The winter weather stirs up nostalgia for childhood comforts, apparently. Last weekend I made simple flour biscuits for breakfast after finding a basic recipe in one of Chef’s old cookbooks — slathered in butter and jam, thick and dense with kosher salt.
Chef likes the dollar cookbooks put out by small town churches and ladies’ circles from the 1960s-1980s that use Jell-O™ in every method imaginable in the most non-ironic of ways. This kind of cookbook will offer you a recipe for the best food you’ll ever eat in your small, empty life on the same page as a recipe for cement. They remind me of my mom’s cookbooks and pretty much every meal I had growing up: minute steak and green beans, pork and white beans with cornbread, Cajun dressing, barbeque sandwiches with hot sauce and coleslaw, tater tot casserole, garbage soup, coconut cake, hot southern breakfasts with eggs fried in bacon grease and those dense flour biscuits on the side.
Chef looked on in horror when I exclaimed that one dish I found in the cookbook — consisting wholly of oleo, Bisquick, and a can of creamed corn — would probably be fantastic. This is the stuff of my people.
While Chef was at work tonight, I got my hands on one of his coolest pieces of equipment and made one of my favorite dishes of all time, a dish that reminds me of every important family meal, a dish so quaint, so perfect, so friggin’ delicious that my heart jumps a little for all the flavor (and butter) in it.
Cheese Grits
1 cup grits*
4 cups water
3 eggs
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
1 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste
* Hardcore fans will insist that stone-ground, i.e. not the “quick” or “instant” variety, are required for any dish, but if you live above the Mason-Dixon line it might be difficult to find the former. Grits are found in the breakfast section of the grocery store near the oatmeal. They have absolutely nothing to do with Cream of Wheat, damn you. They are also teh awesome.
1) Doublecheck the ratio of foodstuff to foodstuff — one cup of coursely ground corn with a quarter pound of butter and a half-pound of cheese — question your heart condition, then heat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Get water to a boil and add grits. Stir and cover, simmering according to package directions.
3) Grate cheese with your brilliant microplane zester.
Seriously, these things are fun. They’re meant for truly zesting, as in citrus fruit, grating hard cheeses, and hard spices like ginger or nutmeg. But check this out:
That massive pillow is only about six ounces of a block of sharp cheddar. The shreds of cheese are as fine as hair.
4) When grits are done cooking according to package directions, remove from heat. Stir in one stick of butter. Gradually stir in the cheese until all the cheese is added.
5) Beat eggs in seperate bowl and stir into grits mixture. Salt and pepper to taste.
5) Pour into casserole dish and bake 35-45 minutes or until bubbling and slightly brown on top. Let set before eating.
Other people add garlic and onions to their cheese grits, but I like my family’s version best. In other news, I seriously hurt my thumb on that microplane zester, but what’s cooking without a little sweat and blood?
Just got done with my late night dinner. Cold roasted chicken slathered with Dijon.
AND THE BEST DAMN CHEESE GRITS I’VE EVER EATEN.
Lauren always seems nervous around me in the kitchen, and i will admit that if there’s something going on in said kitchen, i can’t resist. I have to hover. It’s just in my nature.
But seriously, the dish that she prepared tonight (which she didn’t even try before she sauntered off to bed) is one of the most perfect foods i’ve ever eaten. Maybe i’ll go wake her up and tell her…
But i should probably just wait until morning.
I can feel my arteries hardening just looking at the photos. Looks delicious.
I have to say - and with some amount of expertise as a born and bred Tennessean - I think I have cooked cheese grits with every kind of grits possible, and I’ve always had the best luck with Quaker’s Quick Grits. The Instant doesn’t do the job enough but the Quick does fine and in my opinion tends to cook up a little better than the stone-ground. (shrug)
Oh my god, I love grits. And I love you for posting this recipe.
i grew up eating the same kind of food. people don’t understand when I tell them I’m just now trying pad thai or curry or whatever for the first time, but I can tell you about eight different recipes involving rice, various potatoes, and cans of campbell’s cream-of-chicken soup.
Grits have always frightened me. Ever since I had my first breakfast with my Southern father-in-law - just like eating yummy sand with butter and milk. Mmmm…
But with that amount of cheese, and some eggs - I’m willing to give it a try.
I do use garlic salt in mine… Slightly less butter. No eggs. And I have to admit, I’m not a stickler for the specific kind of cheese. But damn. That stuff sounds goooood.
Nobody even in California knows what grits are. Maybe if we started calling them Les Grites they would catch on.
Grits are impossible to find in Portland (with the exception of those just add hot water, individual packet things, and I’m just not that desperate). I find it sort of shocking that they’re so hard to find, considering I was able to buy grits all the time when I lived in Connecticut.
Anyway, cheese grits are the best. I miss them very much.
If you haven’t grown up eating grits they can be scary. I think I’ve eaten them only once during a trip through Mississippi.
I think with certain kinds of comfort food if you weren’t raised on it you might never develop a taste for it. My mom made only 1 casserole that I can remember. She wasn’t raised on regular American/Southern food, took a look at how many overweight relatives she had and decided to ditch the Tex-Mex recipes she grew up on, served us lots of baked/grilled chicken.
This recipe sounds yum though especially all that nice sharp cheddar cheese!
my oldest daughter was born in texas, and grits were one of her first favorite foods.
my youngest daughter now goes to school in the milwaukee public school district, and her favorite breakfast is grits.
but i have to confess that i’ve never become fond of them, myself. now oatmeal, that i can get behind. with brown sugar and cinnamon and milk…
when i’m really broke and can’t afford the 3 basics of a dinner: meat, potatoes, and veggie–I can always fill my daughter’s tummy with a big bowl of hot oatmeal. and i always have it around, cuz i go to the store and don’t remember if i’ve got enough at home so i buy another box, and then i end up with 3 or 4 boxes in my cupboard.
never made it with cheese tho. and don’t think i will.
Ha, my gf never had grit before, and I made some cheese grist for her on Thursday morning for breakfast. Although, I don’t do it with the eggs and the baking… I just stir in a little butter and a bunch of shredded cheese into the pot after boiling.
Also, you really need to go get the Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow Corn Grits. They always made these for brunch in the restarants I went to in Athens and Atlanta and my friend Jacqueline and I always made them that way at home, too. Now I can barely choke down the Quaker Instant Grits they serve around here. Yuk! Oganic Yellow Corn Grits are so good and creamy you can almost eat them without butter ;)
Arent’ yellow corn grits basically polenta?
Grits just weren’t much of a part of my family - it didn’t make the transition from Southern Illinois fields to the steel mills of Gary. The first time I ate them was when my dad did some post-grad work at Oklahoma State.
Now southern biscuits…that’s another story. And lord, do they get particular about those things down south. I made the mistake of thinking how my relatives made them was the only way, and boy was I shown otherwise…. ;-)
I am fairly certain you can find grits at any Whole Foods. In the bulk aisle, in the bin labeled Polenta. I have used it to make a variation on grits with milk, chicken stock and a dash of hot sauce to serve with sausage and tomatoes or peppery shrimps.
This looks great and I must try it.
Grtis all the way! I was angry at the store the other day when all I could find was “white corn meal.” BOOO!
That cheese pile is simply astounding me. My recipe is more healthy(ish)…more like a hunk of butter and half the cheese…but I it’s good when I fit into my pants. Because I don’t really have the time or money to get larger pants. Ha!
Anyway, I’m on this page. Sometimes I pop an egg or two in to sneak some protein into my girls.
I’m sorry. I am an Australian.
What are grits?
Helen: Probably worse than vegemite.
I think the closest thing I’ve ever had to grits is Cream of Wheat. But it’s a cheesy carb, which means it’s highly likely to be tasty. What do you eat with grits?
I’ll jump in on this, if anyone’s coming back.
My grandma raised me, and she’s from the Southern US. The way she served grits was the way I have seen many other Southerners serve them.
Here’s the requisite wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grits
I prefer hominy grits. They’re the ones that look white.
I like to cook grits on the stove, like oatmeal or porridge. When they’re done I put butter and salt and pepper on them, and usually cheese. I have an easy gutbomb dish I make when I’m lazy:
I make a big pot of grits and put butter on them. Meanwhile, I chop up bacon and cook the bits until they’re crispy. Then you take about a pound of shrimp and stirfry it really fast and hot. The shrimp goes on the grits, and the bacon gets crumbled on the top. Add a bit of butter. Yum-O.
Your penance the next day will be to eat a lot of salad.