Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/04/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc, I agree with you that southern cooking is the best the US has to offer. I will pass over the comparison with French or other European cuisine. We all have our preferences. I find the average food to be the best in Spain and France. But, having said all this, and stating that I lived in the South for several years, have eagerly consumed all manner of real pit barbecue and other delights, I must emphatically say that... GRITS ARE THE MOST DISGUSTING SUBSTANCE KNOWN TO MAN! Bon appetit, Nathan Marc James Small wrote: > > Folks from Florida keep fussing about Grits but, then, what would they know? > > Four or Six years back, there was some sort of disaster in New England and > the Virginia National Guard was called up to send aid. I forget just what > the disaster was -- heck, I spent four years in New England and they are > ALWAYS having emergencies, imaginary or otherwise. In any event, the > Virginia boys started complaining that they couldn't get real grits in New > England (and, yes, they had run through oats and creamed wheat and the > like, all of which have their virtues but the are NOT grits.) > > The Virginia Air National Guard, in the end, had to run emergency supplies > to their boys stationed in the far Northlands. > > Now, undersand, I am of dual parentage and I can scromph up a bowl of > Quaker Oats with the best of them. But, to get to my heart, let us speak > of grits, grits with some red-eye, or grits with butter and salt. What a > magnificent feast! > > And I will hardly be the first gormand to tell you that grits work > magnificently with coddled eggs, as they do with scrambled eggs, omelettes, > and eggs in every other variety. My personal choice is grits with red-eye > gravy and some side ham and an omelette of three eggs, salt, pepper, onion, > and , perhaps, some of the milder herbs. (Understand, though, that the ham > ought to be cooked inthe iron skillet in which the eggs will be cooked: > the omelettes require only a little lubrication but that ham slice ought to > cough that up without a need to dip into your bacon-grease can. > > The Europeans have grand culinary delectations but they hold no warrant on > it. Good (mind you, not Great) Southern US cooking tops anything the Haute > Cuisine can produce and, as my large gut shows, I have earned the right to > make this statement. I will stand any group of French students of the arts > culinary to a day over a catfish fry, a meal of fried chicken and mashed > potatoes, or a simple steak cooked over an open grill. > > Haute Cuisine deals with the subtilies of material, spice, and minereal and > than heavens it exists, as I love the occasion. But Southern US cooking is > a lot less about the spices than the material. > > It is truly a universive wider than any of us can imagine. > > Marc > > msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 > Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information -- Nathan Wajsman Almere, The Netherlands e-mail: n.wajsman@chello.nl Mobile: +31 630 868 671 http://www.nathanfoto.com/index.html