Lowcountry Shrimp and Grits Southern Living. For those of us who live down South, we know Southern food is so much more than just fried chicken and biscuits. Within the whole of our region there are distinct cooking cultures influenced by generations of people from all backgrounds and access to different resources. We asked five writers to team up with their favorite chefs to pick one dish that represents the culinary traditions in their corner of the South. From Texas to Virginia, we are exploring five plates with a sense of place like Louisianas  gumbo and the Deep Souths meat n three. Each team delves into the history, the nostalgia, the complexities, and the beauty of each plate, and asks you to share in their traditions with recipes that honor the old and introduce new interpretations. In this edition, Matt and Ted Lee explain how once obscure breakfast shrimp became one of the most famous Southern exports known as shrimp and grits with one of the chefs who brought them to popularity, Robert Stehling of the Hominy Grill. Crook`S Corner Shrimp And Grits' title='Crook`S Corner Shrimp And Grits' />The first thing to know about Shrimp and Grits is that it is difficult to improve on the original. The elemental combination of local shrimp, fresh from the creeks, and coarse corn grits cooked to creamy smoothnessboth ingredients are gently sweet and the dish is perfectly balanced between sea and land, without any further additions. Butter, salt and black pepper are clarifications, and the volume can be turned up by venturing into vegetable and spice territory, but the most minimalist expression is where the dish began, in the South Carolina Lowcountry, when an abundance of shrimp in season and a bag of white corn grits from the gristmill came together over breakfast. In the past decade, Shrimp and Grits has become a popular dish on restaurant dinner menus nationwide, served by chefs channeling southern traditions, and it has earned its place in the pantheon of Southern icons, along with cornbread, fried chicken, gumbo, and pecan pie. While most Americans associate Shrimp and Grits with the Lowcountry and with Charleston in particularthe way Gumbo is New Orleans calling carduntil the mid 1. Shrimp and Grits uttered by a native Charlestonian, even though you might eat something that resembled it. Thats because, until the late 1. Crooks Corner is a restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC. This is a dish served at the restaurant and I found the recipe in the latest Southern Living magazine. Atlantic Beach Pie is a salty and citrusy staple of the coast. Katie Workman, author of The Mom 100 Cookbook, shared the recipe for All Things Considereds. PLEASE KNOW THAT WE POST OUR DAILY MENU IN THE LATE AFTERNOON. WE pride ourselves in the freshness of all our food beverage offerings. Therefore, all menus are. Holy City and changed the lexicon of the dish Charleston home cooks referred to cooked grits as hominya term which in the rest of the world refers to nixtimalized corn, of the sort that goes into tortillas. Not here. In fact, Shrimp and Grits was typically referred to as breakfast shrimp, served as the name implies, for breakfast. The hominy served with it was so commonplace as to be implicit. The representative Lowcountry cookbooks of the twentieth century reveal the development, from this basic prototype to what we know of today as Shrimp and Grits. The first totemic cookbook in which we see the congress of shrimp and hominy in print is the 1. Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking, a compendium of recipes gathered by Blanche S. Rhett, who lived in Charleston with her husband, R. Goodwyn Rhett, mayor of the city from 1. This delicious dozen reveals something wonderful about North Carolina foodways and proclivities. A Chefs Life is a documentary and cooking series, airing on PBS. The first season consists of 13 halfhour episodes. Much more dynamic than a typical cooking show. The book was edited by Lettie Gay, and given an introduction and explanatory matter by Helen Woodward. In the Shellfish and Fish chapter of that volume, on page 2. Shrimps with Hominy. The headnote reads This is a delicious breakfast dish, served in almost every house in Charleston during the shrimp season. Its intended to serve four people a pound of raw shrimp, peeled, sauted in four ounces of melted butter seasoned with salt and pepper, and served over a half cup of hot hominy per serving. A distinction of this recipe is that it is noted to be Williams Recipeas quite a few others are throughout the book. As explained in the headnote to the recipes for crab soup, William Deas is Blanche Rhetts able butler. She Crab Soup, another cardinal dish of Charleston. By 1. 95. 1, when Charleston Receipts, Charlestons definitive cookbook of the 2. Century, was published, Shrimp and Grits began to acquaint itself with something more than salt and pepper. In those pages it is still called breakfast shrimp, but now theres green pepper, bacon fat, onion, Worcestershire, ketchup, and flour to thicken it. Its Mrs. Ben Scott Whaleys recipe, and theres a variation that says cooked shrimp may be floured and fried with onions browned in butter. This basic profile of piquant, smoky flavored Shrimp and Grits would remain the archetype throughout the remainder of that century. But before we get to the present, its vital to talk about Bill Neal, who we believe is to credit for the popularization of the dish. OXfipVHUB67xFrqIS2l7vfJXI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7361443/ASSEMBLY2-crooks-corner-shrimp-grits.0.jpg' alt='Crook`S Corner Shrimp And Grits' title='Crook`S Corner Shrimp And Grits' />Bill Neal was raised on a farm in Gaffney, South Carolina upstate, peach growing country, and opened a fancy French restaurant, La Residence, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 1. 98. 2, he left La Res to open the more casual Crooks Corner, serving the kind of honest, simple, and refined farm cooking he grew up with to University of North Carolina Chapel Hill students and professors. Though Neal died in 1. Blueberry Ricotta Cake here. Crooks Corner, now helmed by Bill Smith, and also in the kitchens of so many of todays superb Southern chefs, who spent time under his tutelage Robert Stehling of Charlestons Hominy Grill, whose Shrimp and Grits recipe is published here John Currence of City Grocery, in Oxford, Mississippi Karen and Ben Barker of Magnolia Grill 1. Amy Tornquist of Watts Grocery, in Durham, North Carolina, to name a few. Neals son, Matt, and Matts wife, Sheila, are proprietors of the excellent Neals Deli, in Carrboro, North Carolina. Neal had spent time in Charleston, so She Crab Soup and Shrimp and Grits have always been on the menu at Crooks Corner. When the legendary New York Times food writer and editor Craig Claiborne, a Mississippian, wrote a lengthy feature for the paper about a visit hed made to Neals kitchen, Shrimp and Grits achieved national stature. In Neals 1. 98. 5 recipe, published in The New York Times, the shrimp are cooked in bacon fat, and dressed with lemon juice, sauted mushrooms, and green onion. You might also be interested in Robert Stehlings recipe, included here, preserves Neals vision but gets it down to a quick, 3 minute science, achieving a kind of minimalism thats very much in the spirit of the breakfast shrimp original. Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Easily share your publications and get. The first thing to know about Shrimp and Grits is that it is difficult to improve on the original. South Carolina food writers, cookbook authors, and. Upgrade Your Shrimp and Grits With Mushrooms, Bacon, and Gruyre. Everyone in town has his or her own riff on shrimp and grits and our own formula seems always to be evolving, but Stehlings version has become the one dish that defines Charleston for visitors today. Shrimp and Grits serves 2 4This is a very traditional low country dish with many variations. At its simplest, just plain pan fried shrimp with grits. Peanut oil, optional. Tabasco cup thinly sliced green onions. In a medium skillet over medium high heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, approximately 5 6 minutes. Drain the bacon on paper towels, reserve the bacon fat in pan and add peanut oil if needed to give you approximately 1 tablespoons. Toss the shrimp with the flour until they are lightly coated, removing any excess flour. Over medium high heat cook the shrimp on one side, flip and add mushrooms and bacon. Cook approximately 2 minutes. Add the garlic, stirring constantly so as not to brown the garlic. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice, Tabasco and green onions. Spoon over cheese grits. Cheese Grits. 4 cups water. Tabasco. In a medium saucepan over high heat bring water to a boil. Whisk in the grits and salt, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the grits are thickened, approximately 3. Remove from the heat and add the cheeses, butter, pepper and Tabasco, adding more to adjust seasoning as desired. Fine Southern Dining. Also called The Pink Pig.