No, that doesn't mean a trip to your favorite restaurant. Though, in Charleston, and a couple other spots, that ain't bad, either.
However, on a Sunday morning (like yesterday), I had a chance to try out a pre-packaged "kit" of the stuff. Thanks to Debbie and the Ship's Wheel at Tideline Marine in Jacksonville (NC). She gave me the kit to try out. And, I did. It's from the Gullah Gourmet out of Charleston and contains most eveything you'll need. Except, of course, the shrimp.
Instructions are simple. There are two packages inside the sack. One is yellow stone ground grits, the other is the gravy mix, rich with herbs.
You can follow the instructions, as did I. The first time. The gravy and the grits were a little thinner than I prefer. Recipe calls for four (4) cups of water for the grits. You might want to try three, instead. You can also reduce the amount of liquid for the gravy, from the suggested 1-3/4 cups to 1-1/2. Of course, you might like both your gravy and your grits soup-y, and that's fine. One thing I 've found, with grits, is that you can cook ém up, and if they're a little thicker than you want, add a bit of milk (I use Half-n-Half) at the end. Makes the grits fluffy and not so thick. This is a good thing to know, especially if the grits set around in a pot after they're done, while you're waiting for everyone to get to the table, or you're waiting for the rest of the meal to finish cooking.
The gravy, likewise, can be thinned out with additional water, near the end of the cooking phase.
The recipe with the kit suggests sauteeing a pound of shrimp. That's about right. No biggie, here. It's simple. A little butter or olive oil in a hot pan, and it only takes a minute or two and they 're ready. Then, per the recipe, add them to the gravy. Your timing for this is important. Make sure:
1) folks are at the table, ready to eat
2) the grits are just the way you want to serve them
3) the gravy is right, meaning that it's cooked the prescribed period of time and is as thick or thin as you want.
(Yes, you can thicken the gravy with a bit of flour, but, adding flour to hot liquid results in lumpy stuff that takes a lot of whisking action to correct).
The cooking times given are good. The grits, added to boiling waer, should cook for 30 minutes. The gravy takes about 20 minutes. A little more won't hurt. Just wait until everything is ready before adding the sauteed shrimp to the gravy.
Once the 1,2,3's are done, add the sauteed shrimp to the gravy mix. Let them simmer for a minute or two, serve the grits, then add the gravy/shrimp to the top of the grits.
The little Gullah kit, along with a pound of shrimp, will feed four people. Of course, biscuits on the side are a good addition. A little of the gravy mix, sans the shrimp, on top of the biscuit is a bonus. No frozen biscuits on hand? And, you don't know how to cook them from scratch? Have you tried those sandwich-thin wheat buns? Not a lot of bread, as in traditional hamburger buns. And, with a little butter, and under the broiler for a minute or two, they are ab-so-lutely good-er'n good.
However, on a Sunday morning (like yesterday), I had a chance to try out a pre-packaged "kit" of the stuff. Thanks to Debbie and the Ship's Wheel at Tideline Marine in Jacksonville (NC). She gave me the kit to try out. And, I did. It's from the Gullah Gourmet out of Charleston and contains most eveything you'll need. Except, of course, the shrimp.
Instructions are simple. There are two packages inside the sack. One is yellow stone ground grits, the other is the gravy mix, rich with herbs.
You can follow the instructions, as did I. The first time. The gravy and the grits were a little thinner than I prefer. Recipe calls for four (4) cups of water for the grits. You might want to try three, instead. You can also reduce the amount of liquid for the gravy, from the suggested 1-3/4 cups to 1-1/2. Of course, you might like both your gravy and your grits soup-y, and that's fine. One thing I 've found, with grits, is that you can cook ém up, and if they're a little thicker than you want, add a bit of milk (I use Half-n-Half) at the end. Makes the grits fluffy and not so thick. This is a good thing to know, especially if the grits set around in a pot after they're done, while you're waiting for everyone to get to the table, or you're waiting for the rest of the meal to finish cooking.
The gravy, likewise, can be thinned out with additional water, near the end of the cooking phase.
The recipe with the kit suggests sauteeing a pound of shrimp. That's about right. No biggie, here. It's simple. A little butter or olive oil in a hot pan, and it only takes a minute or two and they 're ready. Then, per the recipe, add them to the gravy. Your timing for this is important. Make sure:
1) folks are at the table, ready to eat
2) the grits are just the way you want to serve them
3) the gravy is right, meaning that it's cooked the prescribed period of time and is as thick or thin as you want.
(Yes, you can thicken the gravy with a bit of flour, but, adding flour to hot liquid results in lumpy stuff that takes a lot of whisking action to correct).
The cooking times given are good. The grits, added to boiling waer, should cook for 30 minutes. The gravy takes about 20 minutes. A little more won't hurt. Just wait until everything is ready before adding the sauteed shrimp to the gravy.
Once the 1,2,3's are done, add the sauteed shrimp to the gravy mix. Let them simmer for a minute or two, serve the grits, then add the gravy/shrimp to the top of the grits.
The little Gullah kit, along with a pound of shrimp, will feed four people. Of course, biscuits on the side are a good addition. A little of the gravy mix, sans the shrimp, on top of the biscuit is a bonus. No frozen biscuits on hand? And, you don't know how to cook them from scratch? Have you tried those sandwich-thin wheat buns? Not a lot of bread, as in traditional hamburger buns. And, with a little butter, and under the broiler for a minute or two, they are ab-so-lutely good-er'n good.
The Gullah kits are available prepared for she-crab soup, shrimp creole and other.goodies I have a pack of each of these, and you can bet that I'll give them a whirl real soon. There's even some sort of dessert stuff. No doubt, it's good, but I don't cook much in the way of desserts. I'll leave that to someone else.
And, unless I'm drastically wrong, the stuff at The Ship's Wheel was a whole lot cheaper than it was when I did an on-line search. I will check that out later this week. If it is, you might want to keep that a secret. Just between usn's. At least until I get my stash.
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