Shrimp and grits
By tradition a fishermen's breakfast from the South Carolina Lowcountry, now served in restaurants across the American South. Grits are coarsely ground corn, and they need one thing: forty minutes and stirring. Instant grits are ready in five but taste flat and pasty — stone-ground are worth seeking out. The second rule: the prawns cook for three minutes in bacon fat, and the sauce is built in the same pan from their juices.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Grits 40 min
- Bacon 10 min
- Sauce 8 min
- Prawns 3 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneBoil milk with water and add the grits
Bring the milk, water and salt to a boil, rain in the grits in a thin stream while whisking, and lower the heat. In a thin stream, because corn tipped in at once seizes into lumps that will not break up later.
Ingredients: 200 g corn grits · 500 ml water · 500 ml milk · 60 g butter · 100 g cheddar · 1½ tsp salt
A thin stream while whisking — otherwise lumps.Cook forty minutes, stirring often
Cook 40 minutes on the lowest heat, stirring every 5. The grits are ready when the grains are completely soft and the mass creamy and thick. Stirring prevents catching — corn settles and sticks to the base. If it thickens before the grains are soft, add hot water 50 ml at a time.
Ingredients: 200 g corn grits · 500 ml water · 500 ml milk · 60 g butter · 100 g cheddar · 1½ tsp salt
Stir in butter and cheese off the heat
Take off the heat and stir in the butter and grated cheddar. Off the heat, because cheese added to a boiling mass splits and releases its fat. Cover and keep warm — grits stiffen fast.
Ingredients: 200 g corn grits · 500 ml water · 500 ml milk · 60 g butter · 100 g cheddar · 1½ tsp salt
Render the bacon and keep the fat
Put the bacon into a cold pan and fry for 8–10 minutes, until the fat renders and it crisps, and lift it onto paper. Leave all the fat in the pan — the prawns cook in it and it gives the sauce its smoky depth.
Ingredients: 600 g prawns · 150 g bacon · 4 cloves garlic · 1 pcs red pepper · 4 pcs spring onions · 1 tsp smoked paprika · ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
The fat stays in the pan — it is the sauce's flavour.Soften the pepper and garlic
Add the diced pepper to the bacon fat and fry 4 minutes, then the garlic, smoked paprika and cayenne for another minute. Spices into fat, not into stock — otherwise they stay raw and dusty.
Ingredients: 600 g prawns · 150 g bacon · 4 cloves garlic · 1 pcs red pepper · 4 pcs spring onions · 1 tsp smoked paprika · ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Cook the prawns three minutes
Raise the heat, add the prawns and cook 90 seconds a side, until pink and curled into a C. Curled into an O means they are overcooked and rubbery.
Ingredients: 600 g prawns · 150 g bacon · 4 cloves garlic · 1 pcs red pepper · 4 pcs spring onions · 1 tsp smoked paprika · ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Deglaze with stock and lemon
Lift out the prawns, pour in the stock, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce and scrape the base with a spatula, boiling for 2 minutes. Return the prawns and warm them in the sauce for 30 seconds. The residue on the base is concentrated bacon and prawn flavour — the entire sauce comes from it.
Ingredients: 150 ml stock · 1 pcs lemon · 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce · 2 tbsp parsley
Scrape the base — all the sauce's flavour lives there.Assemble and serve at once
Spoon the grits into shallow bowls, top with the prawns and sauce and scatter with bacon, spring onion and parsley. Serve immediately — grits set within minutes and cold have the texture of concrete.
Ingredients: 150 ml stock · 1 pcs lemon · 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce · 2 tbsp parsley
Before you start
Not instant grits
Instant and quick grits are precooked and finely ground — they give a uniform, gluey mass with no corn flavour. Look for stone-ground grits or coarse polenta; the difference in flavour and texture is clear.
Grits do not wait
They stiffen within minutes and after half an hour can be cut. If you must hold them, keep them covered over warm water and loosen with hot milk before serving — that brings the creaminess back.
Without prawns
The South also serves grits with mushroom gravy, with a fried egg and bacon, or with andouille sausage. The base alone — grits with butter and cheese — is good enough to stand as a dish.
