A dish of polenta topped with l'anitra (duck) was served at a local sagra in Mossano this past weekend.
In my home in South Louisiana, grits was as much a staple in the diet as polenta seems to be for Northern Italians. The main difference? We ate it for breakfast (and sometimes for dinner on those "breakfast for dinner" evenings.)
It's essentially made of corn, like polenta, and some brands are now enriched with things like folic acid. Of course, flavored grits products, like butter grits or cheese grits are available on grocery store shelves. I prefer plain Quaker grits.
Making grits is similar to making any hot cereal: bring the water to a boil, add the grits, stir & cover.
We serve grits as part of the Great American Breakfast.
Grits Facts:
- Remember, it's important to add copius amounts of salt & butter to grits make them palatable.
- Grits are a particularly Southern thing in the States; most people don't acquire a taste for grits as adults unless they have frequent contact with a grits-eating Southerner. (I think it's because they don't know about the necessary salt & butter.)
- My mother mixes her grits and eggs together. Try it, it's good.
- Grits are a WIC approved product. I'm still trying to figure that out as they have little nutritional value.
- Although grits is only a breakfast food in my corner of the South, others fix all sorts of delightful dishes with it.
- GRITS -- Girls Raised In The South (No, I didn't create that lovely acronym.)
- My daughter likes grits almost as much as she likes red beans & rice, her current favorite food . . . . and that makes me happy :) She also loves grilled polenta.
In case you were wondering: No, we don't eat this every morning. Goodness, who has the time? Who has the appetite? Most days we fill our bowls with cold breakfast cereal (summer) & hot breakfast cereal (winter).
8 comments:
Grazie mille !!! Sei mitica !!!
mi era rimasta la curiosita' di cosa fosse !!!
Ciao Lu
I'm from New York and I love grits! I think it has something to do with my family's yearly vacations to Florida when I was a girl.
I think they're best with cheese.
Mmmmm. I'm now making breakfast for supper tonight. That pic looks just plain yummy.
Grits for supper? Anonymous must be someone in my family -- not bc of the grits but bc of the use of the word "supper" instead of "dinner." "Dinner" would mean "lunch," you see. It's different.
Grits! Breakfast of (Southern) champions! : ) A much-loved staple in my house, even by the 19-month-old. He's not a picky eater, but still...makes a Southern mama happy.
I'm a Pacific North West girl. We do grits with butter and honey! Yummy. I just havn't gotten into the savory grits. But polents is always ok.
I am not from the south, but was introduced to them for the first time when I dated a boy whose parents were from the south. I loved them the first time I had them. Unfortunately, no one else in my family likes them. When I lived in South Africa our house keeper use to make a dish called poo too ? sp I just spelled it how it sounds, anyway, her dish tasted like grits or a white version of polenta. The world is missing out! However, I like grits better than I like polenta. I like that it is not as solid as polenta.
Wow.... didn't expect so much interest in grits. I did, however, learn a lot. I certainly did not knwo that grits was served in the Pacific North West muchless with honey.
D
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