Grits

Reminds me of the story of a young man I worked with back in the mid-70's. His dad was Canadian & his mom was American, he being raised most of his life in Canada. We used to eat lunch at a local drug store with a lunch counter and as we sat there one day he spotted a box of "instant grits" under the back counter and asked, "What are grits?"...and being the type I am, I told him, "It's ground up hominy." Guess what his next question was? :haha: When they served corn bread with meals he'd also call it "johnny cakes"...just depends where you're from!

I've been told grits were regional before the Civil War- "hoe cake" was the more common but once grits were introduced they became universally eaten throughout the south.
I load mine up with butter and tobasco sauce. Pretty good.

I cook mine with sliced jalopeones and jack cheese,wake you up in the morning

tenngun said:

I cook mine with sliced jalopeones and jack cheese,wake you up in the morning

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Amen brother, that's the way to do it! Had an aunt who was a true Southern girl and married to an M.D. who traveled a lot for seminars and medical conferences. She couldn't start a day without grits and got some interesting comments when asking for them in hotel cafeterias up north! :haha:

Some of the places I eat around here have two menus. The paper one they hand out has stuff like hash browns and toast but...if you ask- they have grits, biscuits, etc for the locals.

The best grits ever come from "Bird Mills in Virginia" Google them. Grits have been a staple in Mexico for centuries. Eating instant grits is a sin. :td:

Pretty good trail food as well, light weight and not bulky and swell up to beat the band.

My ancestors climbed of the boat in 1620, lived in the States till about 1900 and then moved up here! Spence told me what grits and hominy is :redface: I am hoping to make it to Mass. for the Quadracentennial of the Mayflower landing, it would be nice to see alot of the historical places my ancesters helped settle.

An interesting note, the name "Johnny Cake" comes from the term "Journey Cake". They were made to carry when traveling. Thus the name "Journey" cake. This later evolved into the now common term Johnny cake. A true Johnny cake is a bit different from cornbread in that it has a bit more sugar in it as well as a bit of flour. Many southerners think it is too sweet and the texture is not right but I prefer it that way. It is the way my wife makes her cornbread. I tell her that it is Johnny Cake but she insists that it's cornbread. Whatever, just as long as she keeps making it.

And what do the last 9 posts have to do with the Battle of New Orleans?

:nono: Don't shake the tree

Nothing- we strayed off course.

back when I was able to 'trek' I carried grits and precooked crumbled bacon. stir the bacon into the simmering grits. some black pepper if you have.
right good trail fare. cooked grits can also be added to stewing wild game when nearly falling apart for a sort of stew

I like em cooked in milk sweetened with dark brown sugar, or maple syrup. Although cheesy grits are pretty much awesome as well. :hmm:

In far NE TX (which in cooking is definitely DEEP SOUTH, as most of our natives families came to TX from AL, GA, LA, MS or TN.), we call what your lady makes, "yankee cornbread" & my parents/grandparents served it for dessert with butter and ribbon-cane syrup or honey.

Fwiw, I grew up on "Depression food", as that's what all five women, including my governess, who raised me cooked. - For example, I think any meal is "peculiar" if it doesn't include 3-6 of the following: biscuits/cornbread, chicken/pork, white gravy, rice, pasta and/or beans/peas.= "poor folks" food.
(One of the standing/inside jokes about NETX is that we eat so many "cow peas" that if you stuck a knife in us that nothing but "pea juice" would flow from the wound.)

Btw, NETX cornbread has only cornmeal, flour, egg, milk, baking powder & a little salt. It's traditionally baked in a cast iron skillet & slathered with butter.

yours, satx

To ALL,

Btw, did your mothers make FRIED GRITS, as a featured side-dish, for "family supper", several times a month?

yours, satx

No...sadly. My Mom was in enough trouble with her Mom when it got out she'd moved to Texas and was eating "cow peas" or black-eyes, as you will. It took her some getting used to, but God bless her, she finally found a way to bring St. Louis German to Virginia transplant Texian! What a combo, but we never went hungry!

Growing up in central PA, I never had grits until I moved to fla in the early 1970's. Love em with butter salt and pepper, or even red eye gravy.

I routinely use grits or corn meal to thicken stews and soups.

But, as breakfast foods go, scrapple beats the heck out of grits.

zimmerstutzen said:

But, as breakfast foods go, scrapple beats the heck out of grits.

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Agreed!

"Scrapple"????? =====> YETCH!

I once "shared housing with" a Mennonite YL from North Wales, PA & she made scrapple "from scratch".
(That !@#$%! makes me GAG, just smelling it cooking. - Her grandmother's recipe had everything but the "squeal" in it.)

Otoh, "Annie" couldn't stand me cooking/eating Tex-Mex MENUDO or some authentic Vietnamese food, either.

yours, satx