Kevin's Watch

Easter is drawing near and as usual the family (parents, in-laws and sis) are coming over to our place. We usually have a cold/warm buffet/brunch and we also usually have a motto for it. This year it's gonna be USA, especially the South.

To cut a long story short, I could need some suggestion what to prepare.

Eggs, beans and bacon are essential.

I also planned to make
• cornbread
• french toast
• salad with Louisiana crawfish tails
• spicy fried chicken legs/wings
• sausage gravy (saw a recipe somewhere the other day)
• buttered corn
• Mississippi mud pie

Stuff shouldn't be too fancy because I can't afford hiring a plane to get the right ingredients delivered over here, so no gator or possum gumbo, sorry.
It should also be possible to prepare things in advance.

Suggestions are appreciated. Thanks a ton.

That sounds fun to have a motto for each year. I once tried to make italian dishes for jul and was rejected. I can't really help with ideas, but good luck! I think it is lamb with us this year.

A motto is fun. Amongst other themes we already had Scandinavia, India, Italy and on the funny side "back to the 60s" and "it's my party and I fry if I want to."

Umm...where are the grits? Nothin' says 'South of the Mason/Dixon" like grits. You can fuss 'em up a bit and do Garlic-Cheese Grits a la Threadgills (and others). But Paula Deen would be shocked at a Southern Breakfast which didn't have Grits.

Fried catfish.

And as Vraith said, you have to have biscuits to go with the sausage gravy.
(although I prefer my sausage gravy over crispy hash browns; but I am yankee-born, if still a GRITS)

grits with shrimp...

Eggs over easy slapped on a pile of cheddar grits with a side of lemon pepper iron skillet fried catfish with a sugar crusted grapefruit dessert. AND bacon, thick sliced hickory smoked bacon. None of that crap from the meat locker at safeway, real deli style or home cut thick bacon.

What kind of grits are you using? Oats? Wheat? Corn? I guess semolina cannot be used as a substitute? What about the coarse corn grits you use for polenta? Would that work?

Other southern breakfast fare --

Buttermilk Biscuits w/ butter & raw cane syrup
Eggs over easy/medium, grits, and bacon mashed together
"Chip Beef" Gravy over biscuits (Armour dried beef, soaked to remove excess salt)
Flapjacks cooked in an iron skilled with butter, fried crisp
And of course, what I consider 'southern eggs benedict' -- poached eggs served on top of sausage gravy and biscuits

Hey Vraith, get to Cracker Barrel much?

Okay, from I found out grits is dried corn ground coarsly. I'm pretty sure you don't get it over here. Could I try to put dried corn (like for popcorn) into a food blender? :p

I can't imagine a place where it's difficult to get grits.

I just finished a bowl. I usually save it for my weekend breakfast, because it's packed full of calories and fat the way I make it. Since I usually have smoked meat on hand during the months when it's warm enough to fire up the smoker, I've begun adding meat to my grits. Specifically, pulled pork, chopped up into small pieces. I make sure and get some of the congealed fat and juice from the bottom in there to melt, too, to make it creamy. For a single serving, I use 1 oz of sharp cheddar cheese, 1.5 oz of pulled pork, salt, garlic powder, and a couple shots of Louisiana hot sauce. Smoky, salty, cheesy, gooy, spicy goodness. Yum!

It's also good with shrimp, as someone noted. But cheese and hot sauce are essential, in my opinion.

Alton Brown has a great cheese grits recipe online. It uses half water and half milk, and comes out really creamy and thick. I don't bother with the milk usually, unless I'm cooking for guests and want to go all-out. Mine is caloric and fatty enough as it is.

I also echo the buttermilk biscuits comments ... you simply have to have these if you're making sausage gravy. Serve them broken open, in half, with the gravy smothering them. Obviously, that's an eat-with-a-fork biscuit dish.

Dirty eggs are great ... eggs scrambled in the pan where you've cooked bacon. But you may want to use the bacon drippings in your gravy, too.

God, Southern cooking is bad for you!

Ron Burgunihilo wrote: Hey Vraith, get to Cracker Barrel much?

Actually...ummm...no, never been. there was one that opened near me 5 or 6 years ago, but it closed again in less than a year...
Except for some [probably not authentic] gumbo at a local place, and buttermilk biscuits I make myself every so often, I don't think I've had any real southern food since my army training in Georgia back in early 80's.

I like Cracker Barrel in theory, but not as much in execution. The country fried chicken is usually good. Chicken and dumplings, too.

If I want breakfast at a restaurant, I usually just go to Waffle House.

Vader wrote:Okay, from I found out grits is dried corn ground coarsly. I'm pretty sure you don't get it over here. Could I try to put dried corn (like for popcorn) into a food blender? :p

I think grits production somehow also involves lye??? Not sure about that though.

But yeah, I imagine they wouldn't be easy to find in Germany.

I can count on one hand the times I've been to a Cracker Barrel. The last time I ate at one, I happened to look around at the other diners, and not one of them seemed to be having a good time. Maybe it was the location (I-81 corridor in western Virginia). But jeez, if you're going to spend the money to eat out, go someplace that makes you happy, huh?

But yeah, I'd vote for scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, and buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy. In fact, I'd vote twice for the biscuits and sausage gravy. I don't like my grits gussied up -- a little butter is just fine.

Z, there's a geographical grits demarcation. In Virginia and parts of North Carolina, they'll ask if you want 'em. South of that, they give 'em to you whether you want 'em or not. North of Virginia, if you ask for grits, they just look at you funny...

Ron Burgunihilo wrote:And of course, what I consider 'southern eggs benedict' -- poached eggs served on top of sausage gravy and biscuits

OMG, that sounds amazing...

Cracker Barrel seems more designed to sell you the stuff in the store. I don't find the food anything special.

I live north of Indianapolis, so I almost never see grits on a menu. Though, I never order them south of Indy either as I find them rather plain.

Along with the other suggestions, a nice thick slice of ham could be part of the meal.

Could I try to put dried corn (like for popcorn) into a food blender?

I don't think thats how grits are made, though in any case, I wouldn't try that with a food processor. Popcorn kernels are rather hard and you'd have to grind it finer to take care of the shell. I see online that people claim that ground popcorn makes good cornbread though.

Yeah, I would tend to go more with polenta as a grit substitute.

Vraith wrote:

Ron Burgunihilo wrote: Hey Vraith, get to Cracker Barrel much?

Actually...ummm...no, never been. there was one that opened near me 5 or 6 years ago, but it closed again in less than a year...
Except for some [probably not authentic] gumbo at a local place, and buttermilk biscuits I make myself every so often, I don't think I've had any real southern food since my army training in Georgia back in early 80's.

Thought I detected an allusion to their menu in your post. Evidently that was not the case.

For the record, I hate Cracker Barrel with the passion of someone who never liked it to begin with but is constantly forced to go there because his wife loves it, and so has to pretend to like it as best he can because he wants her to be happy.

PS Their stupid variety store makes me feel like driving a bulldozer through the front door.