Attention Hatfields and McCoys!!

[Jason Roehl]

I have a question for those of you born and raised south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

My next door neighbors are moving out, and as such we have inherited much of their miscellany that they didn't want or couldn't take with them. Now, they are your basic Northerner types like my family and I, so they couldn't help us in the proper way to prepare the grits they gave us.

As I understand it, there are two ways to fix 'em (put your guns down, boys). I've heard the names of the two preparations, but they escape me at the moment and I've never really seen or heard specific directions on how to cook 'em up either way.

Could y'all help a po'Yank out? (Withouts gettin' y'all's panties in a bunch and feudin' and such.)

[Bobby Hatfield]

Jes boil'em, serve w/salt,pepper, they's jes corn grindins. I'm sure there will be more fancy recipe's but around here po-foks don't know to much about fancy stuff. Hey Jason, I don't really care for them myself, rather have a good bowl of browned flour gravy with my ham, eggs and biscuits, lots of Louisana Red Dot on my eggs.

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

Grits are a delicacy. The directions are on the box. Cheddar cheese adds an interesting flavor. Some serve them with "Red Eye Gravy" made from ham drippins.

Give um a try. I like them.

[Bobby Hatfield]

Cookin Red I gravy is an art, best done on a wood burning cookstove, where you also gotta have a pot of boiling coffee and after takin up the ham, pour in about a cup of coffee and stir like crazy. Eatin ham and eggs and soppin up Red I wit your biscuit, making me hungry. Eating in the South is an experience some northern boys just can't get used to. Dont strike me much difference than one of them Chicago beef dippin sandwich wit hot peppers they eat up there, now this Southern boy likes them, makes me feel to home.

[Ken Wright]

are they "Quick Grits" (the instant kind) or are they the real thing??

If they are quick grits ...... for a batch to serve 4 .... measure out 5 1/3 cups water .... bring it to a boil ..... when its boilin' good .. add in 1 1/3 cups of grits, sprinkle in a table spoon of salt and some black pepper if you like (I don't but then I'm different than most) and I like to throw in about 4 tablespoons of bacon grease for a little more flavor.

Be prepared for one thing .... when you add the grits to the boiling water ... ya gotta stand there and constantly stir them until they begin to get to the thickness of aumt jamima syrup .. if you don't continously stir them ... they'll stick to the bottom of the pan, won't cook right ..... and be the consistency of dry wall joint compound. Before you serve'em .... stir in about a heaping tablespoon of butter or margerine (sp) or whatever.

The above was the official down south way .... BUT ... if you want good grits ... leave off the bacon drippings .... serve'em in a bowl after adding a large tablespoon of butter and a couple of table spoons of sugar ....

That sound you hear is my Gran'ma screaming from the grave.

[Bobby Hatfield]

Have Mercy, sweetnin in my Grits, or Cornbread is a waste of good sugar, if you want sweet, put it in oatmeal, also grew up on sweet Tea, that hillbilly girl I married forty something years ago introduced me to unsweetened Tea, and learned that it has a taste I enjoy hot and cold. Anybody here eat crawdads ? I know they must be a way to fix em to get past the stink but what about the taste ? Mudbugs is in season.

[Ken Wright]

shame on you .... no self respecting Southerner would even think of putting sweet stuff in corn bread ...:D

[Bobby Hatfield]

Hey Ken, ya'll do use (mule corn) yaller meal to make your cornbread right ? White meal just seems to have something missing, taste.

[Ken Wright]

mule corn's the only way to go ...... white corn bread has little to no tase .....

[Lee Schierer]

Here is a site that gives more information on grits than most any one can actually use! Grits (http://www.grits.com/)

Never touch them my self, but LOML likes them!

[Tom Stover]

Bobby: You just boil crawdadslike lobster. After all they jest fresh water lobster. Tear the tail off, suck the juice out of the head and eat the tail.

[Doyle Alley]

I toss my grits into boiling water and leave the heat on. It will immediately start to boil up, so keep stirring and take it off the burner before it boils over. After it has boiled up 3 times, reduce heat and cover. Stir occasionally. It helps to add a little more water than called for.

One thing you must never do is skimp on the salt. Grits are very starchy and must be salted while cooking or they will never taste right.

[Kevin Post]

Originally posted by Tom Stover
Bobby: You just boil crawdadslike lobster. After all they jest fresh water lobster. Tear the tail off, suck the juice out of the head and eat the tail.

Tom:

You got the eatin' part right but the cookin' part would make dem mudbugs a touch bland. When you boil mudbugs, you use boilin' water that's a lot hotter than if you was boilin' lobsters.

Now before all you scientific types out there start sayin', "Water don't get no hotter than 212 degrees." You get a pot of water boilin' as hard as you can and then dump about a pound of cayenne pepper in it and tell me it ain't no hotter! :D

Since I live in Wisconsin, my crawfish rack up a few frequent flyer miles before I boil 'em. These yankee crawfish they got up here are way too puny ta mess with. :(