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Fried Grits

January 17, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASimple and savory, fried grits are one of those southern staples that unaccountably went out of style. I had never had them growing up or heard of them until I started cooking for myself after college and stumbled across a description of them in a book and thought, “Mmm….sounds good…” and how could it not? Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside and good for soaking up gravy it’s a perfect side for things like smothered chicken and Cajun classics like crawfish etoufee.

It instantly became part of my permanent repertoire after the first time I made it. Then a funny thing happened on the way to my rediscovery of this neglected southern classic.

Polenta. Increasingly during the nineties it became the nouvelle go to starch in Italian and fusion restaurants. It’s actually more northern Italian which is why it never appeared on menus much before that time, but after awhile I was running into it everywhere and it was nice to see this variation of an old favorite becoming a hit all across the country.

For this recipe I wanted the creamiest and most savory side I could get and that involves chicken broth and heavy cream. Because you are working with cold grits you can make them the night before and cover them with plastic wrap then slice and fry for supper the next day.

The quickest prep for this dish involves setting up three adjoining pans (and kitchen suppliers make special three set connected pans for just this purpose), add the flour, egg, and bread crumbs to each, place next to the fry pan and start your assembly line.

Once you’ve sliced, dipped and rolled them all you need to do is to lower them slowly into the fat with the usual instruction not to crowd the pan. All cooks should just internalize this for all forms of frying since crowding creates steam and lowers the temperature of the oil. It’s the culinary equivalent of the old sign warning you to “Beware. Bridge ices in cold weather.” Always and everywhere. Same with crowded skillets – just don’t.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAYou can also pour the grits into a glass casserole dish, let them chill, then cut them into rounds before dipping & frying as seen below:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe final useful tip is to place the finished product on a wire rack, over a cookie sheet in a slightly warm oven. This keeps all the sides crisp while the whole batch is cooking and crisp is the whole point!

Fried Grits
 
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Author: Carine Clary
Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients
  • For the grits:
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup quick cook grits
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • For the breading:
  • 1 large egg beaten plus 1 tsp. water
  • ½ cup flour
  • 1½ cups Panko (or bread crumbs)
  • ½ tsp. garlic granules (or powder)
  • 2 tsps. minced parsley (fresh or dried)
  • Vegetable oil
Instructions
  1. For the grits:
  2. Bring the cream, chicken broth, and butter to a simmer.
  3. Add grits and stir for 20 minutes until soft.
  4. Pour into loaf pan.
  5. Preparation:
  6. Let cool and slice into 1 inch slices or squares according to your preference.
  7. Add the garlic granules and parsley to the flour then dredge the slices in it, dip in the egg wash, and roll in panko
  8. Pour about one inch of oil in a frying pan and heat to 350 or until you can see heat ripples in the oil.
  9. Fry until brown on both sides.
  10. Drain on a rack and hold in a warm oven until all the slices are fried.
Notes
Freezes well. Just let them cool off then securely wrap in foil. Unwrap and lay on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes.
Works fine if you halve the ingredients.
3.2.2925

 

Filed Under: Appetizers, Southern Tagged With: fried grits, side dishes

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Hello, I'm Carine Clary and I'm the FrangloSaxon.

And is that a word? In a word - Yes! It reflects my French connections in the south part of the state and the Anglo Saxon ones on the Arkansas state line. I grew up eating & loving all the foods of Louisiana and the idea is to collect lots of them right here on this website.

What you'll find here is food that reflects everybody's cooking. Creole we know. Cajun we know. But how about Croatian or Vietnamese....or Italian or German....or the underestimated plain Southern food they do so well in the upstate parishes?

They're all part of who we are so pull up your chair and join me for some good eats!

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