Grits

Music Home >> Music Genres >> Undetermined Music



< < < < < > > > > > More Info on Grits Similar Undetermined Music Search Artistopia

Biography

Grits (also sometimes called sofkee or sofkey from the Creek language|Muskogee word), Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture , retrieved August 18, 2008 are a food of Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American origin common in the Southern United States and mainly eaten at breakfast. They consist of coarsely ground maize|corn , or sometimes alkali-treated corn ( hominy ). Grits are similar to other thick maize-based porridge s from around the world, such as polenta , or the thinner farina (food)|farina .

Grits are usually prepared by adding one part grits to two-to-three parts boiling water, sometimes seasoned with salt or sugar. They are usually cooked for 5–10 minutes for "quick" grits or 20 or more minutes for whole kernel grits, or until the water is absorbed and the grits become a porridge-like consistency. As grits expand when they are cooked, they need to be stirred periodically to prevent sticking and forming lumps. They may be served with grated cheese, butter, sausage or country ham red-eye gravy . Grits have also been known to be served with fish such as fried catfish or salmon croquettes. Shrimp and grits is considered a breakfast delicacy in the Low Country of coastal South Carolina. Another popular variant is Charleston-style grits, where the grits are boiled in milk, instead of water, to give them a creamy consistency.

Grits can also be fried in a pan or molded to create a firm block; the resulting block can be cut with a knife or wire, and the slices fried in a fat such as vegetable oil , butter, or bacon grease. The word "grits" derives from the Old English word " Grit (grain)|grytt ," meaning coarse meal. This word originally referred to wheat and other porridges now known as groat (grain)|groats in parts of the U.K., maize being unknown in Europe in the Middle Ages. The word "grits" is one of the few words that may properly be used as either singular or plural in writing or speech and can be used with a singular or plural verb. The word "grits", referring to a food, should not be confused with "grit", which can mean either "courage" or "a small particle, like fine sand".

Origins

Grits have their origins in American Indian corn preparation. Traditionally, the corn for grits was ground by a stone mill (grinding)|mill . The results are passed through screens, with the finer siftings being grit meal , and the coarser being grits. Many communities in the United States used a gristmill until the mid-20th century, with families bringing their own corn to be ground, and the miller retaining a portion of the corn for his fee. In South Carolina , state law requires grits and corn meal to be enriched, similar to the requirements for flour, unless the grits are ground from corn from which the miller keeps part of the product for his fee., retrieved Dec 14, 2007

Three-quarters of grits sold in the U.S. are sold in Southern United States|the South stretching from Texas to Virginia , also known as the "grits belt".
, retrieved Oct 25, 2009 The state of Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia declared grits its official prepared food in 2002., retrieved Dec 14, 2007 Similar bills have been introduced in South Carolina, with one declaring:

Whereas, throughout its history, the South has relished its grits, making them a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality, and whereas, every community in the State of South Carolina used to be the site of a grits mill and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its product; and whereas, grits has been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income; and whereas, grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State, but also the world, if as Charleston's The Post and Courier proclaimed in 1952, "An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, grits should be made popular throughout the world. Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of grits is a man of peace.", retrieved Dec 14, 2007

Grits are usually either yellow or white, depending on the color of corn. Most commonly found are "quick" grits in which the germ and hull have been removed. Whole kernel grits are sometimes called "Speckled." Grits are prepared by simply boiling the ground kernels into a porridge until enough water is absorbed or vaporized to leave it semi-solid.

Other uses

Folk wisdom contends that dry grits, scattered where ants will eat them, can be used to kill them by causing them to 'explode' as the grits expand inside them. However, laboratory tests on fire ants have shown that grits are an ineffective pesticide.

In popular culture

A memorable scene in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny involves the defense lawyer humorously trapping a prosecution witness in a contradiction by using the cooking time of grits.
The witness testifies that his breakfast took him five minutes to prepare, but the lawyer Gambini, furiously but humorously, traps him in a contradiction by pointing out that the recipe for regular grits requires 20 minutes of preparation time, not five minutes.

In the 2002 novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the narrator and protagonist Lily describes a punishment her abusive father routinely inflicted on her: kneeling on grits.

On November 11, 1990, Kid Rock released his debut album titled Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast . http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1004636/a/Grits+Sandwiches+For+Breakfast.htm

Track 7 on 1993's Organix album by The Roots is entitled Grits and describes each member of the group's preferred way of eating grits.

Florence Jean Castleberry ("Flo") on the television series Alice (TV series)|Alice became a waitress at Mel's Diner in Phoenix, Arizona , a roadside diner run by one Mel Sharples . Flo coined the popular catchphrase "Mel, kiss mah grits!"

In Britney: For the Record , Britney's father Jamie Spears was making her cheese grits on the morning of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards . He tells the crew that Spears has eaten cheese grits since she was a little girl, and that it is the breakfast of champions.

In the Doctor Who episode " The Sound of Drums ", Master (Doctor Who)|The Master says to the American President, "Anything I could do? I could make a tea, or is that not American enough? How about some grits? What are grits anyway? "

In the 2010 movie True Grit (2010 film)|True Grit , Rooster Cogburn comes upon a house with two criminals having sofkey. Suspicious of the amount in their pot, suspecting more of their friends will be arriving, he remarks "there's an awful lot of sofkey", to which one of the men replies "sofkey always cooks up bigger than you think".

Little Milton recorded "Grits Ain't Groceries" on his ''Rockin' the Blues album. The song was later covered by Wet Willie.

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Grits


1. Sam Bush 2. Lydia Lunch 3. Edwin Starr 4. Nanette Workman 5. Little Milton 6. Valerie Carter 7. Masta Killa 8. Bomshel 9. Craven 10. Eddie Griffin 11. Gadjits 12. Knowdaverbs 13. Matthew West 14. Phil Harris 15. Pigeon John 16. Ross 17. The Gadjits 18. Britt Nicole 19. Wear

Undetermined Music Artists

Grits

Biography

Origins

Other uses

In popular culture

See also

References

External links

Copyright Citations