Thursday, November 18, 2010

Grits and Gravy (Of Course!!)

Because my favorite thing to put gravy on is GRITS.
Grits MUST have gravy, and because this is (in case you've forgotten or just tuned in) The Month Of Vegan Gravy , I present my favorite breakfast in the entire world.

You all know about gravy - or you SHOULD by now, (if not, where have you been the last 18 days?) so let me talk a little about GRITS (yes, I feel this is still in keeping with my theme)...

Grits
are a classic breakfast cooked-cereal item in the American South. No, they're not exactly a familiar food here in the Pacific NorthWest, but we discovered them while visiting my sister in Florida many years ago and they are now, ironically, one of my kids' all-time favorites; as well as my fallback, go-to breakfast, the way some people reach for instant oatmeal...
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For the uninformed, "grits" (or "traditional white hominy grits") are somewhat different than yellow cornmeal and it's all in the way they're processed.

Alton Brown explains it best:

"Cornmeal (like you'd make polenta with) is made from ground dried corn. Grits are made from ground, dried hominy (which is still corn, but treated slightly different). To make hominy, you start with field corn that's dried. Then the dried corn kernels are soaked in a solution of baking soda, lime, or wood ash ("lye water") for a day or two. (Sounds yummy, huh?) The kernel's shell pops off, and the kernel swells to twice its size. Kernels are rinsed more than once, then dried again, and finally ground into grits."
OK. So, they're like white, coarsely-ground cornmeal, like polenta, but not...
The directions for what to do with grits are on the box. That's the best "recipe" I can give you, because each brand and type are different.
Go buy a box and try them. Very warm, creamy, homey "comfort food" sort-of stuff, but with more texture and character than, say, Cream of Wheat....

Cook up the grits, follow the directions, and when grits are done, spoon into a bowl, and top with a TON of Sausage Gravy.

To make "Sausage" Gravy?
Use my "White Gravy" from my earlier post, and simply add a TON of smashed-up, fried bits of whatever vegan breakfast-sausage product you prefer, as you're stirring and thickening the gravy at the end.
Or, use my HOMEMADE SEITAN SAUSAGE recipe if you want.
Sausage is optional, it's good without too!

I'll leave you with this completely irrelevant, but hilarious picture of our cat... this is exactly how I feel after a breakfast of grits and gravy. Food coma...
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2 comments:

Bianca said...

Ok, I hate to even admit this. But I have never put gravy on my grits. WHAT?! I know, right? I was born and raised down South and I've never thought to do that. But duh...that sounds so obvious.

I'm going to blame the fact that I typically only make cheezy grits, which might not go as well with gravy. But really, that's still a lame-ass excuse.

Tofu Mom, thanks for the inspiration. :-)

Erin said...

I'm with Bianca - I love grits, and I love gravy, but I've never put the two together! Thanks for the idea!