Uncle Pooh's shrimp, sausage, and grits
Creamy cheese grits topped with browned smoked sausage, tender shrimp, diced peppers, and a light Creole cream gravy.
Prep25 min
Cook65 min
Rest5 min
Servings6
Reconstructed from Uncle Pooh's recovered Apple Notes photograph and adapted from Explore Louisiana's shrimp-and-grits technique; the original note text was not recovered.
Ingredients
Written for a 3 L pot
Units
Temperature
Servings
Cheese grits
- 200 g coarse white stone-ground grits rounded
- 800 ml water rounded
- 400 ml whole milk rounded
- 150 ml hot reserve water, up to (optional) rounded
- 6 g fine salt rounded
- 40 g unsalted butter rounded
- 120 g mature cheddar, finely grated rounded
- 1 g black pepper rounded
Shrimp and sausage topping
- 450 g large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined rounded
- 300 g fully cooked andouille, cut into 8 mm coins rounded
- 15 ml neutral oil rounded
- 100 g onion, diced 6 mm rounded
- 60 g red bell pepper, diced 6 mm rounded
- 60 g yellow or orange bell pepper, diced 6 mm rounded
- 50 g celery, diced 6 mm rounded
- 12 g garlic, minced rounded
- 20 g all-purpose flour rounded
- 300 ml unsalted shrimp or chicken stock rounded
- 120 ml heavy cream rounded
- 10 g homemade Creole seasoning rounded
- 20 g unsalted butter rounded
- 15 ml lemon juice rounded
- 30 g scallions, thinly sliced rounded
Method
- Prepare the grits: simmer water, milk, and salt, whisk in grits gradually, and cook at the lowest simmer for 45 to 65 minutes, stirring and scraping often. Add hot water if firm before tender. Remove from heat and stir in butter, cheddar, and pepper. Hold covered.
- Keep raw shrimp and its equipment separate from ready-to-eat food. Heat a 30 cm skillet, brown the fully cooked sausage in oil, and remove it. If the label says raw, cook pork or beef sausage to 71°C or poultry sausage to 74°C.
- Cook onion, both peppers, and celery in the rendered fat for 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic for 30 seconds. Stir in flour for 1 to 2 minutes without letting it darken.
- Whisk in stock gradually, then cream. Simmer until the gravy lightly coats a spoon. Return the sausage and add the Creole seasoning.
- Add shrimp only for the final 2 to 4 minutes. Stop when they are pearly, opaque, and loosely curled. Remove from heat and stir in butter, lemon, and scallions. Spoon over grits.
Ingredient substitutions
- Fully cooked Louisiana andouille is preferred. In Germany use firm, fully cooked Krakauer or smoked Mettwurst; in Canada use fully cooked kielbasa or another smoky cooked sausage. These are less peppery and garlic-forward. Mettwurst may also mean raw or spreadable sausage, so follow the label and the raw-sausage temperatures above. Check salt before seasoning.
- Coarse white grits are preferred. In Germany or Canada coarse polenta is practical but tastes more strongly of corn and sets firmer; begin with about 10 percent less liquid and add more by feel. Instant polenta does not share the cook time.
- Homemade Creole seasoning controls salt. In either region, a commercial blend varies greatly; reduce separate salt and never replace the powder with garlic salt or onion salt.
Notes
- This is an adapted reconstruction. Uncle Pooh’s recovered photograph establishes appearance and family provenance only; the Apple Notes body, quantities, ingredients, seasoning, and method were not recovered.
- Refrigerate within 2 hours in shallow containers for no more than 2 days, storing grits and topping separately. Reheat the topping gently to 74°C without prolonged boiling.
- Freeze the sauce without shrimp for up to 2 months, then add freshly cooked shrimp after thawing. Cooked shrimp become firmer if frozen in the sauce.
Sources consulted
Good with
Sources consulted
The recovered photograph confirms the dish's appearance and family provenance only. It does not preserve quantities, ingredients, seasoning, or method, so this formula is a transparent reconstruction rather than a transcription.
From Christoph Mayer