The Anatomy of a Grit

I have lived in the South for thirty years , and have eaten grits only a handful of times at a few bed and breakfasts. Last week I cooked my own for the first time, for I have read that shrimp have an affinity for grits, and any friend of the shrimp is a friend of mine.

Let me say first that I loathe hot breakfast cereals, especially oatmeal. I associate them with my 11th year when my family moved from a prosperous, comfortable existence in a historic salt box house in Plantsville , Connecticut to near poverty in an old hill farmhouse on the Little Sugar River in North Charlestown New Hampshire. There every breakfast was oatmeal, every lunch peanut butter sandwiches, and every supper green beans and tomatoes from a crock pot. And the oatmeal was always burned onto the bottom of the pot, and I was always the designated pot scrubber. Aversions are born this way.

I thought grits were the oatmeal of the South. I avoided them. But they are merely hominy- a food I love- pulverized. And they are more versatile than oatmeal. Not only can they cavort with shrimp, but also mix with eggs and cheese to make the casserole pictured above.

To study the history of grits, I opened John Egerton's " Southern Food", written in 1987. Much of the book was dated- in the way any food book will be dated when it talks about restaurants. For what is more ephemeral than a restaurant? What has a shorter half life?

I was surprised to read that Mr Egerton believed that grits " were on the wane", and he dated this to the year the voters sent Jimmy Carter back to Plains, Georgia.

Grits are not on the wane. They, like possums and armadillos, are on the march. North. My mother reports that grits are on the shelves of the Claremont, New Hampshire Walmart.

And they are mainstream. Did I buy Aunt Minnie's or Mee-Maw's genuine country grits?

No. I bought Quaker "Old-fashioned" grits, and I made four servings using the package instructions. I added sea salt to taste and a cup of cheddar cheese. I put the bowl of grits in the fridge because that is what the Lee Brothers. Southern Cookbook told me to do. Chill the grits overnight it said, and in the morning shape them into flat cakes and cook them on a griddle. I sauteed 6 jumbo shrimp simply in butter and a bit of clam juice to accompany my anticipated grits.

But what a battle it was to try to shape cold grits into flat cakes. The grits were rebellious. They did not want to go. They went to pieces from grief at leaving their MotherLump. I did manage two fragile cakes, lightly browned, but the other two fractured cakes sizzled away in shapelessness. But some of the little grits, free at last, began to hop around all over the griddle like Mexican jumping beans. They were entertaining and entertained right up to the moment I ate them.

I thought another frigid night might tame the last two servings of grits, but I was wrong. Frustrated, I tossed them into a bowl, mixed in two eggs,poured them into a small casserole dish and baked them at 350 degrees about twenty minutes . I tested the middle with a skewer, and when it came out clean they were done. It was a good casserole, though if I make it again I will add more cheese. I ate half of it , then gave the rest to a hungry friend. She said it was good. I hope she was not just being polite.