Do you have a winning recipe?  My main claim to fame is The Best Grits Casserole in South Carolina.

For real.  It’s the best.

Prep time is long, but simple.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Local stone ground grits, long cook kind (1 cup dry) NOT QUICK GRITS OR INSTANT
  • Water
  • Hot Venison Sausage, cooked, drained, and crumbled
  • Palmetto Cheese pimento cheese (no other brand — buy the large one at Sam’s or Costco)
  • Yard bird eggs or egg whites (dozen if just using the whites, 4-6 if using the whole egg)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Cook grits in a CROCK POT on LOW.  Use the proportions of water to grits recommended on the package (mine uses 1C grits to 4C water)
  2. Add one EXTRA cup of water to the crock pot.
  3. Cook on low overnight.
  4. Stir well in the morning.  If they’re the consistency of grits that look ready to eat, then stir in another cup of water and leave on low until the evening.  If they’re a little runny, just leave them on low until evening.
  5. Turn off the crock pot when you get home in the evening.  You want the grits a little thinner than plain old grits. Adjust by stirring in small splashes of milk until it’s the right consistency.
  6. Fully cook and drain a pound of hot venison sausage.
  7. Crumble the sausage into very small bits.  Set aside.
  8. Stir in the entire container of Palmetto Cheese.
  9. In a separate bowl, stir your eggs or egg whites.
  10. Stir in thoroughly to the grits and cheese.
  11. Spray a large casserole dish with oil.
  12. Pour grits and cheese into casserole dish.
  13. Sprinkle the sausage bits on the top.
  14. Cover in foil.  You can now either refrigerate the grits casserole to cook later, or cook it now.
  15. When ready to cook:  place covered casserole dish in a cold oven.  Turn oven to 350F.  Cook 30 minutes if already hot grits/45 minutes if out of the fridge, depending on how cold your oven is.
  16. Remove foil. Broil on top 3 minutes, just to get the cheese crispy.
  17. Let grits casserole sit for 15 minutes after it’s out of the oven.  Then slice in squares and serve.

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