Shrimp & Grits

This dish developed along the coast of South Carolina, where fishermen have long provided a steady supply of shrimp(s).

 

Exactly how long you cook the grits will have to do with the type of grits you use. I'm mentioning this simply to give you an idea of cooking, if you've never cooked grits before, but ALWAYS refer to the instructions on the package you have about their recommended cooking time and procedure (some will likely recommend soaking the grits first, especially for stone ground). Stone ground grits will likely take the longest to cook, because they are coarsely ground with less uniform size pieces, but they also have more nutritional value. They are ground from whole corn kernels. "Regular" grits are of a medium type grind and they generally take around 10 minutes to cook, but they are stripped down nutritionally, as are "quick grits," which are finely ground; thus, they generally require about 5 to 7 minutes to cook. "Instant grits" are finely ground grits that are cooked and dried, then they are prepared (rehydrated) with hot water, and they take less than 5 minutes in preparation. They too have less nutrition than stone ground grits. Grits are usually white, but they can also be yellow. 

Ingredients (6 to 8 servings):

1 pound raw shrimp (medium size), peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 cups chicken broth 

1 can evaporated milk (NOT condensed milk, which is sweetened)

1 1/4 cup regular milk

1 cup of grits

4 slices of bacon

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese 

1 tablespoon finely chopped chili pepper or 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

2 to 3 tablespoons butter

4 green onions, chopped (white and green)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 

1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/4 cup water

2 heaping tablespoons chopped parsley

 

Rinse, drain and pat the shrimp dry with a paper towel. Put the shrimp into a bowl and pour the lemon juice over them, mixing the shrimp around to coat them. Set the shrimp aside to marinate. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, preferably with a lid, heat the broth, milk and 1 teaspoon salt (I'm using only 1 teaspoon salt, as the broth also has salt) over medium heat until it boils, then gradually whisk in the grits and reduce the heat to low/very low. Stir again, then cover the pan and let cook until the grits have thickened (likely about 15 to 18 minutes). Turn off the heat, add the cheese to the hot grits and mix it in until it melts and it's well mixed into the grits. Replace the lid on the grits to keep them warm. Meanwhile, in a skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and fry the bacon slices (you can fry the bacon so that it will be crispy and you can then crumble it, but I don't particularly like bacon that way, so I fry it a little less, then I cut it into small pieces). Move the bacon to a separate plate, then to the skillet (with the bacon fat/butter) over low heat, add the green onions and garlic and chili pepper (if using), saute for about 3 to 4 minutes, then add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper (if using), then add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and increase the heat to medium. Add the shrimp (with the lemon juice) and saute them in the mixture until tender. Add the chopped parsley, crumbled/chopped bacon, 1/4 cup water and mix thoroughly and let heat up again. Serve some of the shrimp mixture on top of some grits for each serving.   

 

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Grit (Grits)-While "grits" is the plural form of "grit," it is not common in usage, except in American English, where it is used as a noun for "ground dried corn, usually cooked with liquid as a type of porridge.""Grit" is typically used in English as an uncountable noun that uses a singular form of a verb, as in, "There is grit all over the floor." I don't know for sure what they would say in Britain, but it's unlikely you would hear, "There are grits all over the floor," in the U.S., even if you were trying to mean there were several bits of different substances on the floor; as in the U.S., it would likely be taken to mean that you spilled your breakfast (grits) on the floor. (Hey, don't laugh, I had to clean the damned stuff up!) "Grit" and "grits" are closely related to "groat(s)" and "grout," words from the Germanic roots of English. "Grit" and "grits" go back to Indo European "ghreud" which meant "to rub, break, crush or grind to smaller pieces." This gave Old Germanic "greutan" meaning, "smaller pieces produced by rubbing, breaking, crushing or grinding;" thus also, "pebbles, coarse sand," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "greot," meaning, "dust, sand, earth, gravel," and this then became "grete," before the modern form. English once had the forms "meregrot" and "meregrota" as forms for "pearl." Old English also had "grytt," for "coarse ground meal," and this usage was the forerunner of modern "grits," for ground corn or other grain. A verb form "grit" developed in the mid 1700s meaning, "to make a grinding sound," which is most common in reference to the action of grinding one's teeth together, which seems to be the source of the further meaning for the noun, "to show perseverance, determination or toughness" (seemingly from the idea of a person "gritting their teeth" in the face of pain). Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Grieß,"^ originally "sand, gravel," but then also, and still today, "bits of grain, especially of semolina," and also (similar to English) "Grütze," originally a cereal porridge, and still used somewhat in that sense, although more common as a compound by type of grain used, as in "Hafergrütze" (oat grits/porridge), but more commonly in northern Germany where the cereal had various berries added, and later the use of the cereal eventually was often omitted, leaving the berries as a compote, but the name stayed anyway^^), Low German has "Gries," but this seems to be from standard German, although originally Old Saxon (the language spoken by the Saxons who did not go to Britain) had "griot," and Low German itself then had "gret," and Low German also has "Grüt(t)" as the form corresponding to standard German "Grütze," Dutch had "griet," which meant "coarse sand," and this led to that word being applied as the name for the brill (still today), a type of fish closely related to turbot (the brill live and lay their eggs in coarse sandy areas of the sea), Norwegian has "grjot" (now obsolete for "stones, pebbles"), but also "grut," originally meaning "pebbles, stones" thus also "rubble," but later, "coffee grounds," Icelandic has "grjót" for "pebbles, stones;" thus also, "debris, rubble," Swedish has "gruut" (dialect for "little bit, small amount"), and also "gryt" ("heaped up stones").

^ Long ago a sound shift took place among some Germanic dialects, where "t" became "s" or "ss" in the high dialects, which later formed the basis of modern German. For example, English has "kettle," German has "Kessel," English has "better," but German has "besser," English has "vat," but German has "Fass." 

^^ German slang use of "Grütze" means "smarts, brains;" thus, "intelligence."