Sunshine Grits!

A little orange juice and brown sugar

Grits, little sugar, butter, milk, there great.

Grits out of season? I did not know they grew on trees!

River

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:58 pm Grits, little sugar, butter, milk, there great.

Grits out of season? I did not know they grew on trees!

RiverThe grit tree is a tree what grew up in Moses' backyard. I've given a great deal of study to the history of the grit tree.

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:59 pm Well all that may be true but do you have a good sushi restaurant?

Bagels, cream cheese and lox's? mmmm brings back memories when I was a kid and we would raid Less's house for them, its always pissed off his mother because of the sabbath rules. The only place you can find some of that stuff is in the store deli and its just not the same.

Food we can no longer get because of age or locatio

Blaise (imported) wrote: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:13 pm n to birth. Next time I am in the bay area I am going to N

oah's. Or to SFV and to Cupids. sigh

Blaise (imported) wrote: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:13 pm Oh yes, and something I tried here at home a month or so ago,
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jane_says (imported) wrote: Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:12 pm deep-fried fresh asparagus spears,

wonderful.

RiverAsparagus is a splendid food. I boil them until just before becoming

mrt (imported) wrote: Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:19 pm tender, blanch, and then sauté in olive oi

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:58 pm l with a bi

t of garlic. I love them.

My father loved Jewish deli food. He trained me well. If I were

able to do it, I would live in Manhattan! But who wouldn't if he were rich?

Sunshine Grits!

A little orange juice and brown sugarYes, yes, mouth-watering.

.

Grits, little sugar, butter, milk, there great.

Grits out of season? I did not know they grew on trees!

RiverMy mother loves butter milk, but I could never drink it. However, add Green Goddess mix and I am ready to drink it. Don't know why.

Blaise (imported) wrote: Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:15 pm The grit tree is a tree what grew up in Moses' backyard. I've given a great deal of study to the history of the grit tree.

QUOTE]

Like the old skit about happy peasants harvesting pasta from pasta trees. But I think you are confused. Rufus' Plant Pathology Textbook (available in spiral notebook format at Betty's Beer, Bait and Beauty Parlour) clearly proposes that grits began as the offspring of first cousin New Joisey cranberries. Those mutants did not handle Joisey winters well and slowly migrated south. Have you never heard of the Georgia grit bogs?

Blaise (imported) wrote: Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:15 pm The grit tree is a tree what grew up in Moses' backyard. I've given a great deal

Arab Nights (imported) wrote: Sat Aug 16, 2008 8:16 pm of study to the history of the grit tree.

QUOTE]

Like the old skit about happy peasants harvesting pasta from pasta trees. But I think you are confused. Rufus' Plant Pathology Textbook (available in spiral notebook format at Betty's Beer, Bait and Beauty Parlour) clearly proposes that grits began as the offspring of first cousin New Joisey cranberries. Those mutants did not handle Joisey winters well and slowly migrated

south. Have you never heard of the Georgia grit bogs?On a serious note, I recall how thrilled I was to see my first cranberry bog in Oysterville, Washington, near the mouth of the Columbia River. I want to move to Joisey, a most overtaxed state but absolutely beautiful.

Don't think I've ever eaten grits, in any form.

One thing I can't figure out, is why you can't get New Orleans style kidney beans any more. Van Camp's used to make a good version, but I haven't seen a can of then in years. I suppose they are available somewhere in the south, though.

Another thing you can't get any more is brick cheese, which, of course, has nothing to do with grits.

Beau Geste (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:51 pm Don't think I've ever eaten grits, in any form.

One thing I can't figure out, is why you can't get New Orleans style kidney beans any more. Van Camp's used to make a good version, but I haven't seen a can of then in years. I suppose they are available somewhere in the south, though.

Another thing you can't get any more is brick cheese, which, of course, has nothing to do with grits.

I have never understood what small red beans really are. Recipes call for them or for kidney beans. For some reason, I never found canned beans appropriate. They don’t seem to work.

What makes New Orleans red beans and rice distinctive are onions, celery, and garlic (though not too much). I cook the beans from dry beans soaked overnight and then cooked slowly. The local brand of beans if is Camellia and they are small red beans. My cousin Jerry used to stock them when he visited New Orleans. He insists that kidney beans are not the same. The beans smell awful during the early stages of cooking. They smell of starch.

My former wife used about two pounds of ham from hambone to one pound of beans. I really think that the key is the hambone, spices, and slow cooking to convert (I think) starch to simpler sugars. I am really certain about the chemistry. I have not read about this in a long time.

The spices are bay leaf and thyme, though some folks like cayenne pepper. I don’t cook mine too hot (Wikipedia mentions that we usually don’t make them too hot), but I do add pepper sauce when I eat them. Thyme is used a lot in our cooking. I tend to put Louisians hot sauce on almost everything except ice cream! Linda’s Cajun butcher Mr. Willie Richard liked her (she was also Cajun) and sold her unusually meaty hambones. I have not had any red beans and rice in a long time, though I used to enjoy them a least a couple of times a week.

Block cheese has a lot to do with making a large pot of cheese grits!

Grits are an acquired taste. When I was a child, I preferred oatmeal and I still like it as much as grits.

However, it is fun to take a basic food that poor people used and to play with variations. Everything added seems to stress fat. Grits extended a fat poor diet. A bit of fat goes a long way toward helping with the blandness. Grits are sufficiently bland that any variation makes a different meal. Oatmeal has too strong a flavor to allow the range of variations you can enjoy with grits.

In a way, grits are almost a kind of regional put on, but they can be tasty. I have no idea how healthy eating them is.

Blaise (imported) wrote: Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:15 pm Asparagus is a splendid food. I boil them until just before becoming t

ender, blanch, and then sauté in olive oil with a bit of garlic. I love them.

That sounds very similar to my usual way of making fresh asparagus. I steam the skinniest fresh spears I can find (after snapping off the woody end) and then sautee them very quickly in butter. My sister made a super-yummy asparagus dish at Christmas last year (talk about out of season!). She spread the spears out evenly on a baking sheet, drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt, and placed them under the broiler for a couple minutes, then shook them up and broiled for another minute or so. Sooo good.

When I was a kid, my mom only made canned asparagus -- floppy, stringy, and falling apart. She even now makes an asparagus casserole with the canned stuff that includes "cheez" from a little glass jar, cracker crumbs, and slivered almonds. Sounds terrible, and even though it's truly White Trash Food, I always bring home any leftovers.

Two slightly off-topic comments.

First, to River and the SOB responsible (who shall remain nameless), I shall have my revenge for getting me hooked on pasties, then sending me home to face pasty-withdrawals. I don't know how, I don't know when, but one day I shall wreak vengeance upon you.

Second, there is nothing wrong with 'white trash food', in moderation. For me, the number one comfort food has only three ingredients. A box of mac & cheese, a can of mushroom soup, and a can of tuna. I try to only make it once or twice a year though.

BossTamsin (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:35 pm Second, there is nothing wrong with 'white trash food', in moderation. For me, the number one comfort food has only three ingredients. A box of mac & cheese, a can of mushroom soup, and a can of tuna. I try to only make it once or twice a year though.

You need to visit some of my friend's trailers and sit down to a meal of CheeseWhiz and crackers. Hmm-mm-good. Hmm-mm-good.