i am obsessed...

Demystifying grits for the Northern palate By John S. Forrester, Globe Correspondent | March 8, 2006 Some Southerners don't need the Mason-Dixon Line to tell them when they've crossed into the North. They know they've entered Yankee territory as soon as the roadside diners start serving hash browns instead of grits. While plenty of families in the Northeast eat grits, ask a native New Englander about them and you'll probably get a look of befuddlement and a mention of gruel. Fried chicken, barbecue, and other quintessentially Southern foods have gained popularity here, but grits have remained somewhat of a mystery to the Northern palate. That may be changing. Hash browns and home fries continue to be the favorite at Boston breakfasts, but grits are beginning to appear on some menus, as breakfast sides and in dinner entrees, showing that area chefs and their patrons are willing to give the humble grain a try. In some cases, chefs seem to be merely searching for a diversion from the same old starch accompanying roasted or braised meats. ''It's a little bit different than putting mashed potatoes with everything," said Tom Fosnot, executive chef at blu restaurant. ''That gets a bit repetitive." The treatments lift grits squarely into haute cuisine territory. Recently, blu's menu featured a slow-roasted Berkshire pork shoulder served over grits, with braised greens and baby carrots, and topped with red onion marmalade. Spire has braised short ribs with grits, black truffles, maitake (a Japanese mushroom), pickled red onion, and bacon. Rialto's Jody Adams recently paired her ''gypsy rabbit" dish with grits. Like polenta and cornmeal, grits, which are linked to Native Americans, come from dried and milled corn. Grits are the coarsest remains of the milling process and come in three types: yellow (made from unhulled corn), white (from hulled corn), and hominy (from corn soaked in lye to remove the hull and the outer germ). Even though Quaker Oats sells quick-cooking grits in supermarkets, restaurant chefs favor organic, stone-milled grits made with unique or indigenous corn, a product that requires more time and attention but results in anything but a bland, pasty mush. ''It's a far superior flavor," said Peter Davis, executive chef of Henrietta's Table, who uses grits from Anson Mills in South Carolina. ''We've had a lot of positive feedback on it." Davis doesn't use grits as a mere side, but builds a dish around them: grit cakes topped with mushrooms, tomatoes, and a flageolet bean ragout. While you would expect a place like Magnolia's Southern Cuisine in Cambridge to serve some variation of traditional grits, chef and owner John Silberman also uses them in a more elaborate way. His ''Hoppin' Shavonne" combines stone-ground grits with black-eyed peas, Parmesan cheese, and marinated tomatoes in a twist on the classic Hoppin' John. Magnolia's also serves a braised lamb shank over grits. Silberman buys his grits from Logan Turnpike in Georgia. ''Ten or 15 years ago it would have been difficult" to get them here, he said. ''Now it's as easy as an 800 number, calling UPS, and a few days later it's here." Artisanal or not, grits have long had a storied place in Southern culture. The singer Al Green has said he pursued religion and became a minister after a former girlfriend threw a boiling pot of hot grits on him. In 1974, Jimmy Carter campaigned for the presidency with Walter F. Mondale on the ''Grits and Fritz" ticket, a reference to Carter's Georgia roots and Mondale's nickname. More recently, a Christian rap group named itself after the grain. ''There are all these spinoff things," said Professor James C. Cobb, an expert on Southern culture at the University of Georgia, ''like grits as an acronym for Girls Raised in the South. It's become one of things that's taken on a life of its own." There are websites (grits.com, a resource on Southern culture and food), and there are festivals. Quaker Oats, one of the largest producers of grits, sponsors the National Grits Festival in Warwick, Ga., and the World Grits Festival in St. George, S.C. People from around the country come to compete in cook-offs, beauty pageants, and grits-eating tournaments. Every year, unique uses for grits come to light. The contestants enter everything from new takes on the breakfast side to desserts. ''They use shrimp, we had an ice cream -- it was good -- cakes, spaghetti, pies, desserts," said Ruthel Patrick, cook-off coordinator for the Georgia festival. With restaurant chefs in Boston using them, will grits one day no longer be linked to the South? Not a chance, said John Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance. ''The idea that grits are for the most part not served beyond the Mason-Dixon Line appeals to Southerners," Edge said. ''I think many a Southerner would be happy to share grits with the great unwashed beyond, but it's part of our identity. I don't see grits goose-stepping across America, leaving oatmeal in their wake." Anson Mills grits are available for $8.95 a pound at Formaggio Kitchen, 244 Huron Ave., Cambridge, 617-354-4750; South End Formaggio, 268 Shawmut Ave., 617-350-6996; www.formaggiokitchen.com; and from Anson Mills at 803-467-4122 or www.ansonmills.com.

KATHY DONT READ IT!!!!!!!!! .. oh crap probably too late.. u just killed her 30 day no grits/white carb fasting! shes gonna cut u now.. jen

YEP! too late!! It starts tomorrow...anyone know where I can get some grits?????

sorry.... i cant help it.. but i cant get to S****il at least JULY.... I am having surgery at the end of MAY... help.. ok..... If I go to this website... (which I already have.... lol) they offer two choices .... www.formaggiokitchen.com white and yellow.... Which type of grits do I order? Its so funny, because I would be ordering from BOSTON, but they are actually from SOUTH CAROLINA.... lololol what do you think? And any words of advise? YOU KNOW I am going to be asking more ???s.

I usually have white grits. I am wondering if the yellow is what we call stone ground grits. They are usually a yellow/beige color. You will find those is more high end resturants. I quess that is how they charge you more. Huh??? Just dont know And yes you are obessed. I just hope the build up is worth it. Julie

You are killing me!!!!!

YOU HAVE TO KNOW>...... I am the biggest moron in the world... Only I would be this confused over grits .. #1, I have never had them. #2... Now I HAVE TO HAVE THEM #3... so, now they offer 2 kinds.... white & yellow #4.. i have stirred up all these emotions on this board. #5.. i am dying laughing at work and I have a pile.. of crap that has to be done #6... I will probably HATE THEM omg.... what the F. is wrong with me????? wtf wtf wtf?! lol as my neice always says..... "so sorry sally"

I LOVE the yellow one but the white ones are more traditional. email me your address and I'll just send you some of both. I think I've got both in my cabinet. Mary

Thanks, Mary! You don't think I should spend 9.00 on each???? I ended up going to Whole Foods at lunch.... do you have those supermarkets there? They didnt have any grits, just all this other funky stuff.... I got eggplant parm for lunch and an Artichoke to make for dinner. kind of nuts!? They had tons of samples out, so I had that stuff too.. including a lucious dessert, and a little salmon, and some cheese. I also bought some blackberries, and some THINK THIN protein bars. They are awesome, they have 20 grams of protein, 8 g fat, and only 240 calories. I love them in a pinch. I still recommend the protein shake for losing, these are best for maintaining which is what I am trying to do. xo

I offered to send her some and she said she wanted to wait til she got to South Carolina to try them. I love grits myself but I'm sure once she tries them she's gonna be like "I waited all this time to try this crap". I've never met someone from the "North" thats actually LIKED grits. HAHA