# A question for my Southern Bretheren **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693 "2013-07-05T05:00:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/41 "2013-07-05T23:15:24Z")
I grew up in Central Alabama, and I mix eggs and grits but others don’t- personal choice. Cheese grits, however, are something I’ve usually seen served with fish and seafood more than with breakfast. (Just got some really great stone ground from a small mill in the Georgia mountains- best grits I’ve had in a while.) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/42 "2013-07-05T23:38:10Z")
Hey! Where did this poll go? ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/43 "2013-07-05T23:51:36Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Hey! Where did this poll go? Top of the page. I’ll mix an over easy or over medium in with grits sometimes. But never scrambled of fried hard. But I usually get an omelet which makes the point moot. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/44 "2013-07-05T23:58:00Z")
Mixed, like my dad taught me. I love runny fried eggs and grits more than most things in the world. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/45 "2013-07-06T00:23:04Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Southern what? Canada? No, Virginia! I’m just not a breakfast person. I’ll have eggs or cereal for dinner occasionally but my friends and family don’t eat grits. Sausage gravy is better. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/46 "2013-07-06T01:24:09Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Seperate. I will mix bacon and sausage into the grits though. Eggs separate, but I’ve done this from time-to-time. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/47 "2013-07-06T01:38:17Z")
I have lived in the south for 10 years, which is not near long enough for me to be considered southern, but I am actually a little surprised at the results of the poll. I expected it to be pretty even, with the mixers probably winning out (full disclosure, I mix, but really only with a nice, runny-yoked egg, not so much with scrambled). I wonder if there are regional variations to this. I swear most people mix around these parts (NC), but there are others saying they have never seen such a thing. Or maybe I just run around with the wrong crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Jungian\_Camisole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@Jungian\_Camisole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jungian_Camisole)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/48 "2013-07-06T01:40:32Z")
As both a Southerner and a True Heathen from way back in the day, I did things my own way. My grits were always eaten with butter and sugar. Breakfast dessert, if you will. An awesome treat after the bacon or sausage and eggs with toast and butter.\* I am, however, quite intrigued by the idea of shrimp and grits. Especially if cheese is involved. If anyone has a good recipe, I’m all eyes. And stomach. \*My cholesterol levels are ridiculously normal. Lucky! ---
**Author:** ![Strangeland64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@Strangeland64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strangeland64)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/49 "2013-07-06T01:43:26Z")
Eggs fried in leftover bacon grease and runny, mixed fully with cooked in butter grits. This is how I’ve always seen it done ( southeast Mississippi) , however, we don’t care how anyone else chooses to eat their grits, mixed or not. We just don’t understand why grits aren’t a staple across the U.S. ? lol) Also in the summer when tomatoes are in season, lots of people like to make up tomato gravy or just cut up a fresh tomato and eat with grits instead of eggs, or even with eggs… we do that separate. Hope this helped. P.S. I like northern foods too, having lived temporarily and for a very short time in Michigan/Wisconsin, they have their own foods that are delish also, so not knocking my northern friends 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/50 "2013-07-06T02:14:07Z")
Pepperjack or extra sharp cheddar. Only lived in the south for 30 years, I’ll give it another 30 and then decide. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/51 "2013-07-06T03:30:15Z")
> [@Jungian\_Camisole](#): > > As both a Southerner and a True Heathen from way back in the day, I did things my own way. > > My grits were always eaten with butter and sugar. Breakfast dessert, if you will. An awesome treat after the bacon or sausage and eggs with toast and butter.\* I am, however, quite intrigued by the idea of shrimp and grits. Especially if cheese is involved. If anyone has a good recipe, I’m all eyes. And stomach. > > \*My cholesterol levels are ridiculously normal. Lucky! Add precooked cleaned and shelled small shrimp. Add slice of american cheese or grate on some cheddar. Add a pat of butter and salt and pepper to taste. If you want to get all fancy you can cook the grits in the shrimp stock. I like to add a little garlic and onion power to my shrimp n grits. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/52 "2013-07-06T03:45:18Z")
I will often mix them together, sometimes not. I also like to crumble up my bacon into my grits. Yummmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/53 "2013-07-06T17:29:08Z")
I live in Lower Alabama (about an hour’s drive from **prettydorky** ). I top over-medium fried eggs with a healthy dollop of grits, add butter and salt. Then I mash them up together and enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/54 "2013-07-06T19:12:38Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > I like 'em all sorts of ways. Plain, with butter and pepper; mixed with egg / sausage; or perhaps shrimp and cheese. A dash of Tabasco, maybe. > > I once was having breakfast with a grad school colleague (northern transplant) and he started to put sugar and milk on his grits. > > Me: STOP! For God’s sake, what are you doing? > Him: ?? Fixing my breakfast?? > Me: You can’t treat grits like that! Grits is not cream of wheat!! > > I see that from time to time. Even here in the South. It’s shameful. ☹ Born and raised in Chicago, but occasionally traveled far enough south to become acquainted with grits and developed a taste for them. When I started visiting an online friend in NC I mentioned this, and she asked how I ate my grits. Before I could say anything she warned me that the future of our relationship depended on my answer. Fortunately, I knew the correct way to treat grits, which is why I am now a transplanted Yankee. She does mix eggs with her grits on occasion, when she can get them both properly cooked (eggs over easy, and grits not too runny). I finally had shrimp and grits last year and I like them, but she doesn’t because she doesn’t care for shrimp. ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/55 "2013-07-06T20:04:41Z")
I like them separate; I don’t think this necessarily indicates OCD. However, I had a former colleague who not only would never mix the dishes, but who also would not proceed from one dish to the other until the first had been entirely consumed. This was not confined to his eggs and grits but to every meal he ever consumed. If he had a meat and 2 sides, it was meat, side, side; side, meat, side, and so on. To watch him eat was deeply disturbing on some fundamental level, especially with a 4 side vegetable plate, cooked southern style. 4 sides presented 24 distinct combinations of orders. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/56 "2013-07-06T20:58:00Z")
> [@Evin](#): > > \<\\> > To watch him eat was deeply disturbing on some fundamental level, > especially with a 4 side vegetable plate, cooked southern style. > 4 sides presented 24 distinct combinations of orders. I’m going to hazard a guess that this individual is not a fan of stir fries and kabobs. Or Asian cooking in general. Growing up with individually cooked and served components to every meal made it hard for me to adjust to combo dishes with stuff all jumbled together. But it may have made it easier for me to treat my meals as a one-dish concept after trying the Asian way. In any event, I’m much less picky about stuff touching now. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/57 "2013-07-07T03:22:25Z")
My over-easy eggs are are going to mixed with my scattered covered and smothered Hash browns, or toast. My grits are enhanced with salt, pepper, butter, and brown sugar. And if I am waffle house, my waffle is crispy with pecans. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/58 "2013-07-07T03:28:52Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > My over-easy eggs are are going to mixed with my scattered covered and smothered Hash browns, or toast. > > My grits are enhanced with salt, pepper, butter, and brown sugar. > > And if I am waffle house, my waffle is crispy with pecans. If these colors don’t look right to you… ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/59 "2013-07-07T08:46:07Z")
Hmmm… I’m as southern as southern can be but I’m not really familiar with this. I wouldn’t say it’s taboo but I can’t recall seeing the egg and the grit mixed together on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693/60 "2013-07-07T12:17:11Z")
If I’m having my eggs scrambled, I like em on top of my biscuits and gravy. If I’m having them sunny side up, I want them separate so that the yolk doesn’t get soaked into the grits or gravy or something. I want to sop that stuff up with toast. Never mixed with the grits, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-my-southern-bretheren/662693.md?page=4)