Recipe: Kentucky Beer Cheese Grits

This is my own recipe for Beer Cheese Grits.

First, throw a large Kentucky Derby party with loads of great people, mint juleps and food, preferably in a gorgeous sprawling manse on the banks of a beautiful river. If you do this properly it will require lots of help from people that cook better than you and the home of someone you barely know. A bartender would also come in handy but is optional. Using a recipe from an original edition of "Out of Kentucky Kitchens" by Marion Flexner , make so much Kentucky Beer Cheese that even if the party goes into the wee hours at least 3 cups of it will remain in the morning.

Wake up the following morning and have at least one Bloody Mary. Make the grits according to the packaging. I use Quaker brand, but not instant. While making what was intended to be garlic cheese grits, realize that all of the garlic and all of the cheddar cheese was either eaten the prior evening, or used in the making of the Beer Cheese. Eyeball the leftover Beer Cheese. Get it out of the refrigerator and taste it. Have another Bloody Mary. Dump half of the Beer Cheese into the pot where the grits are cooking. Stir, taste and add more and more until it appears you have simply added grits to your Beer Cheese rather than vice-versa.

Have another Bloody Mary and put your concoction into a baking dish. Bake it until everything else for brunch is ready. It will have a lovely crust of baked bubbly cheese on the top. Serve it mostly to people that have never had or never liked grits before. If they don't love it, that will simply leave more for you. If they do, you can pat yourself on the back for helping folks gain an appreciation of fine Southern Cuisine.