True grits: a Southern-Southern California revival.

There is a city where all of these elements collide. A place where architecture takes a turn from the plain, circular and synchronous to the sundry. This may not be the typical landscape one thinks of when "America's Deep South" is referenced, but in California's southernmost metropolis, San Diego, this is as deep as it gets.

Stroll down the streets of San Diego today and see supervising architect of the 1935 Cal-Pacific International Exposition, Richard Requa's, enduring influence. Requa was convinced bland designs departed from the more eclectic Pueblo, Aztec and Mayan motifs redolent of the area. Those white sand-colored homes with heavily tiled roofs are proof 'gritty' determination wins out. In this case, Requa's vision of Mission-Spanish revival is now emblematic of the San Diego scene.

But Requa's is only one type of architecture and only one example of grit. A brave young San Diego chef has chanced changing a different sort of structural staple, one that has been embraced for decades. This is the resurrection of grits: Up-to-date, made multi-dimensional, turned twentieth-century.

Water, butter, grits--hardly a kinky threesome. Cooked, this innocent combination forms the superstructure for such savory staples we know as: mush, cornmeal fritters, hush puppies, pone and pudding, dodgers, relish, bread, sticks and stuffing. And the list only begins there. Go to the National Grits Festival in Warwick, Georgia each April ("Yes," there is such a celebration) and talk to the true fanatics who've made grits their own. Carpetbaggers beware: The folks in these parts are responsible for championing this recent 2002 legislation, "Grits are recognized as the official prepared food of the State of Georgia." Swallow that Rhett Butler.

YOU SAY HOMINY, I SAY CORN

So what are grits? To set the record straight, grits are a corn product. They are not made from hominy, as some may assume, from the loosely used moniker, "hominy grits." That term comes at a later stage in the production cycle. In fact, the word 'grits' is derived from the Middle English, "Grytte," meaning coarse, or coarsely ground. In this case what is being coarsely ground is hominy. But, we'll get to that in a moment. Americans have adopted the word 'grits' since at least the seventeenth century.

Again, it's important to keep in mind the process begins with dried corn. The preferred corn is the kind with hard kernels--like flint or dent (the latter being the most common variety). The corn is dried first, and then stripped down to the cob. Next, a solution of water and baking soda, (crushed limestone or wood ash is also acceptable) is used to soak the kernels. The hulls and germ float to the surface and the kernels swell, doubling or even tripling in size, creating a different form of corn known as 'hominy.' The hominy is drained, and then left to dry. Finally, the kernels are sent through a gristmill for processing.

Before the gristmill, American Indians most likely made "grits" from dried hominy or "samp," (hominy that is essentially white corn, not yellow), or simply made their version of "grits" from cornmeal. If there was any grinding to be done, it was with a mortar and pestle. Not until the early colonists invented the gristmill was there a more productive grinding method. Still, it leaves one to question: How did older societies even realize the soaking process was essential?

There is quite a lot of irony in the alkaline soaking process. First, it upsets the protein balance as well as unbinding essential niacin levels in corn--the very ones that are necessary to maintain even vitamin and mineral levels. But science also says that when the overall protein is decreased, the relative lysine and tryptophan are increased! The alkaline amalgam had always been implemented in areas where corn was a native food, but in places where corn was just introduced, alkaline was absentee. History has shown us the results of the deficiency. In 1902, the American South was swept with an epidemic of pellagra (a niacin and tryptophan deficiency). The connection was not understood at the time. It wasn't until post-World War II United States when the improving socio-economic conditions and the fortification of food products with niacin increased understanding and led to an eradication of the disease.

Grits have certainly sustained more than one American family. They were an important part of early agriculture, and still are--in more than one "Deep South" today. And so we take you to "America's Finest City," and to a chef who's toyed with a Southern specialty. If you grew up on them, Chef Carl Schroeder cautions these are grits as you've never seen them before!

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