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Left-Over Hominy Grits

Fried slices of leftover hominy grits coated in flour and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Left-Over Hominy Grits

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the left-over hominy grits into slices at least ½ inch thick.

  2. Dip the slices in flour.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat the butter or fat in a pan until hot.

  2. Fry the slices until they are a delicate brown on both sides.

  3. Serve immediately after browning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Left-over hominy grits
Forms the solid base that holds its shape and crisps when fried.
Butter or other fat
Conducts heat to the surface and gives the slices golden browning and rich flavor.
Flour
Coats the slices so they brown more evenly and develop a delicate crust.

The step that matters

Heating the fat until hot before frying. If the fat is not hot enough, the slices absorb it and turn greasy and pale instead of forming a crisp, browned surface. Fully heated fat sears the flour coating quickly, sealing in moisture and producing even browning.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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