I need to get some grits into me soon.
Grits or Polenta?
- Thread starter DoctorShavegood
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Lots of polenta where I'm at. Sometimes used just like mashed potato beside some beef with gravy. Polenta fries as appetizers. Fried hockey puck pieces. I have never had grits . . . yet.
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Don't forget fried grit cakes. There coming up in the world. Add some to gumbo as well.
Where does all this reverse snobbery over polenta come from? Or other foods for that matter.
I don't get it at all.
I don't get it at all.
Love grits, never had polenta. But I'm sure I'd love polenta too.
Either one so long as they are prepared properly.
I like grits, and like polenta. It is made a little differently, as noted ahove, but they are very similar.
Man, I used to love doing that with leftovers. I say "used to" because it's been a long time since we had any leftover grits.
Culinarians:CPT & Dave:
'Bingo' (on both counts)!
It's also been a long, long while since I last made polenta.
In our house, I like to sauté a little minced red onion and minced garlic. I add about 1 quart chicken stock. Heat to boil and add 1 cup yellow (I like the color...although some use white), fine (some use medium or coarse, but using fine will be 'lighter' than the other ground methods), hominy cornmeal while continually whisking.
Lower heat to simmer and whisk about every five (5), minutes until creamy and light (about 30 minutes).
Remove from heat, add unsalted butter (1 tbsp), sea salt, cracked pepper ( to taste), and fresh grated parmesan (hmmm...say 3oz).
Yield: Approx 6-8 servings.
Then, I pour the polenta ("Polenta? Oh, you mean Italian grits." Unknown), into a pan (I use a deep cake pan lined with parchment paper), and refrig until firmly set.
Then I use a cookie cutter to cut out triangle shapes, (gently now...gently), lightly bread (flour, egg, milk, fine bread crumbs), and fry or just brush with olive oil and sauté both sides.
Want to hear a story about Polenta and old-world Italian charm of the;
"The surprising secret history of one of Italy’s favorite foods"
By Silvia Marchetti - CNN Travel - Food for Thought - 5 Feb 24
"It’s golden, grainy, sticky and tastes rather bland if served on its own.
But the sheer versatility of polenta has transformed it into a culinary star, with Italy’s famed boiled cornmeal dish pairing nicely with an endless number of flavors.
Toppings can include everything from venison, fish, rabbit, wild boar and braised veal to mushrooms, tomato sauce and melted cheese. It can also be used in desserts, including biscuits, pies and pancakes. Some even eat it with Nutella.
And one can’t forget the textures. It comes in many forms and can be chewy, gluey, crispy or extremely creamy.
Polenta is eaten across Italy, but there are three main regions in the country’s north where it’s particularly popular – Veneto, Lombardy and Piedmont.
This historic illustration depicts a polenta festival in Italy's Piedmont region.
Giovanna Gilli, 85, has fond memories of her own Piedmontese grandmother slowly stirring the cornmeal mush inside a huge paiolo copper cauldron on the fireplace, then serving it on a wooden table, pouring tomato sauce, sausages and onions over it before everyone grabbed their share.
“We’d take a spoonful and put it in our plates. It was delicious, melting in my mouth,” she recalls.
“The next day, the leftover dried crunchy polenta was cut into sticks for us kids to dip into milk or sprinkle with sugar for breakfast."
A versatile dish, polenta is often served as a dessert.
Thanks, Christopher Columbus
️Today, polenta is believed to be Italy’s most popular staple food after pasta and pizza. At its core it remains a humble communal dish, but during the WWII years was eaten mainly out of necessity.
At the end of a hard day’s work, some family members would gather around the table and share polenta the pica sö way. Using their hands as spoons, they would rub each bite against a dried herring hanging with a string from the kitchen ceiling to give the plain polenta more flavor while conserving the fish.[...]
Among the favorite polenta pairings in northern Italy are osei – “little birds” – an obsession that has led to multiple court cases and attracted the ire of wildlife conservationists, including WWF Italy.
In 1992, the European Union banned the hunting of protected bird speciessuch as sparrows, blackcaps, starlings, larks, woodpeckers, robin redbreasts and nightingales – all birds once favored by hunters and polenta e osei fans.
The only species that could be hunted and eaten legally were five species of thrush, starlings and skylarks.[...]
“Truth is, we’ve always eaten little birds, those that are legal, of course,” says Piero Dominoni, owner of mountain hut tavern Rifugio Cespedosio in the village of Camerata Cornello, near Bergamo.
“It’s part of our soul, we can’t give up on that. The ban lift movement started right from our village. Protected birds remain off-limits but all other legal osei are fair game including thrushes, blackbirds, fieldfares, snipes and pheasants and aquatic birds.”
Works Cited: https://www.cnn.com/travel/polenta-italy-americas/index.html
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There are two kinds of grits made with corn: country AND wes...I mean...hominy grits and corn grits. "Grits" does not refer to the grain but to the size of the pieces of grain coming out of the grinding process. "Large grits" will "ride" on a No. 28 sieve; "Regular grits" ride on a No. 40 sieve; and "Small grits" ride on a No. 60 sieve.
Corn grits are milled from whole grain corn. To make hominy grits the whole grain corn is first nixtamalized to remove the pericarp and the germ, leaving only the starchy endosperm. Additionally, the process of nixtamalization enhances the corn's calcium and vitamin content slightly.
I make corn flour, corn meal and polenta by fractionating my millings. I'll vary the fractions (and remill) to get whatever I need most at the time. For those I tend to use flint varieties. I make hominy and masa with dent corn.
When I make polenta I do it in the pressure cooker. EZ;PZ. What we don't eat for dinner goes in a greased loaf pan for slicing and frying later.
Any grain can technically be "grits." To create more confusion, however, we usually call other grain grits by other names -- "Rye Chops" or "Wheat Middlings" come to mind.
O.H.
Corn grits are milled from whole grain corn. To make hominy grits the whole grain corn is first nixtamalized to remove the pericarp and the germ, leaving only the starchy endosperm. Additionally, the process of nixtamalization enhances the corn's calcium and vitamin content slightly.
I make corn flour, corn meal and polenta by fractionating my millings. I'll vary the fractions (and remill) to get whatever I need most at the time. For those I tend to use flint varieties. I make hominy and masa with dent corn.
When I make polenta I do it in the pressure cooker. EZ;PZ. What we don't eat for dinner goes in a greased loaf pan for slicing and frying later.
Any grain can technically be "grits." To create more confusion, however, we usually call other grain grits by other names -- "Rye Chops" or "Wheat Middlings" come to mind.
O.H.
"Always Skim The Chaff And Hulls Out Of The Water When Soaking Grits [I always do 
] "
By Julia Holland - TastingTable - Dec. 10, 2023
"Corn comes in a variety of types, from yellow sweet corn to popped corn to the inflated chewy hominy in a delicious bowl
of pozole.
In the American South, grits are a quintessential corn dish and even an official state dish in Georgia.
Southerners are passionate about their grits, voicing strong opinions on the best types of grits and their preparation.
One thing most southern cooks can agree on is that stone ground or whole grain grits are tastier and creamier than instant grits [it's been said that no self-respecting Southerner would never eat instant grits].
That said, whole-grain grits require a lengthier preparation time to reap the full benefits of their flavor and texture.
Two integral steps in their preparation include soaking grits and removing the chaff and hulls.
Grits are simply dried corn kernels from dent or flint corn ground to varying degrees of coarseness. As a whole grain, the ground kernels in grits still have their protective, inedible sheaths known as chaff or hulls.
By soaking the grits overnight, you'll effectively rid them of their hulls, which will float to the surface of your soaking water.
Before you throw them into a pot to simmer [I cook my grits no more than 20 minutes], you can use a mesh strainer, tea strainer, or even a spoon to skim them off the top of the liquid.
Otherwise, you'll incorporate them back into cooked grits, resulting in hard, straw-like shards that unpleasantly disrupt
the creaminess.
The reason soaking stone ground grits is so important is because it aids in a quicker cooking time; you'll reduce the cooking time by at least 30 minutes compared to unsoaked grits.
If you cook grits for too long, they won't retain as much of that rich, savory corn flavor, so quicker cooking times render more flavorful grits.
If you don't have the time or forethought for an overnight soak, you can bring grits to a boil on the stove, then turn off the heat and let them sit for half an hour to an hour.
You can cook grits in the same water used to soak them, adding more water to achieve the four-to-one ratio of liquid to grits.
While some Southerners advocate for cooking grits in milk or cream, water is a neutral liquid that won't upstage that wonderful corn flavor. If you want to add a layer of dairy richness, you can finish a pot of cooked grits with a pour of heavy cream and a hearty slab of salted butter.
If you want to go the extra mile, parmesan and cheddar would make the ultimate
cheesy grits.
Grits need a lot of cooking liquid to become creamy, so you'll likely need to add more water during the cooking process.
However, if you've never cooked grits before, you can start with a larger ratio of water to grits. As they absorb the water, grits become ultra-thick, requiring constant whisking to stay creamy.
Works Cited: Soak Your Grits Before Cooking
"Grits are hot; they are abundant, and they will by-gosh stick to your ribs". [...]. Janis Owens
] "By Julia Holland - TastingTable - Dec. 10, 2023
"Corn comes in a variety of types, from yellow sweet corn to popped corn to the inflated chewy hominy in a delicious bowl
of pozole.
In the American South, grits are a quintessential corn dish and even an official state dish in Georgia.
Southerners are passionate about their grits, voicing strong opinions on the best types of grits and their preparation.
One thing most southern cooks can agree on is that stone ground or whole grain grits are tastier and creamier than instant grits [it's been said that no self-respecting Southerner would never eat instant grits].
That said, whole-grain grits require a lengthier preparation time to reap the full benefits of their flavor and texture.
Two integral steps in their preparation include soaking grits and removing the chaff and hulls.
Grits are simply dried corn kernels from dent or flint corn ground to varying degrees of coarseness. As a whole grain, the ground kernels in grits still have their protective, inedible sheaths known as chaff or hulls.
By soaking the grits overnight, you'll effectively rid them of their hulls, which will float to the surface of your soaking water.
Before you throw them into a pot to simmer [I cook my grits no more than 20 minutes], you can use a mesh strainer, tea strainer, or even a spoon to skim them off the top of the liquid.
Otherwise, you'll incorporate them back into cooked grits, resulting in hard, straw-like shards that unpleasantly disrupt
the creaminess.
The reason soaking stone ground grits is so important is because it aids in a quicker cooking time; you'll reduce the cooking time by at least 30 minutes compared to unsoaked grits.
If you cook grits for too long, they won't retain as much of that rich, savory corn flavor, so quicker cooking times render more flavorful grits.
If you don't have the time or forethought for an overnight soak, you can bring grits to a boil on the stove, then turn off the heat and let them sit for half an hour to an hour.
You can cook grits in the same water used to soak them, adding more water to achieve the four-to-one ratio of liquid to grits.
While some Southerners advocate for cooking grits in milk or cream, water is a neutral liquid that won't upstage that wonderful corn flavor. If you want to add a layer of dairy richness, you can finish a pot of cooked grits with a pour of heavy cream and a hearty slab of salted butter.
cheesy grits.
Grits need a lot of cooking liquid to become creamy, so you'll likely need to add more water during the cooking process.
However, if you've never cooked grits before, you can start with a larger ratio of water to grits. As they absorb the water, grits become ultra-thick, requiring constant whisking to stay creamy.
Works Cited: Soak Your Grits Before Cooking
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It depends if you're in Bergamo or Birmingham ...AA
I love me some grits. Cook 'em in water with a dash of pepper and a little cheese melted in them. Grits, tomato fresh from the garden, and eggs is a breakfast staple in my family during the summer.
Major Dad grew up in southern Illinois. Mom grew up in northern North Dakota. Talk about your denominational differences! Dad loved corn. So we had cornbread and spoonbread and corn syrup and corn oil and of course fresh corn by the bushel. I'm not sure they even grew corn on large scale in North Dakota a century ago; high-yielding short season corn wasn't even a thing.
Dad admitted to having eaten a few tonnes of grits in his life, but it was just one of the things we didn't talk about inside the family that Mom didn't do "mush" of any kind because it had been a big part of her hard-scrabble childhood. I didn't actually get grits until I was old enough to make them myself.
Going from dent corn to a soup plate of creamy hominy grits with sharp cheddar and minced jalapeno peppers is a hoot. I'm just starting to put together my shopping list for a possible trip down to the US this spring. I can't get hominy grits in Canada, but we can get Bob's Red Mill grits. Not the same thing! I bought a few boxes of the real deal a few years ago and put them in jars in the deep freeze; they're almost gone now.
O.H.
Dad admitted to having eaten a few tonnes of grits in his life, but it was just one of the things we didn't talk about inside the family that Mom didn't do "mush" of any kind because it had been a big part of her hard-scrabble childhood. I didn't actually get grits until I was old enough to make them myself.
Going from dent corn to a soup plate of creamy hominy grits with sharp cheddar and minced jalapeno peppers is a hoot. I'm just starting to put together my shopping list for a possible trip down to the US this spring. I can't get hominy grits in Canada, but we can get Bob's Red Mill grits. Not the same thing! I bought a few boxes of the real deal a few years ago and put them in jars in the deep freeze; they're almost gone now.
O.H.
No.
Grits are just milled Hominy.
Hominy is disgusting. Grinding it up doesn't make it better, it just makes it so you don't have to chew it and can swallow it faster without having the taste and texure in your mouth.
When I say something like this, invariably I have people tell me "Try it with butter and an egg" or "Try it with bacon and cheese".
Ok, here's the thing - you could put bacon and cheese on a bowl of wet sand and I could probably eat it without gagging, so that just speaks of the miraculous power of bacon and cheese, not to the quality of grits.
Sorry, Grits turn me into the projectile vomiting girl from the Exorcist.
Grits are just milled Hominy.
Hominy is disgusting. Grinding it up doesn't make it better, it just makes it so you don't have to chew it and can swallow it faster without having the taste and texure in your mouth.
When I say something like this, invariably I have people tell me "Try it with butter and an egg" or "Try it with bacon and cheese".
Ok, here's the thing - you could put bacon and cheese on a bowl of wet sand and I could probably eat it without gagging, so that just speaks of the miraculous power of bacon and cheese, not to the quality of grits.
Sorry, Grits turn me into the projectile vomiting girl from the Exorcist.
Never ate polenta but eat grits at least once a week. Love ‘em. A potato substitute. Also like to cook up a batch for breakfast then at about 7/8ths done break an egg on top and let it cook in the pot. Spoon it out into a bowl, break the yolk and mix it in with salt and pepper. Wonderful
My Southern instincts tell me that the ancient Israelites called grits "manna" just because there wasn't anyone around to tell 'em it was called grits. A true gift from God indeed. "Manna" is short for "Man 'ats some good stuff!"
I don't begrudge anyone else liking them.
In fact, I'm a little in awe of those who have the intestinal fortitude to enjoy them.
My mom was born in Georgia, and was raised there and in South Carolina, so she knew the ins and outs of Southern Cooking.
My Dad was from Southern Illinois, which is actually more southern than some states south of that area, so we had southern cooking as I grew up.
Just could never accept Grits.
In fact, I'm a little in awe of those who have the intestinal fortitude to enjoy them.
My mom was born in Georgia, and was raised there and in South Carolina, so she knew the ins and outs of Southern Cooking.
My Dad was from Southern Illinois, which is actually more southern than some states south of that area, so we had southern cooking as I grew up.
Just could never accept Grits.
