The South shall rise again, right after breakfast!

[gridlore]

As a side effect of my current bout of illness, I'm freaking hungry. And, for some odd reason, I'm craving a good Southern breakfast. Biscuts and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and ham (yes breakfast in the South uses the whole pig) piles of toast, coffee with loads of cream.. and grits.

I never encountered grits until I was in the Army. Then I learned to love them because they were hot, filling, and could be eaten in about 45 seconds, which left me a leasurely 4 minutes, 15 seconds to eat the rest of my breakfast. Once I started going to the field in winter I really appreciated grits' thermodynamic properties. Corn porridge holds onto heat very well. Some mornings, my first meal consisted of a cup of soup, grits, sausage, and coffee. (We avoided the eggs they brought out like the plague. You really don't want to know what spending hours in a Mermite can will do to scrambled eggs.)

While not ever going to be on anyone's list of favorites, grits are part of my experience of living in Georgia, and like I said, I'd really like a big plate of Southern food right now.

So, how do y'all like your grits?

[Poll #966605]

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

No cheese grits?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Never tried that. My usual garrison breakfast was an omelte so I was getting my daily requirement of processed milk in that.

Sounds good.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Mmmm...cheese grits.

[jarlsberg71.livejournal.com]

damn right! you can still use butter AND maple-syrup (I'm a yankee after all, love my boiled tree-sap) on Cheddar grits!

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Yes, Cheese! Cheese and Butter on the grits. Yum.
Oh, and if I'm in a Fiber Mood, I add Oat Bran or Flax Meal. They don't changed the flavor that much and add some goodness to them. And the Oat Bran I actually got the idea from a Grits Combo that was out in a box some time ago.
My Mother is from Savannah, GA. I know Grits.
What I hate is the institutional style in which they boil the water with No Salt, dump the box of grits in and then May Be remember to stir them. Lumpy mess with some uncooked bits in the middle of the lumps. Terrible!

[fimbrethil.livejournal.com]

Not a topping,r eally. At work I learned to eat them made with cheese and that's how I prefer them.

[hartt-tommel.livejournal.com]

WTF are grits?

We eat scrapple here in Philly. ;-p

-Tom

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

All y'all damnyankees are weird.

[kengr]

Think "farina" or "cream of wheat" but made from corn.

[netquiddler.livejournal.com]

Another scrapple lover in the bunch, eh? Wow. :)

[hellloooonurse.livejournal.com]

Scrapple?

[izzylobo.livejournal.com]

Typically, when Dad made grits when I was a kid, the toppings were either butter and pepper (and/or tobasco for Dad), or chicken gravy*, usually when we'd had KFC** the night before (Dad would get an extra container of chicken gravy to ladle over the grits).

Today... well, much the same, except that the gravy is usually fat-reduced out of a glass jar (or my own, on the rare occasions I've had cause to make chicken or turkey gravy and had leftovers) instead of KFC.

*Sausage gravy? On grits? Heresy! Sausage gravy is for the *biscuits*.

**this was well pre-Popeye's, etc. and if you wanted fried chicken, your options were make your own, take chances with diner chicken, or eat KFC. And KFC wasn't nearly so horrible back then, at least locally - now they are awfulness incarnate, but back then, not so much.

[hellsphreak.livejournal.com]

Noo, KFC rocks! At least, it does in Austin, TX. :-P

[hellloooonurse.livejournal.com]

I have no clue what grits are.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Cornmeal porridge, basically.

[claidheamhmor]

I've never seen grits, and the first time I'd ever heard of them was when I watched "My Cousin Vinnie".

[kengr]

I've had grits. I prefer farina.

On camping trip, my preffered breakfast was an old style canteen cup of farina with just enough milk to make it cool and "runny" enough to drink.

Easy to make, hot & filling. Eggs, bacon etc might be sides if I was feeling ambitious. :-)

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Grits are for savory toppings. Butter, salt, cheese, bacon, ham (cut up and mixed in). Unlike instant oatmeal, instant grits are passable, but you have to use much less water than the packet claims. Grits shouldn't be soupy. Instant oatmeal is hopeless, unless you need some glue.

[jilesa.livejournal.com]

Cheeeeeeeese! Lots and lots and lots of cheese! And crumbled bacon. Definitely nothing sweet, ever.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Heard grits were bad, but I tried them with maple syrup and they tasted good.

I think people hate the blandness and texture combo but in the field you eat what works.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

It's like rice. Very little flavor on their own, so it's what you add to, or eat them with, that makes the experience.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many people here who are wondering what grits are would recognize them as polenta.

[jonathonbarton.livejournal.com]

Butter 'n Sugar... Somehow, it comes out tasting vaguely like coconut to me...

Nice thing about grits...

[respice]

Is how filling they are. They really are "stick-to-your ribs" food.

I like 'em with butter and black pepper, or with "blindfolded" (basted) fried eggs on top. The yolks need to be runny - cut the eggs up into bits and mix it all together. Yum! If you want some more flavor, add some of the aforementioned black pepper.