As I mentioned above, you can use any firm, white fish here. Grouper or striped bass are ideal substitutes, but snapper, catfish, walleye, redfish, seabass or Pacific rockfish or lingcod are great, too. Get the best grits you can afford.
Recipe by Hank Shaw on June 17, 2024
Prep time: PT20M
Cook time: PT30M
Total time: PT50M
Rating
5 stars (8 reviews)
Keywords
fish, grits, tripletail
Ingredients
2 cups grits
2 cups fish or chicken stock
3 cups water
salt
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup shredded cheese ((I use white cheddar))
1 1/2 pounds tripletail fillets, (or similar fish)
1/4 pound bacon
1 pound fresh mushrooms, (chopped)
5 or 6 plum tomatoes, (diced)
3 or 4 green onions, (chopped)
zest and juice of 2 lemons
Worcestershire sauce to taste
black pepper to taste
Categories
Main Course
Cuisine
American
Southern
Steps
Boil the water and stock and add salt to taste. Start stirring it and pour the grits in slowly; this prevents lumps. Drop the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, salt the fish fillets and set aside on the counter. Fry the bacon in a large pan to render the fat. Remove the bacon, chop and set aside.
Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place in the hot bacon fat, the flattest side down. Keep the heat at medium-high. Use a spoon to ladle bacon fat over the top of the fillets until they turn opaque. Keep doing this for about 1 minute. Do not flip your fish unless the pieces are more than 1 inch thick. When you have a nice sear (see picture above), remove the fish from the pan and set, seared side up, on a cutting board.
If you have less than about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan, add some more. Add the mushrooms and sear them well. They'll sear, then give up their water. Let this happen without moving the mushrooms. This should all take about 3 minutes or so.
Right before serving, stir the butter, cream and cheese into the grits until the butter and cheese melts in.
When the mushroom water subsides, add the remaining ingredients and stir-fry them about 90 seconds. To serve, give everyone some grits, then some fish, then pour the mushroom-tomato mixture over.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 688 kcal
Carbohydrates: 44 g
Protein: 52 g
Fat: 34 g
Saturated Fat: 16 g
Cholesterol: 138 mg
Sodium: 861 mg
Sugar: 8 g
Reviews
Chris on 2021-09-11 (5 stars): Damn!!! Delicious!!!
Tim on 2017-06-28 (5 stars): Nice to see that you served the fish up with grits. I live in the South and so many, ahem, Southerners think grits should only be served with sugar and cinnamon. When I tell folks about savory preparations that I use for grits, they literally flip out. When I give them a reality check by asking them if they put cinnamon and sugar in their bowl of corn for dinner, I get blank stares and responses like "duh." Grits are so under appreciated even by those who claim to be its greatest appreciators. There was a locally produced brand of grits by the name of Lakeland that I favored. They were yellow corn grits with a good corn taste, a fine excellent texture, and they only needed a minute to cook. I have no idea how the manufacturer produced such superior quality grits. Sadly, it appears they went out of business. I haven't been pleased with anything else I've found on the market. Since I know how to make hominy, I may just have to make my own hominy grits. Originally, grits were made from hominy. It wasn't until after industrialization that corn was ground straight to grits. Beforehand, corn was nixtamalized to hominy first, then ground into grits. So many people mistakenly believe hominy grits are white grits or extra fluffy grits- not true. Congratulations on your catch!
Chris Kamprath on 2017-06-27 (5 stars): Love your site Hank and love your writing. This left me salivating and hungry. Any chance of starting the podcast back up?
Joe Baya on 2017-06-26 (5 stars): No video? I think I can produce the one of you singing that legendary ballad if need be.
