Maybe it was when celebrity chef Nathalie Dupree declared that polenta was just a fancy name for grits.
Maybe it was when Southern restaurants such as Birmingham, Ala.’s Highlands Bar & Grill and Atlanta’s Horseradish Grill started getting attention in national magazines.
Or maybe it was when all those Northerners started moving to the South and turning up their noses at beloved grits.
Whatever it was, a funny thing happened on the way to the diner: Grits got all dressed up.
Young chefs such as Atlanta’s Scott Peacock and Birmingham’s Frank Stitt went off for culinary training in Europe. But when they came home, all steeped in prosciutto and polenta, they found country ham and grits.
Stitt’s idea with the Highlands Bar & Grill was “to use our Southern traditions and tweak them just a bit, put my French techniques, Provencal techniques, into some of these home-style ways.”
For Charlotte’s Todd Townsend, a Charleston native who was the chef at Palatable Pleasures before opening his own catering business, grits were a natural.
“I grew up eating grits,” he says. His family ate grits more than they ate rice–and in Charleston, where rice is given a status approaching religion, that’s saying something.
“I thought this is what everybody in the United States eats for breakfast,” Townsend says.
As a chef, he filled his menus with eclectic versions of grits. Grillades and grits, with blackened tenderloin; grits cakes filled with backfin crab meat, chevre and roasted red peppers; grits souffles; grits timbales with country ham and crawfish; and bullets: jalapeno peppers filled with grits and pepper cheese served with a red pepper creme fraiche.
Want an example of just how far grits have come? Take the old low country favorite, shrimp and grits. Townsend’s version uses whole, fat shrimp on grits cooked with Wisconsin black-rind Cheddar, fresh whipping cream and chicken stock. At Horseradish Grill in Atlanta, Peacock’s version is grits with shrimp paste. Shrimp cooked in an amazing amount of butter are pureed with a little bit of sherry and swirled into creamy, slow-cooked grits.
The key, Townsend says, is using the best ingredients.
Texture is part of the attraction for chefs. Etienne Jaulin of The Townhouse in Charlotte is intrigued by grits as a crust, contrasting with a different flavor inside, such as salmon with a crust of grits.
Of course, the grits involved in all this play aren’t just any old grits. Mention instant grits and Stitt practically spits.
“The worst thing in the cooking repertoire,” he calls them.
True grits are stone-ground grits, and many chefs are going to great lengths to find them. John Martin Taylor of Hoppin’ Johns, the culinary bookstore in Charleston, gets his from a mill in Georgia and in turn sells them to other aficionados. Townsend likes unbolted white speckled grits from a mill in Boykin, S.C.
David Hinson, who makes Old School Mill grits near Albemarle, says grinding with stones, versus the steel rollers that most modern mills use, makes all the difference.
“People are finding out what stone-grinding is. … People kind of got away from it,” he says. “There’s no comparison; any chef worth his salt will prefer stone-ground.”
BASIC BOILED GRITS
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Adapted from “Good Old Grits Cookbook,” by Bill Neal and David Perry (Workman). When it comes to things Southern, you’d do well to trust the late Bill Neal, founder of the Chapel Hill, N.C., restaurant Crook’s Corner. If you’re ready to branch out from quick grits and instant grits, let Neal’s basic recipe be your guide.
1 cup stone-ground grits
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1. Pour grits into large bowl and cover with cold water. Skim off chaff as it floats to surface. Stir grits about and skim again until all the chaff has been removed. Drain grits in fine-mesh sieve.
2. Heat water to boil in medium saucepan. Add salt and slowly stir in grits. Simmer, stirring frequently, until grits are done–they should be quite thick and creamy–about 40 minutes.
3. Remove grits from heat and stir in butter.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories…………205 Fat………….6 g Cholesterol…………15 mg
Sodium………..265 mg Carbohydrates..33 g Protein……………..4 g
GRILLADES AND GRITS
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Adapted from “Good Old Grits Cookbook,” by Bill Neal and David Perry.
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound thin pork loin cutlets
3 tablespoons bacon fat
1 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red or green bell pepper
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 small fresh chili pepper, seeded, chopped, or pinch of dried pepper flakes
1 large clove garlic, minced
Basic boiled grits, see recipe, hot
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
1. Mix flour, salt and pepper together on plate. Dip both sides of cutlets in mixture; shake off excess. Heat fat in large skillet over medium-high heat. Place in skillet in single layer and brown quickly on each side. Set aside.
2. Add onions, celery and bell pepper to skillet; cook and stir until tender, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, chili pepper and garlic; bring to simmer. Thin sauce with water if desired. Add browned pork and simmer until pork is tender and cooked through, about 20 minutes.
3. Divide grits among 4 warm plates. Top with grillades and sauce. Sprinkle with parsley if desired and serve immediately.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories…………540 Fat…………..24 g Cholesterol………100 mg
Sodium………..680 mg Carbohydrates….48 g Protein……………32 g
FRIED CHILI CHEESE GRITS
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Chilling time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 16 servings
Adapted From “New Southern Cooking,” by Nathalie Dupree. True to Dupree’s stance that grits are equal to polenta, this recipe is a jazzed-up version of a dish often made with either polenta or grits.
4 cups water
2 cups quick (not instant) grits
3 to 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
2/3 cup grated extra-sharp Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1 jalapeno or other fresh chile, finely chopped
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
Salt, freshly ground pepper to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for frying
1. Oil an 8-inch square pan and refrigerate or freeze until cold. Heat water to boil in large, heavy saucepan. Gradually stir in grits, reduce heat so liquid is simmering and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Immediately stir in garlic, cheese and chili pepper. Season with hot sauce, salt and pepper. Spread grits in pan and place in freezer 1 hour or refrigerate overnight until solid.
2. Just before serving, place egg in one shallow bowl and bread crumbs in another. Cut cold grits into squares. Dip both sides into egg and then into bread crumbs. Arrange on large baking sheet. Heat oil to depth of 1/4-inch in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry grits in batches until crisp and brown on all sides, about 3 to 4 minutes total, adding additional oil as necessary. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories…………….205 Fat…………..12 g Cholesterol……15mg
Sodium…………….85 mg Carbohydrates….22 g Protein………..4 g
GRITS CAKES FILLED WITH CHEVRE, ROASTED PEPPER AND CRAB MEAT
Chilling time: 1 hour
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
From Townsend’s Gourmet Cuisine Ltd. of Charlotte, N.C.
Basic boiled grits (see recipe), hot
3 tablespoons crab meat, lump or backfin, picked through
3 tablespoons (chevre) goat cheese or softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 roasted red bell pepper, peeled, cut into strips, see note
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt, such as sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
Chopped chives for garnish, optional
1. Pour hot grits into ungreased loaf pan and let cool until quite firm (1 to 1 1/2 hours). When ready to assemble, invert pan and turn grits out on cutting board. (Be careful not to break up.) Cut in slices about 3/4-inch thick. With sharp knife, cut grits slices in half horizontally.
2. Mix crab meat, chevre and Old Bay seasoning in bowl. With spoon, evenly portion crab and cheese mixture on top of half the grits cake slices. Add strips of roasted red pepper and top with remaining grits cake slices. Gently pat together.
3. Combine flour, salt and pepper in small mixing bowl. Melt butter in cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. (It should be about 1/4-inch deep. Add more if necessary.) Dip both sides of grits cakes in flour mixture, then place in butter and fry until golden brown on bottoms, about 5 minutes. Turn cakes carefully and brown other side, about 5 minutes more.
4. Remove from pan, drain briefly on paper towels and serve hot, garnished with chives if desired.
Note: To roast pepper, place over gas flame or under broiler, turning frequently, until blackened. Place in paper bag and let cool. Skin should slip off. Prepared roasted pepper is sold in jars at supermarkets.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories……….405 Fat……………21 g Cholesterol……..55 mg
Sodium………905 mg Carbohydrates…..47 g Protein……………9 g
