"grits" news and stories

Do you have what it takes?

If you happen to be anywhere near Georgia this Saturday and have a hankering for grits -- consider a drive to Warwick. The town -- approximately 82 miles south of Macon -- holds its 12th annual National Grits Festival on April 11, complete with a cook-off, a Miss Grits pageant and the Grits Pit -- a creamy tub designed to get grits lovers, well, gritty (see photo above).

"That's a big attraction at 2 o'clock in the afternoon now," festival coordinator Bob Holland told Slashfood.

Warwick hosts this ode to the Southern larder despite the fact that it doesn't produce grits, though it does have a lot of corn growing amid the cotton and peanuts on nearby farmland, Holland said.

"You can do anything with grits," Holland said. "It depends on your taste and your imagination."

More gritty talk and the late great Bill Neal's recipe for shrimp and grits that turned me into a grits fan after the jump.

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I thought ya'll might care to know that the World Grits Festival kicks off today in St. George, South Carolina. The three-day festival will include grits grinding demos, a grits eating contest, corn shucking competition, and a "rolling in the grits" contest (ages 15 and up. Is that anything like "rolling in the hay," I wonder?).

The festival website features grits recipes like savory grits pies, syrup n' bacon grits, and deep fried grits and cheese. While I'll devour a plain old dish of grits with butter and salt any day, my favorite grits recipe is shrimp and grits, an old coastal Carolinas favorite. I like to fancy it up, stirring grated sharp white cheddar into the grits and topping with handfuls of crumbled bacon, chopped chives, caramelized onions and fresh fat shrimp sauteed in butter and garlic. Serve it with biscuits for brunch or try it with a green salad for an easy but elegant Sunday dinner.

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The whole concept of Nathalie Dupree's Shrimp and Grits originated with one dish: shrimp and grits, a breakfast dish that is popular in South Carolina. The combination is delicious, but the elements are so versatile that you could order the dish in one hundred diners and get it one hundred different ways. The book doesn't focus only on the ways to prepare this one dish, but it does take the ingredients and showcase exactly how many different ways they can be used. The author shares tips on preparing shrimp and cooking grits to perfection. Variations on the main dish include BLT Shrimp and Grits and a Cheese Grits Soufflé with Shrimp Sauce. If you're looking for something a little different, there are also recipes for things like crackers and desserts - Peach and Grits Cobbler, anyone?

Nathalie Dupree is a great resource for Southern cooking and Southern recipes, with more than 10 cookbooks to her name. If you're already a fan, you can actually order an autographed copy of this book on her website.

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