Grillades and Grits

A friend just requested by Grillades and Grits recipe.  All the videos I am seeing are way over-complicated. Everyone trying to out-do each other with too many ingredients. I base mine on the way my family did it, old cookbooks and my own taste.  The grillades are just thin cut porkchops, or you can use beef... but pork is very traditional. Get a pan hot and put in your meat to fry in some bacon grease or oil. Salt and pepper (both black pepper and cayenne pepper) just one side since they are thin. Or, use Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, which is what I usually do. Tony's is salty (unless you buy the salt free), so go easy with it. Leave an inch or so of space between each piece of meat so they can brown properly. After about 5 min, check to see if the downside is brown. If it is, flip and brown the other side. When well browned, remove from the pan and toss in some chopped onions. Once the onions are translucent, add chopped garlic, celery and peppers (bell peppers are good and more traditional but I prefer poblanos). Add a little more fat if needed and a dash of salt or seasoning. Brown that up and push to the side. Add to the pan a tablespoon of oil or fat and a tablespoon of flour. Stir or whisk in the flour until it is lightly browned and has combined with the fat. Then, toss in chopped or canned tomatoes and either a little stock/broth or water , a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, and return the meat to the pan. Let simmer, stirring occasionally into a thick gravy. Serve over buttered, REAL grits, stone ground grits, salted and peppered to taste and buttered. Grits cooked in broth or stock are traditional, but water is fine. Top with Creole seasoning and hot sauce to taste, chopped parsley and chopped fresh tomato if in season. It is a big breakfast, usually served with Creole coffee and a cold beer!

Thank you Judson - as a Brit, I had no idea what Grillades are and only a vague idea about grits. It sounds like a great hangover breakfast and I like the idea of coffee and beer!

Edward Norton wrote:Thank you Judson - as a Brit, I had no idea what Grillades are and only a vague idea about grits. It sounds like a great hangover breakfast and I like the idea of coffee and beer!

It is just thin, pan fry-able cuts of meat.  Grits are ground corn. The coffee and beer we got from the traditional English breakfast.... but we aren't much into hot tea here where the weather is oppressive in the summer.  Cold tea is remarkably refreshing in the heat.  

I’ve always drunk coffee with a full English although tea is traditional. I wasn’t aware that beer was thought of as accompanying breakfast. I shouldn’t be surprised though, as beer was drunk much like water, before sanitation and clean water. The school I went to was founded in the 1860’s and advertised ‘Every boy has his own bed and three pints of beer a day!’. Alas, the only beer was served to prefects and you had to pay for it.

Thanks for the clarity on grits - it sounds like polenta.

Edward Norton wrote:I’ve always drunk coffee with a full English although tea is traditional. I wasn’t aware that beer was thought of as accompanying breakfast. I shouldn’t be surprised though, as beer was drunk much like water, before sanitation and clean water. The school I went to was founded in the 1860’s and advertised ‘Every boy has his own bed and three pints of beer a day!’. Alas, the only beer was served to prefects and you had to pay for it.

Thanks for the clarity on grits - it sounds like polenta.

Old breakfasts like this go back to the same tradition of beer.  I love all the full British breakfasts - such interesting combinations from blood pudding to winkles, etc.  Our southern farm breakfast was bacon and sausage or ham, eggs, grits with butter and shad roe, biscuits (which are more like scones that what you might call a biscuit) with butter and honey, toast with jam, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, baked sweet potato and coffee with fresh cream.  There was usually some gravy on the side, as well.  What we call REAL grits are coarsely stone ground, so like a rustic polenta.  Oddly enough, I usually ate a raw turnip root as a mid morning snack.  

Judson Carroll wrote:Our southern farm breakfast was bacon and sausage or ham, eggs, grits with butter and shad roe, biscuits (which are more like scones that what you might call a biscuit) with butter and honey, toast with jam, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, baked sweet potato and coffee with fresh cream.  There was usually some gravy on the side, as well.

Wow, that’s a serious amount of food! I guess it’s designed for farm folks who don’t have a tractor and plough the field by hand! The only time I’ve eaten that amount of food for breakfast was in my caving days when I had 14 hours of hard graft ahead.

What we call REAL grits are coarsely stone ground, so like a rustic polenta.  Oddly enough, I usually ate a raw turnip root as a mid morning snack.  

Thanks for the clarification - going to make my own at the weekend and try out your grillades and grits before a hearty winter hike.

I never heard of cooking grits with stock.  I am sure it is good.  This may be a regional thing.

I cook my rice in stock though I never heard of anyone doing this.  I made it up to use my bone broth and give the dog some nutritious rice.

I doubt I will try cooking grits in stock as I love the butter taste.

https://permies.com/t/144160/kitchen/Cook-Grits

I also had never heard of Grillades so I ask Mr. Google who told me this is a traditional creole food: New Orleans Grillades and Grits.  I miss learning about them when I was in New Orleans.

Edward Norton wrote:

Judson Carroll wrote:Our southern farm breakfast was bacon and sausage or ham, eggs, grits with butter and shad roe, biscuits (which are more like scones that what you might call a biscuit) with butter and honey, toast with jam, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, baked sweet potato and coffee with fresh cream.  There was usually some gravy on the side, as well.

Wow, that’s a serious amount of food! I guess it’s designed for farm folks who don’t have a tractor and plough the field by hand! The only time I’ve eaten that amount of food for breakfast was in my caving days when I had 14 hours of hard graft ahead.

What we call REAL grits are coarsely stone ground, so like a rustic polenta.  Oddly enough, I usually ate a raw turnip root as a mid morning snack.  

Thanks for the clarification - going to make my own at the weekend and try out your grillades and grits before a hearty winter hike.

We did work hard, but that was just the culture.  My grandmother cooked huge meals - most weeknight suppers would have made a Christmas feast look meager!  She always cooked extra in case anyone showed up unexpectedly... and they usually did.  I hope you enjoy the recipe, it is a favorite of mine.

Anne Miller wrote:I never heard of cooking grits with stock.  I am sure it is good.  This may be a regional thing.

I cook my rice in stock though I never heard of anyone doing this.  I made it up to use my bone broth and give the dog some nutritious rice.

I doubt I will try cooking grits in stock as I love the butter taste.

https://permies.com/t/144160/kitchen/Cook-Grits

I also had never heard of Grillades so I ask Mr. Google who told me this is a traditional creole food: New Orleans Grillades and Grits.  I miss learning about them when I was in New Orleans.

It is more of a regional thing.  The Creole and Cajun side of my family might do that, but mostly we cook grits with water.  I agree on rice with stock - that is delicious!