The Grits Appreciation Thread
 

Ok, so I've been in the South for about 6 months, and they're really starting to grow on me (although I do still occasionally put sugar on them)

What's your favorite way to eat grits?

With any or a combination of the following: plain, bacon, cheese, butter, sausage, eggs [think Krystal Scrambler], or a little syrup. I prefer the real slow cooked kind, but the instant will work too.




They're so much better than cream of wheat




[e.t.a. forgot a space after the colon, caused a smilie to occur]

I can't stand instant grits. I like the real thing loaded with butter, along with a big plate of ham and eggs. Yummmmmy! :)

Mmmmm, I LOVE grits! Lots and lots of butter, maybe some bacon or cheese, on top of a huuuuge hot piping biscuit!!!!! (Especially one from The Flying Biscuit, you from ATL know what I'm talking about)

A true southerner never puts sugar on grits, that just ruins them! :p

I've lived in South Georgia all my life. I didn't like grits until last year though. A guy that lived next door to me cooked Beer Can chicken and grits for us one night. I tried the grits and I loved them! I still can't stomach instant grits, but I love the slow cooked ones. The only thing I put on mine is butter.

Cheese Grits Casserole is awesome!!

I had this dish at a Charleston restaurant that I'll never forget; a pile of grits with shrimp on top and the whole thing was just swimming in melted butter. Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

What I really love about Southern cooks is how passionate they are about everything that comes out of their kitchen tasting good. And they're never stingy with the butter!

I used to eat grits all the time until I developed a corn allergy. :( I can still eat a little, but I'll get sick if I OD on it like I used to. I like it simple - mixed with butter and bacon pieces on the top.

For Brownies or something we had to get a "southern" badge and they made us eat grits. I remember hating them. :(
However going to school in West Virginia, people seem to love them. Maybe I should give grits another shot and see if my tastebuds have changed in the past 13 years.

I like grits...
~ with butter, salt and pepper
~with cheese
~ with pieces or bacon and/or fried egg mixed in
~with fish

YUM! :D

i've never had grits...

Plain (which really means with butter and salt), with cheese, fried (like when other cultures fry polenta), and as the base for shrimp & grits or grillades & grits. It cracks me up that all these "new south" chefs are making grits all fancy by adding all this other stuff like herbs, etc. and serving them with hi-falutin entrees. I've never tried them with sugar or anything like that - I really can't imagine how that would taste.

I like Sausage Gravy/ Cheese on my grits

It's okay, you're not missing anything. They're nasty!

I'm not a fan of the Grits.

Now Biscuitville breakfasts... there's something Southern that I love :)

Butter, salt and pepper. Every once in a while I like cheese on them. No eggs (I hate eggs....ewwwwww).

Mr. 1228 and the kid love when I get a chance to make Sunday brunch and I do my biscuits, sausage gravy and grits (I make a pretty good sausage gravy).

No instant grits though.....that is WRONG! :p

Of course in Western Canada they are damn near impossible to find and I have to go to Bellingham or Blaine, WA to get biscuits and/or grits

I like-y grits!!!:D

I think I will have some with brekkie on Sunday! Eggs, bacon, grits, and a bagel (hey, have to honor my Jewish BF!)

my grandma makes pretty good grits!! although i've never had any body elses - guess that's because i live in southern california! haha!!!

she puts butter and salt on them. the cheese and bacon sounds really good... may have to ask her to make those, next time.

Jill, you're just going to have to come home to good ol Virginia and let me whip up a big breakfast with slow-cooked grits! We'll throw in some good Surry ham, homemade biscuits and gravy, and maybe some cinnamon apples, too (my grandma makes the best). Man, I'm getting hungry just thinkin about it. Mr. Bunny is from upstate NY and is going through culture shock with the amount of butter we use in our food down here. He does like grits, though so I can't say he's all that bad. He got used to eating them on the ship, but I always tell him that those instant things are a disgrace to southern cooking and he needs to eat the real thing as often as possible. I'll fatten him up yet! Maybe we'll have breakfast for dinner tonight.... :p

I just started waitressing at a restaurant just outside of Charlotte, and actually I'm suprised at how many people down here do put sugar on them (even southern-born people). My boss puts A1 on them because she says it makes them taste like steak.

Best. Biscuits. EVAR!!!!!!

And I like my grits mixed with scrambled eggs with lots of black pepper, a little salt, and a little butter mixed in.

packing my bags right now...with an extra bag to bring back some Virginia Ham and other stuff! :) It is funny I work in Bellingham, WA and I see folx coming down from Canada to order biscuits from the grocery department BY THE CASE! (They don't sell biscuits up there). I introduced Mr. 1228 and his family to grits and he and the child LOVE them. Gotta school them Canadians on good Southern food! :D

One time Mr. 1228 even made some shrimp grits (he watches too much damn Food Network)

Wow! I rarely check out 'chit chat' much less post. However, I just happened to come across this thread and feel a need to share.

As I type, my home is filled with one heck of a delicious aroma. I am baking a Cheese Grits Breakfast Casserole for our UK Alumni potluck and game watch (GO CATS!) here in San Francisco.

You prepare the basic cheese grits - which we called Charleston Grits growing up (and still do) - and use pepper jack cheese instead of cheddar. Season the mixture with black pepper, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and hot sauce. Add to the mixture crumbled county sausage (preferably Purnell's Old Folks) along with chopped green peppers, onions, mushrooms and cilantro. All sautéed in the fat rendered by the sausage. Then bake as usual.

Quite tasty.

O.K., where are you??? That sounds SO GOOD!!! Where were you guys meeting today??? I miss living in Tennessee (well, only the food-San Francisco is QUITE different than Memphis!!!) :p

Come on down! Mr. Bunny and I just found our new place today, so we'll have a spare room for ya (it's 2 blocks from the beach in Ocean View). I'm makin him a good, artery-clogging breakfast in the morning before church :D

Of course, I'll be skipping everything but the biscuits and grits (with much less butter than normal) :(. But, it's for the sake of the little one on the way, so I guess it's a small sacrifice :)

I never had them either. These big Southern breakfasts sound like all the calories I eat for my breakfasts all week long;) .

We (UK Alumni & Wildcat fans) go to Zeke's Sports Bar & Grill for all the Cats' games. Zeke's is on third a few blocks from SBC Park.

I love my grits with sugar. I sometimes mix in eggs!!! I just love grits!!!!:D

Usually, it's just butter and S&P on my grits. But if I'm feeling like going all out, I'll put bacon and eggs in them like my grandma used to do for me when I'd stay with her. Never ever sugar. Ever. If I'm having them for breakfast, it's the instant kind.

-BUT-

I LOVE slow-cooked cheese grits/cheese grits casserole a la The Auburn Cookbook. My great-aunt always makes them for our family's Thanksgiving Eve fish fry. Fresh catfish+hush puppies+cheese grits+coleslaw+syrup (aka sweet tea) is quite possibly the best meal in the history of ever.

I gotta stop this post. I'm getting hungry.

1. Butter & Pepper
2. Hot Sauce

I've never tried A-1 on my grits; I might have to check that out.

I KNEW that!!! I remember seeing you guys last year during the NCAA Tournament! I was going to a Giants game, and you guys were in the back of the bar cheering for Kentucky. I remember being so surprised that there were so many of you!!! I like Zeke's...they actually have the best Guinness on tap of any bar that I know of...:)

yum!
 

i am a purist. cooked grits(never instant!) with salt, black pepper and butter. i also love cheese grits!!

Now that's good eating! :D :D

This thread is making me hungry, lol.

I discovered grits (and hush puppies YUM) when I went to Florida for the first time. Butter and salt is the best. ! The only kind I saw in the store the other day was instant though... don't think many people here in CA really buy them.

SHAME!
 

Not ONE of you mentioned My Cousin Vinny. SHAME!!

I've never had grits before.

I agree -- yum-o! They have variations of shrimp and grits all over Charleston. The best I ever had was in Atlanta: Stilton cheese grits with shrimp and bacon on top. I could have eaten three plates of the stuff, but then I wouldn't have had room for the peanut butter pie for dessert.

And I also agree with honeychile -- always loved it when my grandma made garlic cheese grits casserole!

Mr. Bunny puts A-1 on EVERYTHING. I can't stand the smell of it, so I have to sit far, far away whenever we're eating something and he loads it in A-1. He ruins my grandma's homemade mac n cheese (the kind in the crockpot that sits for hours and has 5 different types of cheese and a 3-inch thick layer of grease on the top, but is sooo good) with it. Yuck. I don't think I could let him put A-1 on grits, but it's better than sugar. Sugar on grits is sacrilege.

Oh HELL YEAH. I live within walking distance of the Midtown one. Mmm....

Grits and sweet tea are the only Southern things about me. :p

This thread is making me sad. My grandmother made the best cheese grits.