Shrimp & Grits

                  Shrimp & Grits Asian Style with Mat (mom) Chea's Chili Sauce

A Southern American classic dish that makes perfect sense.  Take a grain (corn) and simmer it with a flavorful liquid, add butter and sometimes cheese, saute some shrimp and bingo!  A filling and wonderfully tasty meal.  However, when I make it the classic way, I feel there is something left to be desired about it.  Maybe I suck at it or I'm just a flavor whore, but this dish needed some adjustment to spark my palate.

Grits are nothing more than the pulverized grain sifted off of the powdery flour resulting.  It's actually a Native American dish, but became synonymous with southern cooking and soul food over time. The same thing happened with corn bread.  White grits are from hominy (the corn grain soaked in an alkaline solution then dried and ground) and yellow grits, AKA polenta, we see a bit more often as corn meal.  The grains are dumped into a simmering liquid and constantly stirred until they have softened and absorbed all the liquid in the pot.

To make grits successfully you need to understand the ratio of water to liquid involved. This may vary depending on the brand of grits you buy or even if they are the "instant" type.  I suggest you read the package.  Too much water will take away any texture from the final dish leaving it gruel-like.  Even though this is really a porridge, the grains should have some grittyness to them after cooking.  Too little water and the grits will seize up and become dense unappetizing wallpaper paste. Just use a measuring cup, that's all.

The liquid that goes into the grits needs to taste good.  Now, if you're making grits for breakfast I would assume that some sugar is involved and shrimp are not.  So for that, water or milk is generally used.  On the other hand, making a punch-in-the-face of flavor version for lunch or dinner, you're going to need some stock.  A dark stock is preferred.  Let's say veal?  Sure you have some stowed away in the freezer right? Ok, maybe you don't.  Possibly you think it is too hard to put together a veal stock for just a simple dish, so use some swanson broth...... NO.  I am begging you, please no.... If there is a culinary god watching over us as we cook, then strike down upon the who uses canned beef water.  If you at all care about how your food tastes, then spend a few minutes a month putting some stock together and storing it in the freezer for later use.  I'll put up the recipes for you to see.  It is simple, simple, simple and will taste 400% better than that processed garbage.

Ok, for flavoring, I went an Asian inspired route.  So, I tend to frequent this place in NYC called Momofuku Noodle bar.  It's a happenin' joint full of young urban folk slurping $16 bowls of noodles.  The dude, David Chang, has a few other places in the city and has become a bit of a phenomenon with the idea of taking American dishes and Asiafying them as well as reinterpreting classic Asian foods for popular sale.  Dude's a genius.  In the book that he put out a year ago he put in his recipe for his version of shrimp and grits.  I made it, I loved it, it was fucking awesome.  It was also way, way more labor intensive than my version.  I'm all for putting in the time to make a great dish, but I made my own twist and came out with a even tastier version than his!  Ha, win!

I used veal stock, soy sauce, white miso paste and butter.  I garnished it with some parsley and chili sauce.  The shrimp? Just a quick saute and deglazed the pan with white wine.  20 minutes start to finish. The veal stock is key here.  If you make a brown chicken stock or a pork stock, that will do.  I fully suggest using a properly home made veal stock.

You'll love this dish.  It is wicked filling too.  Perfect for winter.  I ate it while drinking an ice cold triple, delicious.  Feel free to add some bacon to this.