[Photographs: Jillian Atkinson]
As a lady raised within the South, grits are as a lot part of my lifeblood as camouflage, candy tea, and salt water. I’ve eaten greater than my weight in cooked cornmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as a aspect or foremost. Comparatively cheap, fast, and accessible, grits are the proper base for a meal that’ll follow your ribs and maintain you feeling full all through the day. Most individuals are both ardent followers or they completely despise grits, however what that actually means to me is that many haven’t had a superb pot.
Most individuals have solely eaten quick-cooked boxed grits, possibly at a diner or a member of the family’s home. These grits had been probably characterless and tasted a bit like cardboard, topped with a pat of butter that muddied the corn taste, which in any case was misplaced amid the heavy breakfast they had been probably served alongside. Only a few folks—together with many Southerners who’ve consumed numerous bowls of it—have ever had grits produced from good high quality corn, simmered low and sluggish, stirred with love and consideration till they fashioned a silken porridge; candy, nutty, and creamy, they take what looks like a complete morning to cook dinner. These are the grits my grandmother speaks so fondly of, and those I wish to present you make right here.
Grits are one of many first true American meals. In accordance with Deep South Magazine, the Muscogee indigenous peoples had been among the many first-known makers of what we right this moment name grits, pounding or grinding dried corn with stones to create a rough cornmeal after which cooking it right into a soup or porridge known as safke. (In addition they added lye to the safke because it cooked, successfully nixtamalizing it like hominy, which eliminated the bran and improved the corn’s digestibility and dietary worth; that is probably how the phrase “hominy” received hooked up to grits, even when most grits right this moment should not produced from nixtamalized corn.)
When colonizers arrived within the 1600s, they had been launched to native corn and its many preparations, together with grits. Grits would change into a staple within the Southern colonies, forming what’s now often known as the “grits belt,” operating from Texas to Washington, DC, the place a lot of the nation’s grits are offered.
Tips on how to Prepare dinner Excellent, Grandma-Authorized Grits
Like making a pot of completely cooked white rice, cooking grits which can be grandmother-approved can appear to be a frightening process. Widespread points often run the gamut, from the grits being too runny and under-seasoned to the grits changing into too dry, thick, and/or stuffed with undercooked clumps. Too usually, poorly made grits are hidden behind copious quantities of cream and cheese, after which smothered beneath sauces, spices, and different intensely flavorful toppings. To actually recognize grits, all you really want are a number of staple components (salt, butter, water, and high quality grits) and a few good method.
Selecting the Greatest Grits
For a very distinctive pot of grits, we advocate stone-ground grits like those from Southern Queen. Whereas we used stone-ground grits in a few of our recipe testing, this recipe will work with the grits from most different mills and types. The principle exceptions are prompt and fast grits, that are quick-cooking comfort merchandise that require much less water; these merchandise must be made utilizing the bundle instructions.
Stone-ground grits are produced from complete kernel corn that’s been pulverized in a stone mill to provide a extra complicated texture starting from bigger bits right down to a positive powder. In addition they have a shorter shelf life as a result of inclusion of the corn’s bran, which accommodates oils that can go rancid over time. The shelf life of those grits might be prolonged by storing them in a cool, dry place, ideally the fridge or, for longer storage of greater than a month, the freezer.
Correct Grits Method
Cooking grits is loads like cooking polenta. You wish to use a excessive sufficient quantity of water relative to the amount of grits to ensure that even the biggest bits of dried corn will totally hydrate and soften. At dwelling, I will usually begin with a 4:1 ratio by quantity of water to grits, and if the grits aren’t totally cooked by way of by the point they’ve thickened, I will add extra water, bumping the ratio as much as 5:1. Within the following recipe, I’ve set the ratio from the beginning at 5:1, since there is no hurt in beginning with just a little extra water (worst case, you need to cook dinner it for a number of extra minutes to thicken up). This can assure—even for a complete grits novice—a pot that cooks up silky and creamy.
I additionally prefer to cook dinner my grits coated, lifting the lid each couple of minutes to totally whisk and stir and scrape to forestall lumps from forming and the underside from scorching. The lid traps steam, which reduces the possibilities a lump-causing pores and skin will type on high, and it’ll additionally comprise any pops of scalding grits from flying out of the pot, which might occur because the porridge grows thicker.
Deciding when your grits are completed is a private alternative, and can decide your whole cooking time. Some folks like their grits extra on the runny aspect with just a little gritty texture nonetheless remaining, others need them creamy and thick however flowing, whereas some need them so stiff they’re capable of maintain their form when dolloped. Be happy to cook dinner your grits to whichever level you need (although be aware that when your grits are totally hydrated, you can thicken them up extra shortly in the event you take the lid off to let steam escape).
Serving Grits
There are numerous methods to serve grits past this humble recipe. Shrimp and grits is a traditional pairing, and there are one million and one methods to alter that recipe: add crab, lobster, crayfish, oysters, or every other seafood you want. You may also serve them with a smothering sauce with rooster or turkey, or with a wealthy red wine–braised piece of beef.
In fact, they’re the proper aspect in your breakfast plate of eggs, bacon, and toast, however you can too change it up by including salmon or corned beef hash (my favorites). You possibly can let the grits cool and fry them into grit desserts, which make an ideal appetizer or meal. Including cheese, bacon, inexperienced onion, sausage, and no matter else you might have in your kitchen cupboards or fridge is all the time a great way to go as properly, as grits can complement most issues. The one factor you’ll by no means discover on the desk with my grits, nevertheless, is sugar. Please, go away that to oatmeal and different porridges.
