Linton Hopkins

Linton Hopkins’s aunt Julia—“my paternal grandmother’s sister-in-law,” he says—made giant vats of this barbecue sauce on her farm in Alabama, then drove around delivering it to everyone in her extended family. Hopkins likes to spoon it over coffee-cured pork shoulder. “To have a meal in the South without roast pork is not really a meal,” he says.

This light and refreshing cocktail is as reminiscent of the American South as it is of the South of France.

Marinating lump crab overnight gives it terrific flavor; combining it with a scallion-and-paprika-spiked mayonnaise makes it even more delicious.

There are several tricks to this terrific chowder from Linton Hopkins. He adds potato chunks to the broth for thickness, then pours in a little naturally low-fat buttermilk for creamy tanginess. And instead of fatty bacon, he uses smoked oysters to give the chowder a slightly woodsy flavor.

This refreshing gazpacho—made with apples, grapes, almonds and cucumber—is a perfect balance of sweet and tangy.

Chef Linton Hopkins named this Calvados-based twist on a sidecar after the Citroën 2CV, known informally as a Deux Chevaux.

“Ice cream sandwiches are universally popular, and everyone loves peach ice cream, too,” Linton Hopkins says. “To make this recipe really Southern, we use pecans in the crispy cookie.”

The secret to this salad is using big, juicy sweet onions like the Vidalias that Linton Hopkins favors, which get nicely charred on the grill.

Sunchoke relish is on every table in Georgia and South Carolina, says Linton Hopkins. “When I was a boy, I thought they were the funniest artichokes,” he recalls; in fact, they are knotty tubers with a sweet, crunchy taste.

Even though Linton Hopkins’s stew is full of shrimp and sausage, the best part is the delicate lima beans, a Southern staple.

Linton Hopkins turns this slow-roasted pork shoulder into sliders. "Why are we so obsessed with the 30-minute meal?" he says. "I want to create a TV show called The 36-Hour Meal. The best things take a little bit of time."

Italian carbonara is famously rich, combining pancetta or guanciale (cured pork jowl), egg yolks and cheese. Linton Hopkins adds his own Southern accent to the dish with house-cured pork and local eggs.