Christian Haller Online

I’ve lived in Virginia for over thirty years. A Northerner by upbringing, I was able to integrate many great examples of Southern cuisine into my life, consistent with my normally adventurous palate.  Then again, tomato aspic never quite made it onto the “good” list no matter how much I managed to choke down when social graces required it of me. Then there is the ubiquitous green bean casserole, which nearly everyone loves to hate but whose protests are loudest when, against all odds, everyone manages to not bring it this year. (Best to coordinate these things – we never need four of them.)

I had always placed shrimp and grits into the green bean casserole category of Food Misdemeanors (this could be the name of a decent TV show or cover band; I’ll be getting the domain name later tonight). Everyone seems to have a recipe, none of them really good, but seemingly so entrenched in tradition that is a worse sin to have none at all.

Then I had the Shrimp and Grits from the recipe below, and my point of view changed 180 degrees.  Here, the grits where not the gruel-like porridge I had come to expect, and the shrimp were allowed to come through and actually contribute to the dish.

There are a couple a key elements of the success of outstanding shrimp and grits.  First, you need real stone ground coarse grits, aka slow grits.  Quick grits will not do no matter the source.  Stone ground grits are in fact, traditionally ground between two stones and most mills still follow tradition. While there are many manufacturers, Anson Mills is considered the best and has a good mail order service.  They also sell nixtamalized corn/hominy, for those interested in making their own corn tortillas, as we will here at a future date.

The second key is to stray from tradition and include heavy cream to improve the mouth feel and texture of the grits.

You’ll find as many different variations in as many different Junior League cookbooks and Rob Northrup will certainly have his own version too.  For me, this is the one. Enjoy.

For the Grits: 

• 3 cups chicken broth (Swanson is consistently the best example)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup uncooked coarse stone ground slow grits
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 1 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1 ¼ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon sherry
• 1 egg, beaten

1. Soak the grits overnight in water and drain thoroughly.
2. Add the broth, cream, grits, and salt in into a medium sauce pan over low heat.  Cook covered for 6 minutes.
3. Stir in the butter, Worcestershire, Tabasco, 1 cup of the cheese, sherry, and egg.
4. Remove from the heat and the grits to a 2 ½ quart buttered dish.  Bake covered for one hour.
5. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

For the Shrimp:

• 3 slices of smoked bacon, fried and crumbled
• 1 pound peeled medium size shrimp
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup sherry or chardonnay
• 1 Tablespoon parsley
• ¼ cup cream

1. Fry the bacon in a cast iron skillet and set aside to cool. 
2. Pour out all of the bacon grease save about 2 Tablespoons.  Set the heat to medium and add the shrimp, bacon, and garlic.  Cook for three minutes.
3. With the shrimp still in the skillet, add the wine to deglaze and continue cooking for three more minutes, stirring to ensure the shrimp are cooked evenly.
4. Add the broth, cream and parsley and continue to simmer until the mixture begins to thicken.
5. Plate the grits and top with shrimp and sauce to taste.