shrimp and grits, bacon and egg, jalapeno and cheddar cheese




2 comments:

Bad Lieutenant said...

This, could use a recipe. Intrigued by your suggestion of generating cornmeal/grits/polenta by grinding popcorn. How's that work out $wise?

Chip Ahoy said...

It's just popcorn. I haven't compared cost. The last time I bought the biggest bag of popcorn at the grocery store and I noticed I'm getting low already.

The advantage is you can buy it and still pop the corn. As I do. And that's another whole story.

It works with dried posole too which has the advantage nixtamal treatment, a lye that removes the husk. The same treatment as real grits. The store that I go to has a lot of Mexican customers so the dry posole is with their other dry spices and packaged ingredients. They sell posole already cooked in tins. I haven't tried that.

I wore out three of the cheapest coffee mills doing this. So I bought a slightly heavier one and that's held up well. It's been years now. I use the mill for everything. Turning fried bacon to dust (with flour) Grinding coarse salt to dust, and mustard seeds and the like.

For single serving, start out small.

1/4 cup seeds will take 3/4 to 1 cup water.

Then add whatever you like.

Bacon prepared in advance
1 finely diced jalapeño
onion or garlic or their powders, if you like
cheese, nearly any kind works very well
egg, either mixed throughout after its cooked so residual heat cooks it gently, or on top, either fried or poached
Butter, the amount that you want to eat.
salt and pepper, of course.

A few days ago I used tinned chipotle because I didn't have fresh jalapeño. But I could have used any of that sauce in tiny bottles, or any type of powder. They all do similar things.

This is one of my all-time favorite things. I've served it at dinner parties. I've used chicken broth for the liquid, and I've used milk. I tell people no offense if they don't eat it, but everyone takes some and everyone finishes their plate.

A nephew did not realize he ate grits. He doesn't know polenta is the same thing. He doesn't know that it's cornmeal. When I answered his question the next day he rejected the answer, "WHAT? That was grits? I don't eat no grits."

I haven't done this, but I think you can pour it out onto the counter or into a mold and let it cool and gel to a solid, cut it and fry it in butter.

But I like it in its thick liquid state. It's very good. Surprisingly satisfying. For me, it makes a whole meal.

Even if you use old popcorn, when you mill it the powder is fresh. Unoxidized. It's head and shoulders above the pre-milled grits that you buy in cylindrical containers. There is no comparison between the two. I compared them side by side, and then threw away my container of pre-milled cornmeal. Utterly vapid in comparison. The air ruins the powder. Drains it of life.

I use this to roll pizza dough to add interesting texture, not just for ball bearings to slide the pizza onto the stone.

I use this for cornbread. I add the same ingredients. Overload it with chile and cheese and bacon bits. Since it makes too much for me, I give away the extra, and it blows people's minds. Seriously. It's just cornbread, but they raved. They've always made their cornbread plain and simple. A few extra things and it's whole 'nuther ballgame. So simple to do and such an extraordinary difference. Try it for a dinner party sometime and your guests will regard you a culinary master thereafter.

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