True Grits

While speaking with my former roomies, they expressed a fondness for my “Award-winning Cheesy Grits.” Unfortunately, given the weather and my schedule, I’m not able to travel to cook said for them, so perhaps the best alternative is to post the recipe.

Before we go off into the whole grits is polenta; polenta is grits thing; both have their places and their uses.

Having been raised in the ‘Grits Belt”, Texas to Washington DC, these are typical breakfast fare, add a couple of over-easy eggs and some rashers of bacon or sausage patties, and we are good until mid to late afternoon.

With the grits, if one has ham, do not pass up the opportunity to add another Southern delight, called red-eye gravy, a gravy made from the fond of the ham and black coffee.

From Wikipedia:

Grits is a porridge made from boiled cornmeal. Hominy grits is a type of grits made from hominy – corn that has been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization, with the pericarp (ovary wall) removed. Grits is often served with other flavorings as a breakfast dish. Grits can be either savory or sweet, with savory seasonings being more common. The dish originated in the Southern United States but is now available nationwide. Grits is often part of a dinner entrée shrimp and grits, served primarily in the South.

Grits are eaten with a wide variety of foods, such as eggs and bacon, fried catfish, shrimp, salmon croquettes, or country ham.

Shrimp and grits is a traditional dish in the coastal communities in the South Carolina Lowcountry and Georgia’s Lower Coastal Plain. While shrimp and grits may have come from the South Carolina Lowcountry, particularly the Gullah people, the Shrimp and grits dishes eaten by most people trace a much more recent heritage to the Crooks Corner restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1982.

Solidified cooked grits can be sliced and fried in vegetable oil, butter, or bacon grease, or they can first be breaded in beaten egg and bread crumbs.

True Grits

True Southern Comfort food, wonderful for Breakie, perfect for dinner, and a side dish winner
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 29 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Side Dish
Cuisine Southern
Servings 2
Calories 473 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups Water
  • 1/2 cups Grits Stone Ground
  • 1/2 tsp Salt Kosher
  • 2 tbsp Butter
  • 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese Grated
  • 1 ea Jalapeno Peppers washed, seeded, minced

Instructions
 

  • In a medium saucepan, combine water and salt, bring to a boil
  • Whence boiling whisk in grits
  • Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, whisking and scraping bottom well every 2 to 3 minutes
  • Cook until you reach desired consistency – See notes
  • Whisk in butter, thence fold in cheese and peppers

Notes

Consistency:
  • runny with some remaining gritty texture, about 30 minutes;
  • thick and creamy but flowing, about 45 minutes
  • stiff and able to hold its shape while barely pouring, about 1 hour.
This is a basic recipe.  Add some fried eggs and bacon. You have breakfast or dinner.  Use this as a base and top with Hungarian Goulash, and you have a reasonably fancy dinner.
Let them set up in a baking pan, cut to squares, dip, and bread, then fry and serve as you would french toast.
The mix-ins are endless, bacon, ham, caramelized onions, cooked sausage, etc.  The toppings that can go on them are likewise unlimited, stews, slabs of rich meat, anything one would polenta for, grits will work.
The true secret of grits is the water to grits ratio; 4:1, 4 cups water to 1 cup grits.

Nutrition

Calories: 473kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 18gFat: 31gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 89mgSodium: 1047mgPotassium: 114mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 1005IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 421mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Boiled, Corn, Polenta
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

  Filed under: American, Slow Cook, Southern, Vegetarian

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