boiled peanuts and Cheerwine) from their online catalogue no matter far North or West you've strayed.

Mushrooms or no, I could stare at this photo all day.