Cheesy Grits

[memphis]

Grits are awful. I feel very fortunate not to have to subsist on corn gruel.

[memphis]

Grits are awful. I feel very fortunate not to have to subsist on corn gruel.

It may be an acquired taste, but I don't ever remember a time when I didn't like white corn, My son gags every time we go near a tortilleria when we're on vacation in Mexico, so I never offered him any polenta ("grits" to gringos).  And the few times I've brought corn tortillas home, my wife won't go near them.  She only likes the flour ones.  Yet, they both love corn.  They like corn on the cob, corn from a can, frozen corn, salty corn, peppery corn, little bitty corn cobs like you find in Chinese dishes, and cornbread.  How can you like corn and not like grits?  

There's a huge difference between sweet corn and field corn.

[memphis]

I bet you also like nutella on your crêpes.  Or strawberry goulash.  I prefer shredded pork on mine.  I have found that there are those who go in for sweet fillings, and those who go for the more savory flavors.  Same goes for bagels:  some like cinnamon, raisin, or blueberries with their bagels.  I like onion or garlic with mine. 

I never cross-referenced this, but I'd hazard a guess that those who would choose a garlic bagel over a blueberry bagel are the same types who would choose hominy and hot sauce over a corn on the cob.

Probably wouldn't bet ten thousand dollars on it, though. 

There is room for sweet and for salty on my plate. It just depends on the food in question. I like pretzels salty and dessert sweet. Corn mush I can do without altogether. And the best thing in a bagel is, of course, smoked fish.

[memphis]

I swear to God I don't know what grits are.

Imagine cooking a paste of flour and water. Subsitute coarse corn meal for the flour. That's grits. The ultimate poverty food. Which is why it's so particularly preposterous that Mitt Romney would get excited about eating it.

[memphis]

You'd make a poor field hand, angus.