THE CHEF FROM HELL

Spoonbread is a type of batter bread indigenous to the South.  It's usually used as a side dish for meats and has a consistency like pudding.  A lot of folks use cornmeal in their spoonbread but I prefer using grits.  Why?  I'm not sure!  I think it's because the first time I tried making spoonbread I'd gotten advice from this southern cook I was working with at the time.  The recipe came out fine so I figured "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"  I've been making my spoonbread the same way ever since then.  Try it this way, you may find it works for you too!

Ingredients:

2 cups Evaporated Milk

1 1/2 tsp White Sugar

1/3 cup uncooked Grits

3 large Eggs, seperated

3 TBS unsalted Butter, softened

Dry Spice Mix:

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

1/2 tsp Basil

1/4 tsp Thyme

Cooking Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Place the evaporated milk, the sugar and the dry spice mix in a medium sized pot

Stir well & bring this to a boil

Gradually stir in the grits

Stir well & scrape the bottom to prevent sticking

Reduce heat to low

Cook & stir this mixture until it becomes very thick; about 5 minutes

Remove from heat & let this mixture cool down for 10 minutes

Beat the egg yolks & stir them into the grits

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form

Gently fold the egg whites into the grits mixture

Use the butter to grease a 1 1/2 quart ovenproof casserole dish

Fold the grits mixture into the greased casserole dish

Bake this in the oven fo 40 to 45 minutes; the top of the spoonbread should be lightly browned.  The center will still be slightly soft.