Regina Schrambling's Grits with Deviled Shiitakes

You'd think, with my starch obsession, that I would have mastered grits long ago. A creamy pile of long-cooked, ground-up, casing-removed, lye-soaked corn kernels - it sounds like the stuff of dreams. And it certainly is, though with the amount of time spent stirring and cooking them (because I took no short-cuts and shunned instant or quick-cook grits), you might fall asleep at the stove before you can ever get around to actually eating dinner (or breakfast). It's a good thing I have a Southern roommate who helped me identify when the grits were ready or I might still be in my kitchen, with one sore arm. I wonder, does soaking grits speed up the time they spend on the stove? Could cooking them in the oven, without the incessant stirring, achieve similarly creamy results? Or is the hard work at the stove part of the whole gritsian process?

I bought my grits at Murray's Cheese, where they order in bulk from Anson Mills and then repackage them in manageable containers. This guarantees you with fresh grits that you'll use up quickly and limits the probability of them going rancid and stale before you get around to finishing your 5-pound burlap sack (though that image sort of brings the whole frontier woman thing full circle, at least for me). I used a recipe credited to Jody Adams of Rialto in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but probably didn't use a heavy enough pot (resulting in a lily pad of gluey grits sticking to the bottom until I washed the pan) and I definitely needed far more water than she called for. But they were delicious. Enriched with a dab of butter, they were toothsome and creamy and corny, yet still so different from polenta.

To top my little bowl of gritty goodness, I made a panful of Regina Schrambling's deviled shiitakes - a recipe adapted and updated from James Beard. The beauty of this dish is the speed with which it's prepared: a perfect counterpoint to the slow-cooked grits. I sauteed minced shallots and garlic in some butter, then added dried herbs (I didn't have herbes de Provence, so I used the Italian herb mixture Penzey's sent me as a present once) and salt, and then dumped in the sliced mushroom caps. I couldn't get them to brown very well, so I cooked them until they were just tender, then added soy sauce, Worcestershire, and mustard. I left out the Tabasco and ground in peperoncino instead, then added a bit of stock and let it all cook together quickly before ladling it out.

The highly seasoned, silky mushrooms were beautifully balanced with the soft, pale grits. I loved the combination of pepped-up 21st century shiitakes with old-fashioned Southern comfort food. If I can figure out how to get those grits cooked faster, I'll be one happy lady.

Comments

[Pru]

A recent obsession of mine is the pressure cooker. I haven't tried grits, but I suspect they'd cook quickly, probably in ten minutes or less. My approach would be to put them with the appropriate amount of water in a heatproof BOWL, then put the bowl in the cooker on a trivet, add a little water to the pot, then seal and pressure cook away. I've used this method for brown rice with perfect results.

[Molly]

I hear you, my dear. I LOVE grits, and I've even gone to the trouble of ordering the good, stone-ground kind (like Anson Mills) from a great producer in South Carolina called Hoppin' John's: www.hoppinjohns.com. But I'll be damned if I make them very often. They take AGES. Maybe we could tag-team on a batch one day, and share the stirring?

[Michael]

I love grits but find myself using quick grits most often. Instead of water I use a combo of milk and chicken stock and throw in some shredded cheddar cheese

[Lindy]

I have never made grits. In fact I have never eaten grits. So I'm hoping for some information: How can I tell when they are done, and about how long do they take, approximately? (The grits, that is-I can deal with the mushrooms, which also sound wonderful.)

I think this sounds very much like something I want to make and then eat up all of it. but I am a little worried about judging them done. Should they be about the thickness of oatmeal? polenta?

Yankee cook needs to know.

[shuna fish lydon]

If there is such a love I am in love with Anson Mills.

Last year I bought 25# of cornmeal and 60# of Buckwheat flour and sent an eamil out and sold it in 1, 2 and 3# freezer bags. It was a lot of fun.

This sounds heavenly and makes me want to email them right now even though it's 3 am your time...

[Luisa]

Pru - 10 minutes or less? I could definitely handle that. Now I just need to find a pressure cooker...

Molly - I'd be happy to share the stirring with you! That sounds much nicer than twiddling my thumbs alone at the stove ;) I've heard good things about Hoppin John's.

Michael - I wonder if there's much taste difference between the quicker-cooking and slower-cooking kinds?

Lindy - according to Jody Adams (and my own cooking), it took 90 minutes to get those grits cooked. They look like they're done after about 10 minutes, but if you taste them, they taste, well, gritty and unpleasant. You keep ladling hot water in and stirring and cooking and stirring some more and eventually they "break" down into creaminess. But like I said, I needed my New Orleanian roommate next to me at some point to tell me to keep going. They'll end up looking sort of like a cross between oatmeal and soft polenta, actually. But if you calculate an hour and half, I'll bet you'll get it right. Let me know how you like them.

Shuna - Murray's was selling their cornmeal last summer, but it was gone when I bought my grits... I loved reading about your baking forays with their flours - yum.