Betty’s Week
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By Betty Shearer
Hello everyone, it’s Son Jim filling in again for mother, but with a bit of a twist for summer — I’m back in Mississippi. We finished the spring semester at New Mexico State University, where I teach, and I came east to spend some time with family.
Mother has had some setbacks over the past few weeks. She’s on a new chemotherapy regimen that is really sapping her strength. It does seem to be having some positive impact on the cancer, however, so for now we’re staying with it. She also had some blood count issues over the last week and did spend a few days in the Oxford hospital to battle an infection and get her blood count back closer to normal. I’m pleased to report she responded nicely to all treatments and is back home continuing to recuperate.
She pronounces the gravy at the Baptist Hospital cafeteria in Oxford “worthy” but does not sing the praises of some of the food delivered to her room. We had to run a few errands during her hospital stay to sneak biscuits and gravy back to her; but at this point, anything she’ll eat and can keep down is what we’ll give her. She had a fellow chemo patient I believe she wrote about last year who said ice cream was all that tasted good to him, so it was “all ice cream, all the time,” and that’s just the way it is going to be!
And speaking of food, I’d like to spend a few minutes talking about grits. As I’ve lived in the Southwest for many years now, I’ve often found myself in the position of defending the lowly grit and being the only one in the room to sing its praises. Normally when I pursue such conversations, what I learn is these people I meet who “hate” grits have just never had proper grits.
As any reasonable Southerner will tell you, there is nothing better than good grits, and there is absolutely nothing worse than bad, watery, bland grits. But if your grits are watery, bland, deemed “wallpaper paste,” etc., well, you’re just eating bad grits and don’t have the good sense God gave you to know the difference.
And speaking of “singing praises,” I offer unpaid advertisement now for two fairly new players in the grit field, Grit Girl Grits and Delta Grind Grits, both with strong ties to the Water Valley area. I discovered both years ago as they were just getting started, and I must say in all honestly, I found both products transformative in every way. I frequently use both in my cooking out in New Mexico, and I always make it a point to serve them to people who are confirmed “grit haters,” especially the Yankee ones. (Though I find for the most part, “Texan” is just mostly code for “Yankee” with an even more awkward accent and the tragic thought that brisket counts as a proper type of BBQ).
One of my “go to” meals to entertain out in New Mexico is to throw a full-on shrimp boil, always with more shrimp than anyone can eat, which for many folks out there is a first-time experience. We put out the newspapers, throw it all on the table, and go at it. I use a fantastic Louisiana shrimp boil mix I have shipped to me in 50-pound boxes (along with good andouille sausage). It lasts me about a year or more and gives me plenty to share and send people home with.
But more importantly for this conversation, I’ve started using that leftover boiled shrimp the next day for a nice brunch serving of shrimp and grits. Obviously, since the shrimp are already cooked, I have to prep my onions, garlic, shallots, and spices in butter and pretty much get them done before adding the shrimp back in just to heat them up. But I’ve amped up my presentations lately serving the rougher cut Grit Girl or Delta Grind yellow grits (made with extra butter and cream), and I force non-grit lovers to just try one or two bites. So far, the results have been unanimous, i.e, cleaned plates and converted grit-lovers who now shop online for proper Southern grits.
And one last tip that might seem like sacrilege to you, but trust me, as much as I’m still a Southern cook, I have embraced many elements of Mexican, New Mexican (yes, there is a big difference), and Native American cooking into my repertory. I sometimes make proper cheese grits and add in two cups or more of Hatch Valley green chile. You may be skeptical, but seriously, the angels sing.
Furthermore, it can be even more complicated…see we have all manner of mild, to hot, to what we call “stupid hot” green chiles, and we also have my personal favorite, “autumn roast,” which is the long green chiles roasted and put up when they are in that magic transition from green to red. It’s a flavor like no other and must been eaten to be experienced. They are hard to clean, but worth the effort.
Autumn Roast chile very much a local Hatch Valley thing, however, as for the most part they are cost-prohibitive to process in bulk, and most major chile processors just won’t go to the trouble. (The Bueno company was offering a frozen one-pound tub for a while, but that went away during Covid, at least in Las Cruces.)
So, come see me; I’ve got a chile guy. Actually, I have several, and during the fall chile harvest, it’s worth the trip! I’ve seen what you folks have to pay for green chile in a can or frozen around here. Trust me, you can pay for the trip if you come out and put up a few hundred pounds of chile and bring them back here. In fact, if you read my earlier column about honeysuckle, I think there’s a good trade we can work out here. Bring out honeysuckle; bring home chile — WIN/WIN!
