what are grits?

Question

think it may be food

Answer 1

SO YUMMY!
For y’all who don’t know the South but do know your cooking, grits is what Southerners have while the Italians are fixin’ to eat polenta. Do y’all not know there are whole cookbooks dedicated to the stuff?

Now, a better question would be what the heck is hominy, because that’s what grits are made of and if you’re going to try to speak our language, you might as well get your facts straight. Hominy is the dried kernel of corn, after the hull and germ have been removed. Hominy is a native American food dating back at least 5,000 years, and was one of the first foods the Indians gave to the colonists. (The Italians, by the way, only got their corn meal for polenta by way of the Indians and colonists, so grits has at least a 4,500-year head start on polenta.)

To make grits, the dried hominy is ground — generally to one of three grinds, fine, medium or coarse — and simmered with water or milk until fairly thick. Quick grits (a very fine grind that has been pre-steamed) are available in supermarkets, but any good Southerner will tell you that old-fashioned stone-ground are the only real grits (doesn’t mean they don’t buy and make quick grits, just that they know what tradition is all about).

Grits are ubiquitous at breakfast, and also very popular as a side dish or component of a main course at other meals. Bill Neal and David Perry, authors of the startlingly out-of-print Good Old Grits Cookbook, admit that on their own, grits are a little bland. But, they say, it is rarely served plain. They come with sausage, eggs, biscuits and red-eye gravy for breakfast. They’re mixed with eggs, augmented with grated cheese or garlic, or baked into a casserole. Southern cooks also sauté shrimp and bacon and scallions and serve it on a bed of grits, or serve a spring chicken on grits, or quail on grits, etc.

Turner Catledge wrote in The New York Times, "Not even the most ardent lover of grits would think of eating it alone. The Southerner’s devotion to grits is really meant for grits-and-gravy, grits-and-ham, grits-and-sausage, grits-and-eggs, grits-with-meat-and-cheese, and so on ad infinitum.

To be fair, as a cooking term, grits can refer to any coarsely ground grain, including rice and oats. But we guarantee you’ll never get puddle of oats on your plate in the South if you ask for grits.

Finally, as you may have noticed while reading this, the biggest question about grits is whether you are supposed to say "grits is" or "grits are." And that is a question we all just can’t answer.

Answer 2

Someone here does not realize that hominy IS corn. Grits are ground degermed corn that is boiled until it is soft. It is served in a manner similar to oatmeal. It's somewhat gelatinous, best eaten with butter and salt. A truly souhtern food. Rich in protein, cheap, and with the "stick to your ribs" goodness that any person facing a hard day needs.

Answer 3

Grits are made of corn gound into a fine sand textured substance.
You boil grits in water to turn them into a cereal similiar to cream of wheat. I happen to like my grits with tons of butter, salt served with bacon on the side.

Answer 4

It has different meanings in different context!
- It is very small pieces of stone often put on roads to make them less slippery, especially in winter;
- We can say one has grit if one is determined to continue doing something even if it is pretty difficult;
- Grits are also coarsely ground grains of corn which is part of a meal in the southern part of US, especially breakfast;
- One may grit one's teeth when one is angry - i.e. pressing upper and lower teeth tightly together; One may also do this if one decides to carry on doing something despite being difficult;
Hope this gives you a better idea of the different uses!

Answer 5

Grits are delish and can be eaten anytime of day- not just for breakfast. I am not sure of what the process of breaking down the corn entails, but 1C grits to 2C water and a pinch of salt is all it takes to make them. I like mine with hot sauce and cheese.

Answer 6

Grits are small broken grains of corn. They were first produced by Native Americans centuries ago. They made both "corn" grits and "hominy" grits.

Answer 7

Hominy grits is corn that has been bleached white and ground,it is great as a side dish anytime.

Answer 8

Good Southern Cookin!

Answer 9

Yup,usually a breakfast food,and I've never really liked it! It's alot like cream of wheat,blah!

Answer 10

Uh yes!! We call it breakfast, It is a corn cereal like malto meal or oatmeal.