Pantry Staples

Grits (Uncooked)

Grits are a defining dish of American Southern cooking, made from ground dent corn and traditionally treated with an alkaline solution in a process called nixtamalization, similar to the process used for corn tortillas.

Stone-ground grits retain more of the corn's natural texture and flavor compared to more processed instant or quick grits, which cook much faster but with a smoother, less distinctly corn-forward result.

They're traditionally served savory, often with cheese, butter, or shrimp in the classic shrimp-and-grits preparation, though a sweeter, breakfast-style preparation with sugar and milk also has deep roots.

Grits trace back to Native American corn preparations that predate European settlement of the American South by centuries, with early colonists adopting and adapting a Native technique for grinding dried corn into a coarse meal cooked into a porridge, a foodway that became deeply embedded in Southern cooking well before "grits" became a standardized commercial product.

Grits and hominy are closely related but not identical — hominy is corn that's been treated with an alkaline solution (nixtamalization) and then dried and used whole or coarsely ground, and while some grits are made from hominy (sometimes labeled "hominy grits"), other grits are simply ground dent corn without that alkaline treatment.

The ratio of liquid to grits, and the length of time they're cooked, varies considerably by style — quick or instant grits cook in just a few minutes with a fairly thin liquid ratio, while old-fashioned stone-ground grits often need 30-45 minutes or longer of slow simmering and a higher liquid ratio to fully soften.

Cheese grits, mixed with a generous amount of sharp cheddar and butter after cooking, became a widely popular restaurant and brunch dish well beyond the traditional Southern breakfast table, a modern adaptation that layers a rich, savory addition onto what was historically a plainer, more austere staple food.

A firm block of cooled, set grits, sliced and then pan-fried until crisp on both sides, is a traditional way to use up leftover grits, giving the cooled porridge a genuinely different crispy-outside, soft-inside texture distinct from the same batch eaten freshly cooked and creamy.

Yellow grits, made from yellow dent corn, and white grits, made from white corn, taste nearly identical, and the color difference comes down almost entirely to which corn variety a given mill uses regionally rather than any meaningful flavor or nutritional distinction between the two.

Grits are traditionally cooked with regular stirring over low heat to prevent the thick, starchy mixture from scorching on the bottom of the pot, and a heavy-bottomed pot or double boiler is often recommended specifically because grits burn and stick considerably more readily than a thinner liquid like plain rice or oatmeal cooked in water.

Shrimp and grits started as a simple, humble Lowcountry breakfast among South Carolina fishing communities, long before the dish was picked up and elevated by upscale Southern restaurants in the late 20th century into the more elaborate, cream- and cheese-laden version now commonly found on brunch menus well beyond the coastal South.