I love grits. I like them in just about any form. And it’s not just the flavor and Southern breakfast tradition, it’s how versatile they are. Grits is a blank slate. (And “grits is” is proper grammar.)
In the past I’ve written about my Zen of Grits™, but my philosophy has changed just a bit since then. I still think that when served with a traditional breakfast of eggs and some sort of fried dead animal, the grits need to be right there on the plate, as if it belongs there, and not segregated in a side bowl.
However, I’ve been leaning more and more toward a bowl with a grits base and toppings. Sure, it can include the traditional breakfast items, but I’m going to mix everything together anyway. This just makes it easier.
I used to just do instant grits with a few additions. This works for camping and for very quick breakfasts, but it’s not really cost effective. I started experimenting with quick grits instead of instant, but I was still taking shortcuts.
I’ve been to several restaurants lately that have challenged my concept of grits. Tupelo Honey was the first by including black-eyed peas in their grits bowl, but I haven’t been back in ages. Now they only serve breakfast on weekends and don’t seem to have that dish. Biscuit Head has some of the best grits around. They put a dollop of pimento cheese in theirs, and it really adds to the flavor. I love the shrimp and grits bowl at Eggs Up Grill. In addition to shrimp and andouille sausage, they add Hollandaise sauce. I’ll add a bit of Tabasco to kick things up a bit.
The one thing all of these places have is super creamy grits, something I had yet to achieve with my endeavors. I’m sure they use some sort of curated specialty grits slow-cooked with heavy cream, but I just don’t have the energy for that. I think I’m getting close, though.
Here’s my new method of cooking grits at home…
- 1 cup of instant grits. I use Jim Dandy because it’s cheap
- 4 cups of water. Yep – 1:4 ratio. I was getting it so wrong before.
- 1 tsp salt. I use Himalayan pink
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 tsp Tajin powder
- 2 tbsp powdered milk
The powdered milk is a new twist. I add all this together in a pan and bring it to a bowl for five minutes, stirring occasionally to get rid of lumps. No microwave cheating like I used to do.
If I’m feeling especially inspired, I might throw in a splash of bourbon as the mixture is boiling. The addition of the powdered milk adds a creamier texture, and the Tajin gives it a salty, citrus kick.
I’m the only one in our household that eats grits, so this large of a pot is too much for one breakfast. I take what I don’t eat that morning and put it in the refrigerator. THEN I’ll break out the microwave for subsequent breakfasts until this batch is consumed.
I only cook bacon on rare occasions. I use the Real Bacon™ pieces from Publix, which are pretty good. However, lately I’ve gotten where I’ll cook up a whole batch of sausage and freeze what I don’t eat in individual serving packets. With the leftover grits, frozen sausage or bacon bits, I can put together a tasty breakfast quickly.
I have learned that a 2 minute microwaving for mediocre grits versus 5 minute boiling for decent grits is a false economy. Plus, I can do the leftovers more quickly.
In addition to bacon or sausage, I add butter and have gotten so that I like my homemade Hoppin’ John. I use black-eyed peas with diced tomatoes and green chilis. Hunts fire-roasted diced tomatoes work well, too. I’ve added pimento cheese and it’s great, but most often I just use pre-grated Mexican blend cheese. About the only time I add scrambled eggs is when I have a pan already heated up to do the sausage or if I’m cooking real bacon. I haven’t figured out how to do those quickly and save them for later.
One other topping I’ve come to love is crispy jalapeños. These add a nice bit of texture and punch to the bowl. I’ll add these as the penultimate ingredient, then top with the cheese. I’ll microwave for about a minute to melt the cheese.
So that’s my grits evolution. I haven’t tried making my own Hollandaise sauce, but if I even attempt shrimp and grits I’ll have to do that.
The dry milk is interesting!
Try subbing cream for 1/4 of the water. See what you think. Gradually sub more and more cream each time you make grits until you get what you like.
That was my first thought with making better grits. The problem is that we rarely have cream on hand. Laura always has powdered milk that she uses in baking and it lasts much longer. One of these days I need to buy some cream specifically for grits.