Yes, sometimes even BA staffers make basic cooking mistakes. Like, say, something as simple as grits. Below, senior web editor Carey Polis confesses her grits-cooking woes to digital food editor Dawn Perry. Here's Perry's advice for making sure it never happens again.
Dear Dawn,
I have a confession. I am 29 years old and have never made grits. Well, until about two weeks ago, that is. I was gifted a bag of fresh grits that has sat in my cupboard for more time than I'd like to admit. They taunted me. They knew I was scared. So finally, I decided to conquer them.
I did a lot of online research to understand how to make them, and felt pretty confident. I would bring them to a boil, and then cook them on super-low heat for about an hour. I would stir often. I would take my time, and I would add a generous amount of butter (and shrimp, duh) to them at the end. I got this, I thought. I made sure to whisk the grits a lot at the beginning once the water had come to a boil. Then I stirred every five minutes or so.
Turns out, I didn't have it. Maybe the grits themselves could sense my fear. Maybe they knew that I was stepping into unfamiliar territory since I never really had them growing up. The final product wasn't awful, per se, but they were 90% smooth and creamy and 10% kind of crunchy. It was a texture I can only describe as "weird." They looked really nice and beautiful, except for some too-frequent coarse pieces that felt like hard flakes. It was one of those meals that I could swallow down by myself but was glad I wasn't serving the grits to anyone else.
What did I do wrong?
Shamed Mid-Atlantic-er and Clearly Non-Southerner,
Carey
Dear SMACNSC,
If only we mid-Atlantic-ers had grown up making and eating grits, or actually good bagels, we might have better luck with such things now. Even grits, which I did actually grow up eating from time to time, were only of the instant variety (and when served with a sh*t-ton of butter and cheese who really notices the texture of the grits?).
I admire the time and care you took to prepare for your grits-ploration. So often we jump in thinking "I'm just gonna wing it!" only to realize that we have no business rolling our own sushi or fermenting our own sauerkraut. But no matter how well we prepare, there's one thing no amount of research can buy: patience.
I really think that's all that went wrong for you, SMACNSC. It sounds like you started off on the right track. I'm assuming you used at least a 5:1 liquid-to-grits ratio. You did, right? Then you BTAB ("Brought To A Boil" in restaurant short hand), whisked, reduced heat, whisked, whisked, whisked, whisked...whisked. Excellent technique! But if you're using high quality grits—we love Anson Mills, duh—you're going to find bits of uneven texture, and that's a good thing. Even after an hour there will be some larger pieces that still need more time. The small bits won't suffer from a longer simmer. See, grits won't get mushy like grains—they'll just get creamier. So just do what you did. Keep the party going on low heat and keep on whisking. I remember learning to tell when polenta was ready, and I use this same method with grits: Take a tiny bite and push the grains through closed teeth with your tongue. They should yield. If they don't? Keep it going.
A note on that ratio: I would even suggest going for a 6:1 liquid to grits. Grits, like polenta, will set up as they cool, and unless you're stirring in a cup of cream at the end (which is not a bad idea) it's a good plan to err on the side of more liquid. Remember, butter isn't a "wet" ingredient, so when you stir it in it'll stiffen as it cools.
I think you were really just 10 minutes away from grit greatness. Sometimes the real prize is just takes a little extra patience.
Love,
Dawn
