Accepted TS.
I should not have taken the shortcut and used "=".
However, I am compelled to beg to differ on said difference.
Grits and polenta are much closer than tater tots and mashed. Grits are common to many cultures by different names, and almost assuredly Polenta's Daddy.
I'd say more like the difference between country mashed potatoes with a lot of skin left in (grits) and creamed potatoes (polenta). Or possibly, the difference between a M1911A1 and a Colt Lightweight Commander.
Just because the Italians sissify it by screening out the little bit of 'grit' left in grits, doesn't mean it changed that much. As far as toppings and 'refined' treatment of grits, cheese grits are nothing new, and neither are grits cakes, grits 'spoonbread', fried grits, chicken and cheese grits, shrimp and grits (even if Forrest forgot them), pork chili hominy, baked garlic cheese grits, and grits casseroles with whatever you like in them. Anything that has been done with Polenta, was probably done with grits first, just "grittier", without the uppity Italian chef attitude.
Many southern wives will switch to polenta when grits get a bit uncomfortable for the old dentures. Pappy will know his gums don't take as much flak, but he won't ask, and Mammy won't tell. Momma's with grit eater family history to uphold will sometimes use the same substitution with stubborn kids till they get past being so picky.
Me? As long as I can put my hotsauce on it if it needs it, I don't care a whit.
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Originally Posted by Team Sergeant
Negative,
Thats like calling tater tots, mashed potatoes. There's a distinct taste and texture difference between the two. I'm thinking if you served a hardcore Southerner a bowl of polenta for breakfast you'd better be running for the door after he took the first bite.
TS
Polenta is a boiled, slow-cooked cornmeal "mush" -- typically made with coarsely ground yellow corn meal. In some regions of Italy (especially in the north), it's a beloved everyday dish and is topped with meat, fish, pasta sauce, cheese, or vegetables. Cooled and hardened, polenta can be sliced, sautéed, or grilled, and served sweet or savory. Or you can create a layered polenta torta, reminiscent of a lasagne.
Grits are "coarsely ground pieces of dried corn moistened into a mealy paste" that have a mythic role in Southern culinary culture. Historians suggest that grits played an important role in early Southern agriculture, providing food for the first English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, and later helping Southerners survive the Great Depression.
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