some kinda good

Stratford Hall white grits

Riding in the truck to Richmond to pick up Richfood groceries for my uncle’s cash-and-carry had its rewards: grits at the truck stop. If you don’t “get” grits, think polenta. If you also don’t get polenta, then bless your soul.

Northern Italy and THE South share their love of ground dried corn. The Italians crafted theirs into polenta as well as sweets such as Venice’s zaletti and Mantova’s sbrisolona. Dixie belles whip up corn bread, spoon bread, hominy, and grits.

If you’re a polenta fan, you should be a quick convert to real grits. Virginians tend to pair grits with things porcine – bacon, sausage, country ham. In the Old Dominion, grits for breakfast usually involves the aforementioned plus eggs, sunny-side-up so you can use the golden yolks as a velvety sauce. The Richmond truck stop of my childhood served them with lots of butter and black pepper. My Alabama-born Italo-American daughter likes hers with cheese and more cheese.

South Carolinians are famous for their grits (made with cream) and shrimp. In the mountains of Virginia I’ve had delightful venison stew on grits. At home, I make an Italian-style venison stew with juniper berries that I have served on polenta or its American cousin.

At home, we sliced and fried leftover grits with bacon. Fry ‘em in olive oil, grill ‘em, melt cheese on ‘em – cheddar, Taleggio, American. Make a Sunday lunch cheese-and-grits casserole. Slip ‘em under an authentic ragu Bolognese. Don’t make no never mind!

My favorite grits come from Stratford Hall Plantation. Buy a bag of the coarsely ground white corn during a (highly recommended) visit to the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. The mill runs infrequently anymore, since miller Steve Bashore moved to Mount Vernon’s gristmill. Mabry Mill, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd County, Va., mills delicious yellow grits, and is another great place to visit if you’re in that area. You might hear some good old-time music if you time it right.

If you’re not in my neck of the woods, try whole grain corn grits from the grocery store, and expect to wash them and then cook them for about 25 minutes. Don’t bother with instant or fast-cooking.

I follow my version of the directions on the Stratford Hall grits bag – wash the grits in a deep kettle or bowl in plenty of water to separate the chaff from the grain. For every one cup of wet grits, add about three cups of water to a pot, add the grits and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally for about 15 to 20 minutes. When the grits start to be very thick, stir almost constantly. Total cooking time should be at least 25 minutes.

Once you get used to making grits, you won’t need to follow this recipe too strictly: use milk, broth, herbs, stir in cheese, jalapenos.

Nowadays, even Southerners don’t eat grits every day, and I don’t expect you to eat them every day, either. Just get to know the gal; you might like her.

An October Sunday breakfast: hot coffee, Papa Weaver's pork sausage, simmering grits, and fried apples