THE SWEETNESS OF SHRIMP, PERFECTLY SEASONED AND SERVED ATOP FLAWLESS GRITS! IT DOESN’T GET BETTER THAN THIS.
We get a lot of requests to review products. And these three Sarge’s Shrimp and Grits essentials top our list of the best way to put a complete dinner together just by basically turning on your stove. They’re all from an “army brat” named Julian West. As he followed his Air Force Sargent dad around the country, Julius joined his mother in the kitchen. She took the flavors of true Southern cooking everywhere the West family went. When Julius finally settled down in Raleigh N.C., he was inspired to open a food truck. The most popular item on the menu was…(drum roll…) Shrimp and Grits. In a nod to Dad, it was called “Sarge’s”.
FIRST, THERE’S A SEASONING MIX—A PERFECT COMBINATION OF GARLIC, ONION, SUGAR, AND PAPRIKA.
Sarge’s mix takes it a step further than just plain seasoning. Add to it are rice hulls which Julius discovered are a natural ‘anti-caking’ agent. So the seasoning doesn’t stick together on the shrimp. Other seasoning mixes rely on silicon dioxide. Does that sound like something you want to eat? And if you’re like me, you won’t confine Sarge’s to shrimp. It’s great on seafood of all kinds. Fried, baked, broiled, or grilled, in stews or in soups, this will be our go-to seafood seasoning.
SARGE’S SHRIMP AND GRITS SEAFOOD SAUCE—THE KEY TO GREAT SHRIMP AND GRITS
The luscious creamy savory sauce blends together chicken broth, flour, garlic, herbs, and spices and bumps up the flavor with hot sauce, sriracha, bell peppers, salt, and Worcestershire sauce. Sarge’s Seafood Sauce makes what is normally the ‘hardest part’ of making the dish, an absolute snap. You just heat it up, add a little chicken stock and it quickly cooks the shrimp while the grits are being made.
SARGE’S YELLOW STONE GROUND GRITS COMPLETE THE DISH.
Specifically ground to create a creamy mixture and robust flavor, Sarge’s grits are made from dried, ground dent corn, which has a higher starch content than other corn. Because they are stone ground, they’re the least processed form of grits and have the most fiber. Whole dried corn kernels are coarsely ground so they keep their whole-grain nutrients—including fiber and B vitamins.
A BIT MORE ON SHRIMP AND GRITS…
The low country of the Carolinas and Georgia is famous for the dish. It’s an African import. The enslaved people of the deep south brought this mix of ground maize and shellfish with them when they were forced to leave Africa. Shrimp and Grits remained a local dish until in 1985, New York Times Food Editor, Craig Claiborne ‘discovered them’ and published a recipe for them. They took off and soon graduated from breakfast food to a fine dining staple. There are so many variations of the original recipe that the doyenne of Southern Cooking and a great friend of ChewingTheFat, Nathalie Dupree wrote an entire cookbook of them. (https://www.amazon.com/Nathalie-Duprees-Shrimp-Grits-Dupree/dp/1423636651). But fortunately for us, we can get the entire dish just by going to https://www.easyshrimpandgrits.com/ and getting all three Sarge’s sent straight to your door.
Here’s the recipe along with a couple of Nathalie Dupree favorites too.
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https://chewingthefat.us.com/2023/05/effortless-shrimp-and-grits.html