Yields: about 2 quarts
This recipe was specifically made for my 2 qt crock pot.
Ingredients
| 1 c |
grits, coarse/stone ground |
| 4 c |
water |
| 1 1/4 t |
salt |
| few grinds |
pepper |
| 6 T |
butter |
Procedures
- Dump it all into crock pot and cover
- Set crock pot on High
- Let it cook for about 6 hrs
- Stir every hour or so, scraping the bottom and sides
Notes
- May work on Low as well.
- Can't make good progress overnight, because no stirring. But that can get you ahead and save you a few hours cooking the next day.
- Start tasting a sample at the 4-5 hr mark. And then every hour after that. Let the sample sit for a few minutes, because it will be hot.
- As you periodically taste it, pay special attention to the grains. There will be some that have turned creamy, which might tempt you into thinking you're done. But others might still be quite gritty. I like to cook them until there are very few gritty grains left per bite. Even after 9 hrs of cooking, I still had some grains that were firm. Just a few of them... and I think it adds character.
- Such long cooking times are necessary for the stone/coarse ground grits.
- I've heard that you can take leftovers and flatten them on a cookie sheet to make polenta-like cakes that you can actually grill up.
- Yes, grits are very very much like polenta.
Add-ons
- Cheeses, like Parmesan especially
- Shrimp
- Bacon
- Sausage
- Garlic
Notes for Quick-Cook Grits
These are the typical grits from Quaker that you are most likely to find in the grocery store.
They can be treated the same way as the stone ground/coarse grits above, except they do get done quicker.
Stir every 45-60 mins. My first batch of them was done (where I like them) in about 5 hours, but were fine cooking longer (9h), and got even smoother. Some people like them a little gritty, and those might be done in about 3.5 hours.