Yellow or white, w/ or w/out germ, but always plural, unless true grit
September 22, 2015 12:22 PM   Subscribe

Just add water and salt; perhaps something else, too: add some Italian and it becomes polenta. Grits are principally coarse ground corn kernels. But there’s so much more to it.

Some folks need a recipe for how to make grits – and then the fighting begins about how to make something so simple: Does the water have to be boiling first, or what is the best ratio of ingredients, is the cooking best at low and slow, which type of corn and grind or “grit” is best; is that how your Mamma made em?

Usually the standard supermarket grits have the germ and hull removed and the grind is a smooth, consistent size; often, dried hominy corn is used. Often this is called “Old Fashioned” by the marketing company, but it isn’t really old fashioned at all. Stone-ground grits (yum) are the older version that were available from the local mill, (you should visit one sometime, no matter where you live), while the oldest fashioned type of water-cooked-ground-corn was probably a derivative adaptation of maize-based cooking familiar to local indigenous populations in South and North America.

The Southern US is the grits-belt where it is a staple breakfast food that’s also become a popular dinner when served up as shrimp-n-grits. Why the corn-belt that’s the big producer of all things corn is not the center of grits consumption is a mystery to me.
posted by mightshould (17 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
Hominy grits?

I don't know; count 'em yourself.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:24 PM on September 22, 2015 [10 favorites]


I am disappointed at the lack of My Cousin Vinny in this post. Did polenta ever help get a couple of kids off a murder rap? I don't think so.
posted by phunniemee at 12:29 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Hominy grits?

I don't know; count 'em yourself.


That’s a pretty corny pun.
posted by D.C. at 12:30 PM on September 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


I am one of the few Southerners who really just don't like grits, which is weird, because I will cook the hell out of some polenta upon occasion.
posted by Kitteh at 12:34 PM on September 22, 2015


Came to complain about the lack of My Cousin Vinny too.

My Cousin Vinny is an under-appreciated gem.
Possible the only movie with a calibration joke.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 12:35 PM on September 22, 2015 [3 favorites]


I am eating polenta right now! I feel kind of famous or something!
posted by ernielundquist at 12:38 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Never quite got the appeal of grits until I had the good fortune to try the ones ground by Anson Mills in South Carolina. The preceding link offers some great information on grits versus polenta (flint corn versus dent corn, they say), as well as recipes for their famously fussy products. If you ever have the chance to try this stuff, you'll be well rewarded. Really turned my grits game (and oatmeal for that matter) around.
posted by Gilbert at 12:52 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Grits has to be hominy. There's no such thing as yellow grits. Polenta is not grits. And, Mother Earth News, lime is "slaked", not "slacked". /pedantry
posted by CCBC at 1:02 PM on September 22, 2015 [4 favorites]


Anson Mills is worth an FPP by itself.
posted by Bee'sWing at 2:58 PM on September 22, 2015


I've been trying recipes on the grits packages for a while. None of the local Carolina grits recipes have yielded grits as good as the one on the Trader Joes package. (The grits inside the bag are pretty credible, too.) Score one for California.

The Trader Joes recipe is good because it can even make nigh-flavorless grits like House-Autry into a pretty good breakfast. And good grits like Bear Branch turn out a lot better than their own recipe manages.

1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup grits
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp butter
pinch of salt (or more to taste, but some non-zero quantity)

Boil water before adding salt and grits.
Drop water to the mildest simmer. Cover. Stir every couple minutes.
After 15 minutes, raise heat to medium, add milk.
Cover again and cook for 10 more minutes. Stir every couple minutes.

That's it. The basic proportions are 3:1:1 water:grits:milk, although to be honest I usually wing it on the salt, milk and butter quantities. If the grits are too dry after cooking, add some milk while it's still on the heat and stir another five minutes; if they're too wet, cook with the lid off for five minutes and stir frequently. The secret isn't getting the proportions exact, it's in paying attention.

Personally, I usually chop up a clove or two of garlic (depending on strength) and add it to the water with the grits and salt. Then I add some shredded cheese with the milk.

Best way to serve it depends on the season. Personally I like to fry some bacon to crumbling, chop up some green onion, use both as garnish on a bowl of grits, and then drop a sunny side up egg on top of it all.
posted by ardgedee at 5:48 PM on September 22, 2015 [3 favorites]


I almost never cook grits but I order them whenever I am in the right part of the country. Diner grits are really unpredictable, sometimes bland and flavorless, other times intensely good, which is strange since diner food is usually defined by its predictability and reliability.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:31 PM on September 22, 2015


Ham, grits, and red-eye gravy. Mmmmmmm.
Next up, greens - mustard, collard, or turnip?

(or all three?)
posted by eclectist at 7:01 PM on September 22, 2015


They're heart-warming, they're basic and they also helped cure pellagra. Humans don't digest corn very well, and lye helps. Also, I despise typing grits treatises on a mobile phone. Go look it up yourself, dammit.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 7:54 PM on September 22, 2015


Count me among the 'love polenta can't really handle grits' bandwagon. Maybe I had bad grits when I was in the South? I don't know.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:22 PM on September 22, 2015


I eat polenta pretty much every week. It is so good! Haven't ever had grits, but I have had the solid African corn starchy foodstuff that us used to scoop up the strong tasting stew or curry.

I don't add any oil or cheese to my polenta as it is easier to deal with after it has solidified if there is no fat in it. It usually gets grilled or baked when consumed as a left over. Crispy on the outside and soft in the middle FTW!

Here is a nice vegan recipe for making creamy grits. If I find a way of getting coarsely milled corn I may have a go at making grits. I don't think I'll be able to get Anson though, so it will only be a rough approximation.
posted by asok at 2:34 AM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Pretty sure you have to play Louis Prima when you make this in New Orleans.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:18 PM on September 23, 2015


posted by mightshould

I can't think of a better user name to have posted this.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 4:17 AM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


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