The origin of this popular dish is thought to be Charleston, SC, and the Low Country, more than 70 years ago, when fresh, local, small, peeled shrimp were fried in bacon grease with onion and green pepper and served alongside grits at breakfast.
In fact, the recipe for “Breakfast Shrimp” on page 49 of theCharleston Receiptscookbook, published in 1950, is the first place shrimp and grits were noted in a cookbook. After sautéing the onion and green pepper pieces until golden in a skillet, you begin making what is like a shrimp gravy to serve with grits.
You add 1 1/2 cups of these small fresh shrimp to the pan, turn a few times, and then add about a cup of water, but not so much as to cover the shrimp with water. Simmer a couple minutes, then stir in a big tablespoon of flour stirred into enough water to make a paste – to thicken the mixture.
Now you season. Add salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and a tablespoon of tomato ketchup. “Cook slowly until sauce thickens. Serve with hominy.”
Hominy, by the way, is the word for “grits” along the South Carolina coast. Both hominy (grits) and shrimp have been breakfast favorites along the coast. The rest of world is just slowly catching on to how delicious they are together.
