On Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:14:35 GMT, Wayne Boatwright
> wrote:

>On Wed 03 Sep 2008 07:59:12p, Steve Pope told us...
>

>> Having never had grits before, I bought a tube of grits at
>> Trader Joe's. What I found is that it is similar to a tube
>> of polenta except (1) it costs more (2) it is white instead of
>> yellow (3) there is a TON of moisture in the stuff, and
>> (4) there is relatively little flavor, compared to polenta.
>>
>> As is the case with polenta, I fried it ... I have never
>> developed a taste for just serving it as unfried mush.
>>
>> As for maple syrup on it, I can easily visualize that.
>>
>> So can anyone tell me, is this TJ's grits tube anything like
>> "real" grits?
>>
>> Steve
>>
>
>Not in my book. I buy stone-ground grits from a mill in Tennessee. These
>are coarse ground from white corn. There's a bit of chaff that needs to be
>floated off in a bowl of water prior to cooking. The grits are cooked slow
>and fairly long until quite thick. At that point they can either be served
>with butter or red-eye gravy, or they can be poured into a loaf pan,
>chilled, then sliced and fried. When sliced and fried, they're usually
>served with butter and syrup. Believe me, there's no comparison. But the,
>I don't like pre-cooked polenta or masa either.
>
>Freshly cooked unfried grits are really delicious and bear no comparison to
>what you bought. You might really like them.

Grits are not my thing but DH eats them a couple of times a week. We
get ours from a mill about 10 miles down the road. The mill has been
there for about 150 years and looks like it. But they grind the
grits, corn meal and flour. I just have to catch the corn meal before
they add the salt and baking powder.