The Kitchen · Recipe
Hominy Surprise
A baked Charleston grits dish with sharp cheese, eggs, and Worcestershire that puffs up light and fluffy under a crisp golden cheese crust. From Charleston Receipts, 1950.
- Serves
- 8
- Grits
- 2 cups, cooked
- Bake
- 1 hour or longer
- Oven
- 375°F
Beat eggs, fold in sharp cheese, stir in cooked grits, milk, butter, and plenty of black pepper, and bake. It turns into a soufflé-like dish, light and fluffy inside, with a crisp, deeply golden cheese crust on top. The Worcestershire really makes it sing.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked grits (they do not need to be hot)
- 2 eggs, well beaten
- 1 cup grated sharp cheese, plus more for the top
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
- Paprika, to sprinkle
- Chopped chives, to finish (optional)
Method
- Heat the oven. Set it to 375°F. Butter a baking dish.
- Beat the eggs. Beat them well in a large bowl, then fold in the cheese, saving some for the top.
- Mix. Add the milk, Worcestershire, butter, salt, and pepper. Add the cooked grits and mix well. If the grits are still hot, add them a little at a time, stirring, so the eggs do not scramble.
- Top. Pour into the baking dish. Cover with the reserved cheese and sprinkle with paprika.
- Bake. Bake an hour, or longer, until puffed and deep golden brown.
- Check, then rest. Jiggle the dish. The middle should look set, not wet, and wobble like Jello. When it does, it is done. Let it rest 20 minutes, scatter with chives if you like, and serve.
On the plate
The cheese bakes into a crisp, savory crust over a soft, fluffy middle.
Where it comes from
“Hominy Surprise” is printed on page 128 of Charleston Receipts (the Junior League of Charleston, 1950), credited to Mrs. Irene (Robinson) Simmons. It sits on the same page as “Grainy Hominy” and “Awendaw,” another baked hominy dish. The book calls the raw corn “grist,” and its cooked grits are “hominy,” which is how this grits casserole ended up a hominy dish.
The Standard updated the method. The original cooks 2 cups of grist in 8 cups of water, pours the hot grits into a bowl, adds the raw eggs and the rest, and calls for a tablespoon each of salt and black pepper and a “moderate oven.” We start from 2 cups of cooked grits, beat the eggs first and fold in the cheese before the grits go in, cut the salt and pepper to a teaspoon each, to taste, and bake at 375°F.