When Matt Kelly was just starting to make a name for himself as a young chef in Durham, North Carolina, he dined at the venerable Magnolia Grill and was blown away by chef Ben Barker’s food. “I remember putting my spoon in and taking that first bite,” Kelly says. “I kept eating, and when I was done, I asked for another serving, because it was the best thing I’d ever eaten.” Twelve years ago, Magnolia Grill closed, and its holy grail recipe, the Twice-Baked Grits Soufflé, was gone, until now.
Kelly would go on to become a Durham icon, helming such renowned establishments as Vin Rouge, Mateo, St. James Seafood and Mothers & Sons. Late last year, he reopened Nanas, his popular fine-dining restaurant, after it had been hit by the pandemic, but before the opening date drew near, he got a call. “He said, ‘I want to put something like your soufflé on the menu at Nanas,'” Barker recalls. “I said, ‘Hey Matt, I’ll give you the recipe,’ and the phone went silent for a minute.”
Chef Matt Kelly.
Needless to say, Kelly accepted the offer (“I got a little teary-eyed”). But as a recipe, Barker’s Twice-Baked Grits Soufflé isn’t exactly user-friendly. The grits are lightened with whipped egg whites. They’re topped with a mushroom emulsion, Vidalia onion puree, sherry vinaigrette, and melted foie gras confit. “I’ve only made this dish once since we closed the restaurant because there are so many steps,” Barker admits. “And when we were open, it was definitely a love-it-or-hate-it dish.” But the end result was worth it. “When you put it in your mouth, it lingers on your tongue for a long time,” Kelly says. “It has all the perfect textures and flavors that complement each other and have so many layers of flavor.”
A recipe like this doesn’t happen overnight. “The story says a lot about how cuisines blend and come together,” Barker says. He and his wife, Karen, became particularly interested in grits after Magnolia Grill’s Grits Cake with Asparagus, Morels and Country Ham garnered national attention. They experimented with using grits as the base for a Twice-Baked Cheese Soufflé featured in Richard Olney’s groundbreaking cookbook. Simple French cuisine, He adapted the dish from his previous restaurant, Fearrington House, before opening Magnolia Grill. From there, he added regional flavors like Vidalia onions and tweaked it until he found the perfect combination. “I think we made 15,000 of them during the Magnolia Grill run,” Barker says. Reorder The food on the menu alone speaks volumes.’” (More importantly, Magnolia Grill servers used large pieces of bread to sop up any leftover cheese and creamy goodness from the ramekins returning to the kitchen.)
Now, with a few twists thanks to Barker, the dish lives on at Nana’s and is already winning fans there, too. “Magnolia Grill was a landmark restaurant in the South, so we’re proud to be able to serve this dish,” Kelly says. “Nana’s is all about storytelling, which means bringing new dishes to the table while also keeping others like this one alive.”
Below you’ll find a recipe for a more approachable version never before published.
