Antebellum Grits and Carolina Quick Grits
 
Anson Mills Antebellum Coarse White Grits at the point of readiness.
 
Antebellum Coarse Grits

Time: With overnight soak, cooking time is 50 minutes; with no soak, 90 minutes

Patience is a virtue. Don't rush these grits. If you do and the grits boil, their aromatic oils will emulsify, coat the larger particles of corn, and prevent them from softening in the water. They'll take even longer to cook.

Equipment Mise en Place
For this recipe you will need a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan with a close-fitting lid, a fine tea strainer, a small saucepan, a balloon whisk, and a wooden spoon.

Cooking Remarks
Soaking the grits in water over-night and cooking them in the soaking liquid will reduce their cooking time by about 40%. In real terms, this means that a cup of coarse grits, soaked overnight, will cook in about 50 minutes. If you don't soak the grits, their cooking time will increase to 90 minutes.

Ingredients
1 cup (6 ounces) Anson Mills Antebellum Coarse White or Yellow Grits
2 1/2 cups spring or filtered water, plus additional to hydrate grits during cooking
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1. Place the grits in a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cover them with water. Stir once. Allow the grits to settle a full minute, tilt the pan, and skim off and discard the chaff and hulls with a fine tea strainer. Cover and let stand overnight at room temperature. Note: If you have not soaked the grits, cover them with water as directed above and proceed to step 2.

2. Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the first starch takes hold, 5 to 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting and cover. Meanwhile, heat 2 cups water in a small saucepan and keep hot.

3. Cook the grits, covered, over low heat, stirring every 10 minutes or so, and adding small amounts of hot water to the saucepan when the grits become thick and the spoon stands upright—-about 1 1/2 cups water or more in 4 or 5 additions. Cook until the grits are creamy and tender, but not mushy, throughout and hold their shape on a spoon, 50 to 90 minutes, depending on whether or not they were soaked. Add the salt halfway through the cooking time. To finish, uncover the pot and stir in the butter with vigorous strokes. Add more salt, if desired, and black pepper.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish

 Carolina Quick Grits

Time: With overnight soak, cooking time is 15 minutes; with no soak, 30 minutes

More finely ground than our coarse grits, Anson Mills quick grits can be on the table in about half the time as coarse grits—15 minutes if they're soaked overnight, 30 if they're cooked on the fly. Irrespective of the degree of planning or spontaneity that rules their preparation, quick grits prefer low heat on the stove, just like our coarse grits.

Equipment Mise en Place
For this recipe you will need  a medium-sized, heavy- bottomed saucepan, a fine tea strainer, a small sauce-pan, a balloon whisk, and a wooden spoon.

Cooking Remarks
Soaking the grits in water overnight and cooking them in the soaking liquid will reduce their cooking time by about 50%. In real terms, this means that a cup of grits, soaked overnight, will cook in about 15 minutes. If you don't soak the grits, their cooking time will increase to 30 minutes.

With their smaller particle size and increased surface area, quick grits require more water at the outset of cooking than coarse grits. Because they cook more quickly and with more water, we cook them uncovered.

Ingredients
1 cup (6 ounces) Anson Mills White or Yellow Carolina Quick Grits
3 or 4 cups spring or filtered water
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1. Place the grits in a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cover them with 3 cups water. Stir once. Allow the grits to settle a full minute, tilt the pan, and skim off and discard the chaff and hulls with a fine tea strainer. Cover and let stand overnight at room temperature. Note: If you have not soaked the grits, cover them with 4 cups water and proceed as directed above, then proceed to step 2.

2. Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the first starch takes hold, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, until the grits are creamy and tender through-out and hold their shape on a spoon, 15 to 30 minutes, depending on whether or not they were soaked. Add the salt halfway through the cooking time. To finish, stir in the butter with vigorous strokes. Add more salt, if desired, and black pepper.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish
 


Why Soak Grits?
No matter which grits you choose, it would be remiss of us if we didn't mention that Anson Mills grits improve when soaked in water before being cooked. We began soaking grits overnight (when we remembered) to reduce the cooking time. But dozens of pots later, we noticed that the texture of the soaked grits was improved—the corn particles experienced less trauma during cooking and held their shape in the pot. If you don't have time to soak the grits, or if you simply forget, no worries—our recipes for unsoaked grits use a higher ratio of water during cooking.

Note: If you are using milk to cook the grits, cook them from scratch without soaking.

Whatever degree of planning or spontaneity rules their preparation, both coarse and quick grits prefer low heat on the stove. Quick grits can forgive being rushed, but coarse grits cannot. Moderation is key: Once the "first starch" takes hold, all you should see are big, soft lazy bubbles on the surface every now and then. ...........................

Cooking to First Starch
"First starch" refers to the early stage of grits and polenta cookery in which fine corn particles thicken the liquid enough to hold the larger particles in suspension. It is crucial to stir constantly until the first starch takes hold and to reduce the heat immediately after it does so.
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Cooking Vessels
During the colonial era, Carolina Gold rice was cooked on the hearth in a Dutch oven, a cast-iron, flat-bottomed pot with slightly sloping sides and a tight-fitting lid. Grits were cooked in a heavy cast-iron pot with a round bottom to facilitate stirring and avoid sticking. (Native Americans used round-bottomed clay pots for maize cookery.) In Italy, this same round-bottomed pot, made of copper and called a paiolo, was favored for cooking polenta. Hearth cookware was heavy (pots might weigh 20 to 30 pounds), which is excellent for even distribution of heat and heat retention. Cooking in these pots over on a hearth is much different from cooking in contemporary pots on a modern range.


A Windsor saucepan prevents spatter.

We recommend a Windsor pot (pictured above) for quick grits and polenta (both of which cook uncovered). The Windsor's sloping sides and wide mouth provide an outstanding function unique to its design: They prevent, to a large degree, the spatter (corn napalm) that a simmering pot of grits or polenta will lob onto your range or, worse, onto you. Windsor pots also make for easier whisking and accelerated evaporation.

 
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