Although I have not found any of my relatives who lived in Southern states (until the present generation), there is no question that we have many recipes in common.
Take grits. Now, a lot of people would say, “Yes, take the grits–far away, please.” But they have not had the creamy grits I had in a Florida diner. I happen to like grits. I wrote about the importance of corn to the early settlers, and mentioned grits there.
What the cook does to grits is so similar to what my grandmothers did to corn meal–instead of mush, it is just “grits”, add cheese to either for a main dish, chill and fry for a polenta-like dish–etc.
Creamy grits
But as much as I like grits–they always seem to come out a little, well, gritty. So I was amazed and delighted when we stopped at Capozi’s Diner in New Port Richey Florida and I dipped my spoon into the smooth, silky version they create.
Caposey’s Sign
I chatted with the owner and asked what they do. In her mind it was nothing special, but she did say they cooked the grits 45 minutes, which is twice as long as is recommended on any of the packages I’ve seen. And as an afterthought, she said, “Half water and half milk.”
So I followed suit, and indeed the long cooking does the trick. It would be great if I had a slow cooker, but as it is, I had to do a lot of stirring, and still wound up with a pan that was a challenge to get clean—but OH, those silky grits. Not a pebble of grit left in them!
BEST Grits
Print recipe
| Serves | 4 |
| Prep time | 1 hour, 3 minutes |
| Cook time | 50 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hour, 53 minutes |
| Allergy | Milk |
| Meal type | Breakfast, Lunch, Main Dish |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot |
Ingredients
- 1 cup hominy grits
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 5 tablespoons butter
- dash salt
Directions
| 1. | Bring water and milk (adding salt to taste) to a boil in large enough pan that spatters will not fly out. |
| 2. | Stir in grits, and immediately reduce heat as low as possible. |
| 3. | Let simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring frequently, until it becomes creamy smooth. It takes long slow cooking to get past the gritty stage. |
| 4. | Stir in butter |
| 5. | Serve warm with cream and sugar, or honey |
Note
Store leftovers in refrigerator to either slice and fry, or reheat in a microwave with a little added water. I used leftovers to make cheesy grits by stirring in half a cup of grated cheese. I then spooned the Sloppy Joe mix on top of it.
Still some left over? Warm the cheesy grits for breakfast the next morning.