BBQ Sauce, Grits and Corn Meal are Here Ya'll

A little history on one of Mary Jo’s iconic products

Mary Jo’s Cloth Store is known for housing one of the most complete and diverse fabric collections in the Southeast. Serving customers from over 250 miles away and even across the globe, Mary Jo’s offers a large selection of drapery, buttons, trims, upholstery, quilting and patterns to bridal, formal and fashion fabrics.

However, many overlook a particularly intriguing seasonal item, grits and corn meal. Now you are probably wondering, ‘how on earth would a cloth store end up selling grits and corn meal?’ 

The truth is simple really.

Billy Linney, owner of Linney Water Mill, visited Mary Jo’s several years ago and brought some fresh-ground samples with him. The fabric shoppers, fanatical over the samples and down-home memories they brought back, wanted more. 

Mary Jo decided then, to make corn meal and grits a staple in her inventory.

Linney, one of the last waterwheel powered mill owner and operators in NC, can’t produce a hefty amount of product due to the mill's restrictions; supplies are generally limited after spring. 

Grits and corn meal may be one of the last things on a fabric-lover's mind, but it is the one thing that has defined Mary Jo's for generations. 

Slow cooker BBQ with Adam Scott’s BBQ Sauce

1 – 4 to 5 pound pork shoulder or pork butt

½ tsp black pepper

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup Adam Scott’s BBQ Sauce

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup water

Place the pork shoulder or pork butt into a slow cooker. Mix all the remaining ingredients, and pour over the pork.  Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.  The pork should easily pull apart into strands when done.

Lift the pork out and discard any bones. If you want shredded pork, use two forks and just pull it apart. If you want chopped pork, use a sharp knife and chop into smaller pieces.  Place the chopped or shredded pork into a bowl and taste. You may want to add extra BBQ sauce at this time, and a little of the cooking liquid to keep the pork very moist. 

This is excellent as BBQ in sandwiches or just as BBQ pulled pork.

To make BBQ rice.  Refrigerate the leftover BBQ liquid from the crock pot.  When cold, removed most of the congealed fat that comes to the surface (don’t take all of the fat off).  Measure this liquid out and use it to cook the proper proportion of white or brown rice. This rice is delicious!