What are grits like?

[pkbites]

I'm amazed that after 40 years on Earth, and after being to every state in the south.......twice!, I have never had grits. What are they like? Do they taste like anything else I may have had?

[zigaretten]

They are a whole lot like hominy.

[schief2]

When I had them, they kind of reminded me of cream of wheat - only coarser, and with a corn-y kind of flavor (big surprise, since they're made with corn). Pretty good with some honey or maple syrup.

I'm sure a bona-fide Southerner will happen by before long to elaborate...

[RM Mentock]

Originally posted by schief2
When I had them, they kind of reminded me of cream of wheat - only coarser,

That's why they're "grits". But they're not going to grind your teeth off, or anything. The usual serving around here seems to be with butter.

[NothingMan]

Grits are an aquired taste my friend. They have (what will seem to you to be) a strange consistency.

I tried "cream of wheat" once. Blech. Nasty stuff.

Grits tend to take the taste of what you mix with them. Try this : salt and pepper and butter - it is very good.

Naturally the, northern members of our country want to make them oatmeal and put syrup and cinnamon and sugar on them.

Yuck.

Try grits with bacon or sausage. Try grits with eggs - runny eggs. Try grits with hashbrowns and ketchup. Try grits with red-eye gravy.


Oh, and one final secret - instant grits (if made carefully) can be as good as "home boiled" grits. If not better. Sad but true.

[Gaspode]

What are grits? I always assumed that it was just southern slang for food.

[Danielinthewolvesden]

My friend, being a southerner, insisted "grits was good eats". I demurred- knowing they were somewhat like library paste- but not as flavorful. He then cooked some up. They were so loaded down with real bacon bits, sausage bits & cheese- that I had to take his word for it that there were grits under there. They were damn tasty, I admitted. However, i pointed out- that Library paste- with the same "additions"- would likely taste as good if not better. :D

[evilbeth]

NothingMan, I was mostly with you on your post until I read that fateful last part. Alas, I must no longer respect your opinion on Southern food. 'Tis a shame, really since you seem to know some things about grits. However, everyone knows that you just cannot beat "real" grits--especially not with (it pains me to type it) instant grits.








;)

[2nd Law]

Originally posted by Gaspode
What are grits? I always assumed that it was just southern slang for food.

Grits are cornmeal, cooked so they have a consistancy roughly like mashed potatoes. Also known as cornmeal mush.

I've never seen the attraction, but after reading how some people doctor them up with bacon and cheese and butter, I suppose they could be made edible.

[reprise]

"tell you a story 'bout a man named Jed; poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed..."

As far as I have ever heard, "grits" are right up there with polenta - ie, cornmeal kinda stuff.


Please tell me that I am wrong and someone give me a recipe for smothered chicken...please...

[Johanna]

The only difference between grits and polenta (formerly known as "mush"--if you remember the "Little Rascals" episode where they all become rich and fling their hated bowls of mush at the butler):

Polenta made from cornmeal.
Grits made from hominy.

What is hominy? Corn that's been soaked in lime water. (That's calcium carbonate lime, not citrus lime.) The kernels are dried and stored until ground up -- an old American Indian process. The word "hominy" is of Algonquian origin.

Waitress: What'll it be for breakfast:
Diner: I'll have grits.
Waitress: Hominy, sir?
Diner: Oh, about four or five.

[Ringo]

I'm of the butter, salt and pepper school. I love'em; bets the heck out of, say, hash browns to round out breakfast.

Last week I had provolone grits with grilled shrimp, hearts of palm, capers and olives. There's a lot of possibilities.

That was interesting, but I'll stick with the traditional if given the choice.

[screech-owl]

For a full discourse: Tips for traveling in the South (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=37040).

There is a local cartoonist, Jake Vest, who draws the "That's Jake" cartoon - outlooks on life from a southern big-hatted, big-truck-with-the-shotgun-in-the-rear-window, down-home kind of way. He has published a collection of cartoons: the cover has "Jake" (with the ubiqitous over-sized cowboy hat) as a server in a diner, waiting on a family of tourists (Florida shirts, Mickey ears) who are looking at their plates in obvious distress and disgust. His comment to them, and the title of the book, is "If You Didn't Want Grits, How Come You Ordered Breakfast?". (I found this book after my incident in South Carolina. Must be a southernism used on Yankees.)

And yes, I have tried grits, and am learning to tolerate them. And I have seen real southerners (5th generation) put sugar on their breakfast grits.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

electrical insulation.

Or Klingon emergency survival rations.

BLEAGH! :(

They made the South so damn cranky, it started the Civil War. :wally

[john_e_wagner]

Grits have little to no flavor. It's what you put on / in them thats important. I personally like to put french toast and bacon in my grits. Alone they are pretty nasty. I believe were popularized by the poor in the south. Grits are cheap and by adding a little something to flavor them you can make a cheap meal. IIRC they were poularized in reconstruction.

[kpm]

I have lived in NC for 30 years and I don't eat them. I hate the taste. I don't know many people who do eat them.

I had a professor from England. He said that when he first moved to NC someone asked him if he wanted to try some grits. He said "I'll try one." :)

[hijack]
In the south, when you go into a breakfast place, most of the breakfast combos come with grits and toast-or-biscuit. And you have to pay a "Yankee Tax" of 50¢ to get hash browns instead of Grits.
[/byejack]

[UrbanChic]

Grits seasoned with butter, salt and pepper with sausage and scrambled eggs on the side: now that's good eatin'! I fix this for breakfast on the weekends and my son licks the plate clean. He also likes them with butter, brown sugar and a touch of cinnamon.

I agree, though: naked grits are pretty nasty.

[Tretiak]

Grits mixed with butter and bacon or sausage...mmm-mmmm. My dad likes to put a raw egg in and lets it cook right in the steaming bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. And I agree, instant grits are simply persona non grata, so to speak.

[Duck Duck Goose]

I feel a strong need to set the record straight, even though I don't actually live in the South.

Grits are not cornmeal.

Nor are they polenta, which of course IS cornmeal. Ishmintingas addressed this but I don't think he put it strongly enough.

To make grits: You take whole dried corn kernels and soak them in lye overnight. (According to The Joy of Cooking, you can use baking soda instead, but I have never heard of anyone actually using this. I welcome input from Real Southern Dopers, though.)

The next morning, you rinse off the lye (thoroughly) and then you rub the soaked corn kernels with your hands. The softened outside skin of the corn kernel comes off. Then you cook the inside part of the corn kernel for about 3 hours, by boiling, and this is called "hominy". If you grind this up to the consistency of Cream of Wheat, what you have then is called "grits".

It is an extremely bland taste, needless to say. Personally, I think it goes better with "salty" as in butter and salt than with "sweet" as in syrup.

Grits are an excellent way to utilize ham that is too salty. Cut up the ham after it's cooked and mix it into the plain cooked grits.

[Olentzero]

I am a Northerner by birth and, as you Johnny Rebs like to say, the grace of God.

I eat grits and I like 'em. But definitely not by themselves. My preferred condiment in this case is Tabasco sauce with some butter and a good dash of salt. But it's really great to mix 'em in with the bits of egg and sausage gravy left over from the main dishes. Yum!!!

[Spoke]

...As my dear old Dad used to say.

Except in passing, no one has mentioned the pleasures of cheese grits. Mmmmmmmmmmmaaannn, they're good! Just take a batch of grits and melt some cheese into them.

Oh yeah, and grits do not have the consistency of cream of wheat. They are more coarsely ground. More gritty, if you will.

I know I will.

[Hello Again]

Instant grits (with the requisite butter or cheese of course) are nice to bring camping. Lightweight, tasty, salty, easy, and filling. Second only to couscous for these properties.

That said, I looove grits. My parents (native New Yorkers) must have picked up the habit when they lived in Kansas and passed it on to us kids. I order them (in volume) wherever I can find them. Maybe I'm strange, but I like the texture. I agree its far more gritty than cream of wheat -- the individual particles are larger.

[Spoke]

You just have to understand that grits are a sort of culinary "blank canvas." Alone, they're not much to write home about; but doctor them up with some cheese, or sausage, or bacon, or whatever, and they are mighty fine.

[toadspittle]

I concur with spoke--cheddar grits are mighty fine, and extend grits usefulness beyond breakfast. One of my favorites: Cornish game hens with dried cranberry sauce over cheddar grits.

I'm a northerner, too. Apparently, when I was a tot (just barely eating solid food), I would only eat grits and grilled cheese sandwiches when I was in restaurants on vacation in the south. I totally forgot about this as I grew up, and didn't eat grits again until I was in high school. It was like a new experience at that point. Still liked 'em, though.

[Tretiak]

On the topic of interesting Southern delicacies, may I mention what is known as "scrapple". Actually, I think it is more of a Pennsylvania "delicacy". My grandmother from Norfolk, VA used to make these great biscuits with fried scrapple. What is scrapple? Let me quote a website..

"Scrapple, on the other hand, is an amalgamation of tendons, cartilage, feet, skin, ears, nose, gums and more. In short, it's all the garbage that should be thrown away. Some people eat it. Really."


Or another...

"But what parts of the hog go into the creation of scrapple? After the ham, bacon, chops and other cuts of meat are taken from the butchered pig - what remains are fixings for scrapple - including the meat scraped off the head. Scrapple may contain pork skin, pork heart, pork liver, pork tongue - even pork brains. Those faint of palate needn't venture any further."

Mmmm-mmm, good!

[UrbanChic]

Mmmmmmmmmmm, scrapple! They make (or used to, at least) a brand of scrapple here in Maryland (in Baltimore, I believe).

A scrapple and egg (fried hard, of course) sandwich on either toast (white bread, bread of course) or a kaiser roll, OMG! I know what I'll be eating for breakfast this weekend!

I have to admit I've never cooked scrapple. I usually order it out. There's a place called Pete's Grill in the Waverly section of Baltimore. They have the best grits and scrapple in town!

By the way, here's a hint I discovered by accident. I used to follow the direction on the box (well, canister to be more precise) for preparing my grits. I always thought the consistency just wasn't up to the caliber of those I ordered in diners. One day I put the grits in the water before bringing the water to a boil. This gave them a creamier texture. I haven't gone back since. By the way, I buy the grits in the blue canister (quick cooking).

[Olentzero]

Herewith, I quote from Mrs. O's Cyclopedia of Pennsylvania Folk Wisdom:

"You can tell what's in scrapple 'cos it lists two ingredients right in the name: scrap and crap."

She claims she identified someone from PA in Bob and Edith's Diner (DC Dopers, if your cholesterol level is too damn low, you need to head to Arlington and check this place out) simply because he ordered scrapple with his breakfast.

I had the stuff once, didn't make much of an impression on me tastewise. Won't eat it again, however, because now I know way too much about it.

[occ]

Originally posted by Tretiak
On the topic of interesting Southern delicacies, may I mention what is known as "scrapple". Actually, I think it is more of a Pennsylvania "delicacy". My grandmother from Norfolk, VA used to make these great biscuits with fried scrapple. What is scrapple? Let me quote a website..



I think Scrapple is a Pennsylvania thing. At least, I associate it with PA because the only times I've had it has been from relatives from PA. It's actually pretty good, if you can get over the fact that its basically a weird meat/fat by-product. Its a topic of discussion whether the proper name is "Scrapple" or "Ponthaus".

[NothingMan]

Originally posted by evilbeth
NothingMan, I was mostly with you on your post until I read that fateful last part. Alas, I must no longer respect your opinion on Southern food. 'Tis a shame, really since you seem to know some things about grits. However, everyone knows that you just cannot beat "real" grits--especially not with (it pains me to type it) instant grits.

Ok I shall ammend my statement. It is my opinion, however repulsive other southerners may find it, that instant grits are better. The reason is simple : I can monitor instant to be the exact thickness I desire, whereas grits made "from scratch" tend to get a bit lumpy. Thats all just MHO.

Love ya evilbeth !

:D

[Doctor Jackson]

Those of you who say grits have no flavor have probably never had "real" grits. Real grits do not come in a box or can, but from a bag directly from the mill where they are ground from the whole kernal. They are a pain to cook. Proper grits must be soaked in water for an hour (or more), the chaff drained off, soaked again, drained again, and then cooked. The payoff for this extra labor is a much richer, full tasting, and filling dish. I prefer the white speckled grits, but YMMV. I do still add butter and salt to real grits, but it's not nearly as necessary.

I ususally get my grits (and cornmeal, flour, etc.) from the Nora Mill Granery in northeast Georgia, one of the few water wheel powered mills still in operation. The bread and pancake mixes are good as well. You can visit them on-line at:

http://www.noramill.com/

While your there, check out some of their recipies. MMMmmm!

[Max Torque]

I feel I should mention that a former co-worker of mine used to eat -- get ready for it -- dry grits. Yes, she used to bring the little envelopes to work, tear 'em open, and just pour those little devils straight into her mouth and crunch away.

The rest of you grit-eatin' folks can just bow down to her.

[Sauron]

Born and raised in the South. Lived here my whole life. So I can say, unequivocally and without remorse: Grits suck. They exist solely as a medium to transport something else to your mouth.

Didn't we have a similar thread on this a couple of months ago? Is the powerful and dreaded Grits Lobby paying people to keep this pseudofood in the public eye?

[manhattan]

I think the OP has been more than adequately answered here. Do we really need input from everyone who has ever tried grits?