Explain Grits to this Northern Girl!

My cousin first had shrimp & grits in Seattle, when they lived there. That's within the last few years.

Well, I'm not from Seattle or anywhere close to it, but it makes sense that the biggest city in the region would have more availability to "non-traditional" food items than the rest of the PNW. Like I said, I've never had it or even seen it served over here.
 
In the same vein. What the h*** I s cream of wheat? And why would you eat it?
Southern girl
Apparently, it's similar to grits, only made of wheat.

I remember eating it often as a kid, usually mixed with maple syrup or brown sugar. Haven't had in 20+ years, though.
 


Several people have mentioned shrimp and grits.
:scared1:
To me that's just a waste of perfectly good shrimp.
 
In the same vein. What the h*** I s cream of wheat? And why would you eat it?
Southern girl


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Its packets of flavored wheat semolina. You add boiling water and stir. Comes in a bunch of flavors.

I like the Cinna-Apple best, but I like mine firm (add less water), then I pour milk on it and add about a cup of sugar :)


I've only see the Malt-O-Meal commercials.

Thats a new one. Never heard of it! I have heard of grits, just never knew exactly what it was!
 


Northern girl living in the south ..... grits is closest to consistency will be cream of wheat. Cream of Wheat just seems naturally more sweet. Grits are more grainy and not sweet which I think why it gets stuff added to it. Some put in sugar, some top with cheese, and some with red eye gravy and now in foodie times all kinds of stuff gets put on top.

Comparison is shrimp etc is served on grits, you would never put that on cream of wheat because it's not "side dish". Grits are served as a side dish at any meal, when I first moved it they came with a biscuit and fried chicken. I never heard of for breakfast until years later.

I do not eat them, my family orders them at places that do them well. Lots of people make bad grits just like lots make bad sweet tea.

I know what Malt-O-Meal is .......... but I thought that stopped existing years ago.

In the same vein. What the h*** I s cream of wheat? And why would you eat it?
Southern girl

It really is just a finer whiter grain that would be eaten instead of oatmeal.
 
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Kona Cafe has grits as a side on the breakfast menu. I forget what kind of cheese was used, but I liked the grits much better than the Tonga Toast.
 
Homecomin has some of the best grits. Incredibly creamy and flavorful.
Hmmm good to know. The first 4 days of our vacations, we will be staying at a DS hotel while we visit Discovery Cove, SeaWorld and a waterpark. I was planning a few meals in DS.

OK...so I was mid typing and decided to look at the menu before I typed any more because I was wondering if this was on a breakfast menu or dinner. My plan is to have some dinners in DS. (They dont serve breakfast BTW..only brunch on Sunday)

So I scrolled down the dinner menu an nearly died of laughter.

Not only do they have grits on the dinner menu, apparently they are named after me!

Bradley's Grits

How ironic!
 
Kona Cafe has grits as a side on the breakfast menu. I forget what kind of cheese was used, but I liked the grits much better than the Tonga Toast.

Perfect! I have a breakfasts reservation there during my upcoming trip! Thanks
 
Hmmm good to know. The first 4 days of our vacations, we will be staying at a DS hotel while we visit Discovery Cove, SeaWorld and a waterpark. I was planning a few meals in DS.

OK...so I was mid typing and decided to look at the menu before I typed any more because I was wondering if this was on a breakfast menu or dinner. My plan is to have some dinners in DS. (They dont serve breakfast BTW..only brunch on Sunday)

So I scrolled down the dinner menu an nearly died of laughter.

Not only do they have grits on the dinner, apparently they are named after me!

Bradley's Grits
Okay well now you *have* to get them!! And you can order them with cheese which isn’t a bad idea :)
 
Op- I grew up in a tiny northwest town and had never had grits. Until 2 months ago at POFQ and I got the shrimp and grits. I don't know if their considered to be good to people who eat a lot of grits but I loved them. I thought they would be "gritty" but they were creamy. Not quite mashed potato creamy but almost like that? Just thicker with more texture than mashed potato. If you're staying there it's a good introduction.
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As a northerner transplanted in the South for the past 17 years, I agree with the Cream of Wheat comparison. This thread has made me want to go buy some Cream of Wheat. My mom used to make it for us when we were kids, chock full of butter and brown sugar. The first time I had grits was at my husband's Great Aunt's house in Louisiana. I started putting white sugar and butter in it and learned that was blasphemous. :) Last time I had grits was at the California Grill brunch and it was part of a shrimp dish and had a bit of a kick to it. If you see a Waffle House chain, they offer grits. However, I always replace the grits with the hashbrowns, because hello, amazing hashbrowns!
 
Cask and Larder in the Orlando Airport has the BEST cheese grits. I never leave before getting some to eat while I wait for my flight.
 
The texture of grits has never worked for me (along those lines, I don’t do oatmeal or cream of wheat). However, you add some cheese and deep fat fry those suckers and mmm mmm good. ;)
 
It's a little like oatmeal, except that it's not at all like oatmeal.

tbh, I think if you didn't grow up eating grits, you're not likely to ever really like grits.
Being from the UK I think I was 26 the first time I had grits. Loved it! I had the cheesy grits with shrimp from flower and garden i think the Florida booth. But I love cheese so maybe all I tasted was cheese.....
On the other hand one could argue that a meal tasting primarily of cheese has reached perfection!
 
Grits, samp/cornmeal, grist corn groats, hominy, polenta, masa harina are all made of corn that's just processed differently.
Thank the native Americans for introducing it to the Old World where changes in grinding and processing made it a staple in many parts of the world.
You'll find it up and down the east coast, in the middle of the continent, and out on the pacific coast as well.

In the eastern woodlands of North America, if you've eaten Indian pudding, cornmeal mush/mash or samp, Johnnie cakes, dumplings-you've had it. Variations on those dishes and products can be found in the midwest as European settlers settled further away from the shore. Once the European based pioneers meet up with the Mexicans they found tamales, tortillas, and once again hominy waiting for them.

Of course in the southern coastal portion of the states easy enough to find cornbread, grits, griddle cakes, hush puppies and the like.

As for polenta which successfully jumped across the Atlantic and found a new home in the Mediterranean, you can find it boiled with more liquid thus making it more of a porridge or made into a rounded compressed brick to slice and fry or saute. OP, if you had polenta and didn't like maybe try it made another way.
 
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