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That goes for me as well! I never had grits growing up in Oklahoma. Then, I joined the Army and had my first taste while in Georgia during basic training. I've loved them ever since.
It is really in the preparation. Polenta, today in most restaurants is cooked stiff, baked, layered because it gives better presentation. But in many old italian families polenta were prepared looser and it was topped with tomato sauce; this was the poor man's way of doing it and it was fast. You will still see polenta served loose in restaurants with a braised meat dish on top.
Polenta is made from ground corn, hull and all; real grits are made from hominy (kernel) and soaked in an alkaliine solution.
The polenta my Italian grandmother made -- with bright yellow corn meal, on the stovetop, in a cast iron pan, cooked until they held their shape and cut with a string -- were nothing like grits. The texture, the taste, the consistency are all different.
nononono! Real SOUTHERN grits are not made from hominy and soaked in an alkaline solution. The lye solution eats the husks away from the "meat" of the corn kernel. It's time comsuming, and the soaking vats take up space. First the corn is soaked, and then it has to be dried until what remains can be ground.
Stone ground grits are the best. They are ground from the whole kernel. Ask anyone raised on a southern farm who rode a wagon load of corn to the mill, and returned with the grits for supper will tell you that. With stone grinding, the husk comes off first and is used for animal feed. then come the grits.
The finest grind of the whole kernel was used as corn meal. Very important in the South, because wheat couldn't be grown as well as in the North, therefore flour was harder to come by and had to be bought.
Quaker Oats makes their grits from soaked hominy. It's slightly different, still good, but not quite the same. It's softer and smoother.
My great grandmother used to boil the water and add a beef bouilloun (spelling?) cube. Salt and pepper to your likely - I still eat them like this to date. Never added sugar/butter. My husband loves it this way now, he was a butter/sugar person.
Eggs sunny side up, crumbled sausage patty, salt, pepper, and tabasco mixed with buttered grits.
Grilled Corn Grits
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup grilled corn
1 cup yellow grits (not instant)
To grill corn, shuck off husk, lightly butter corncob and grill over charcoal or open fire until slightly blackened. Cool corn and cut kernels from cob with a sharp knife. Bring chicken broth to a boil. Add heavy cream and return to a boil. Slowly whisk in the grits and then the corn. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 5-6 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
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