Need help in the kitchen eHow offers quick and easy recipe ideas and cooking techniques for everyday meals as well as holidays and other celebrations. Real Change invest jobs opportunities young canadians. Highlow potassium foods, kidney disease, sodiumpotassium ratio, hypokalemia, hyperkalemia, potassium supplements for kidney stones and blood pressure. Ratio of Lysine to Arginine in Certain Foods, by James M. Scutero. Transcribed and calculated using data from Agricultural Handbook, 123, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Upgrade Your Shrimp and Grits With Mushrooms, Bacon, and Gruyre. Tender, plump shrimp with mushrooms, bacon, and herbs, all atop creamy cheese grits. Photographs Vicky WasikIm halfway tempted to start this story by making some sort of joke about grits, my last name, and why the similarity is somehow a reason to believe me when I say that Ive come up with the ultimate shrimp and grits recipe. But Ill spare you this time. Instead, Ill present my case on its own merits, and with the understanding that the ultimate shrimp and grits is a pretty meaningless conceptthere are simply too many versions of this dish to even try to compare them in any objective way. In fact, there are only two things you can know for sure about shrimp and grits. First, it has shrimp. Grits To Water Ratio' title='Grits To Water Ratio' />Second, it has grits. Beyond that, it really depends on the cook. Youll usually find some kind of smoky pork in there, like bacon, tasso ham, or andouille sausage. Mushrooms are common, the grits sometimes have cheese and sometimes dont, and the quantity of gravy like sauce varies from none to tons. Theres not a lot of consensus on the right way to make it, and I love it for thatthe possibilities make things more interesting. I took the inspiration for my recipe from what is perhaps the most famous restaurant version the late chef Bill Neals recipe, from Crooks Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His includes shrimp, mushrooms, bacon, and scallions in a light gravy, on top of grits that are loaded with cheddar and Parmesan, the whole thing spiked with lemon juice and hot sauce. Its a great dish, but the recipe, as adapted for the home cook here, is clunky. It calls for a heavy dose of lemon juice, which overwhelms the other flavors, and the instructions call for sauting everything together in the skilletfirst the mushrooms, which are then joined by the shrimpan approach that makes it very difficult to brown the shrimp as directed. I wanted to work with the same basic set of ingredientsshrimp, bacon, mushrooms, cheese gritsbut I wanted to put my own spin on how they should all be brought together. Improve the Grits. Grits are nothing more than a porridge made from dried ground corn. According to Anson Mills, grits are most often made from dent corn, which is softer than the flint corn thats more common with polenta. The biggest differences, though, tend to relate to grind size, with grits milled more coarsely and with a more irregular grind than polenta. The cooking process is essentially the same as for polenta Simmer the grits in liquid, stirring frequently, until they cook up into a soft porridge. The specific liquids you use, and the ratio of that liquid to the grits, are two critical factors that determine the final flavor and quality of the grits. I love using stoneground grits whenever possible, because I enjoy the texture of the final grits when the grind isnt perfectly consistent. In the Crooks Corner grits recipe, the liquids used are chicken stock and half and half grated cheddar and Parmesan cheeses are then stirred in at the end. Theres nothing wrong with any of that, but I wanted to add a little more synergy between my grits and the shrimp topping. The first thing I did was omit the half and half, since theres more than enough cheese in these grits to deliver a rich dairy flavor without doubling down on it. That meant using chicken stock alone. But as good as chicken stock is here, it can be made even better by enriching it with the flavors of the topping. To do that, I infused the stock with both shrimp shells and mushroom trimmings, simmering both for about 2. The result was a more complex and deeply flavored stock that echoes two of the primary ingredients in the dish. Whether youre from Italy and call your grits polenta or youre from the South and call your polenta grits, youre talking about stoneground cornmeal that. Steel cut oats cook a long time on the stovetop. Instead of preparing them first thing in the morning, use this overnight crockpot steel cut oatmeal method. Food Search grits nutrition facts and information. Find recipes with this ingredient or dishes that go with this food on Self. Search for. There are 143 calories in 1 cup 8. White Corn Grits, cooked with water. Youd need to walk 37 minutes to burn 143 calories. Almond Milk Smoothie Recipes. Visit CalorieKing to see calorie. Then I thought about the cheese. Cheddar and Parm are great, but theyre not the first ones I would grab to pair with shrimp and mushrooms. Instead, my mind turned to Gruyre, which melts beautifully and has earthy notes that play off the mushrooms so much more elegantly. The other critical step here is to make sure you get the ratio of liquid to grits right. Just like with polenta, this is one of those things people get wrong all the time. The ratio definitely shouldnt be two parts liquid to one part grits, which I see called for on rare occasions and which could only be suggested by people who inexplicably love undercooked, crunchy grits. And its not the four parts liquid to one part grits that almost everyone claims to be right. No, the minimum is five parts liquid to one part grits. If youre using stoneground grits with some larger chunks in the grind, you may even need to bump it up a little more to make sure those chunks fully hydrate and soften though Id start with the 5 1 ratio and then whisk in more liquid, a half cup at a time, only if needed. If youre using instant grits, none of this advice holds. But then again, why are you using instant grits Theyre a poor stand in. When you use such a high ratio of liquid to grits, it will start off very, very watery. Kreigh Tomaszewskis Homemade Lapidary Equipment. Cut a cube of rock and then trim off all the corners with your saw. Use a coarse grinding wheel to smooth it. Is there arsenic in your food Consumer Reports analysis found varying levels of arsenic in more then 60 rices and rice products. How to Get Rid of Aphids. Try spraying cold water on the leaves sometimes all aphids need is a cool blast to dislodge them. If you have an aphid invasion, dust. Youll say to yourself, This guy is crazy. He doesnt know what hes talking about. He must think grits soup is good If youre impatient, grits soup is exactly what youll end up with, along with the conviction that Im a terrible source for cooking advice. So please, wait. Simmer those grits, stirring often and scraping the bottom to prevent them from burning, then simmer, and simmer, and simmer some more. Itll take close to an hour, but eventually theyll thicken up and youll have the best grits of your life, hands down. Plump Up Those Shrimp. Next up, lets improve the shrimp. Of all the techniques we use to get the best shrimp, tossing them with a dry brine of salt and baking soda before cooking is one of our favorites. The salt helps keep the shrimp plump and moist, while the baking soda gives them an appealing snappy biteno mushy shrimp here. Baking soda can often give foods a funny chemical for lack of a better word flavor that Im sensitive to, but with the shrimp, Ive never noticed it. You dont even need to rinse them. For this recipe, I also toss the shrimp with a small amount of cornstarch, which helps to slightly thicken the sauce later on. Perfect the SautPreparing this topping presents a few small cooking challenges. Shrimp, for instance, cook very quickly, and because theyre so moist, they resist browning. Put them in a pan thats already full of other ingredients like mushrooms, and youll cook them, but youre unlikely to brown them. Mushrooms, meanwhile, need lots of time for all their water to exude and steam off before theyll ever start to brown. Put them in a pan with shrimp, and the shrimp will be severely overcooked by the time the mushrooms are ready. The solution is simple Cook each ingredient in sequence, then combine them at the end to finish. Heres the process Start by sauting diced bacon until it renders all of its fat and crisps up. Then remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and transfer it to towels to drain. You should have about a quarter cup of rendered fat in the pan. Pour off and reserve all but one tablespoon. Next, saut the shrimp in that tablespoon of bacon fat over the highest heat you can manage. Thatll help you get some color on the shrimp right as theyre nearing doneness. I try to remove the shrimp from the pan just a hair before theyre fully done, when theres still a hint of translucence right at their center. Not only will they continue to cook via stored residual heat, but well be adding them back to the pan at the very end of the process to fully heat them through before serving. With the shrimp out of the pan, its time to cook the mushrooms. I like to use a mix of mushrooms if at all possible for a wider range of flavors and textures. Cremini, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms are all great options. Add the reserved rendered bacon fat back into the pan, which at this point should be coated in a layer of browned bits.