Grits and Grillades
Grits and Grillades are the classiest and most comforting of all brunch dishes in New Orleans. It’s pieces of beef cooked in the most flavorful and complex of gravies. While tomato sauce takes the back seat, it creates depth of flavor and cloves gives it the unexpected hint of sweet and bitter that warms the soul on the greyest of winter days.
Grillades are similar to Louisiana’s beef stew (served over rice and eaten with a fork). Unlike beef stew, grillades have some form of tomato (sauce, paste, chopped tomatoes, etc), and cloves which gives the dish its signature flavor. I wouldn’t consider it grillades without the cloves so make sure you include them.
While it’s very much a brunch dish, I grew up eating it as a supper dish. This dish is one of my favorites to feed a crowd or serve to dinner guests. Because it’s slow cooked, you have plenty of time to clean your kitchen before your guests arrive and there is no worry about it overcooking or getting cold. You can easily make the grits at the last minute or you can make them early and keep them on low heat. Just add a little water to the grits and stir occasionally to keep them fresh. You can use millet in place of grits although that is NOT traditional.
Grits and Grillades Ingredients
4-5 servings
1.5 lbs round steak
avocado oil (or other high heat oil)
3 Tbl flour
1 c chopped onion
½ c chopped green bell pepper
½ c chopped celery
8 ounces no salt tomato sauce
1 Tbl Better than Chicken Bouillon
1 tsp black pepper
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp cayenne
¾ tsp cloves
1.5 tsp dried parsley
3 c water
fresh flat leaf parsley
Cooked grits
Grits and Grillades Directions
Take a knife and trim the fat off around the edges of the 1.5 lbs of the beef. Cut out any gristle which is the tough tissue in meat. Cut the meat into 1.5” cubes. You don’t want to cut it too small because the meat shrinks but you don’t want to have to cut the meat as you eat it.
Dry the beef well using paper towels. Drizzle a little oil over the cubed meat and mix well. Heat a heavy bottom saute pan to hot. If you oil the meat.
Add 1 piece of meat. If it has a good sizzle, add more meat, and leave plenty of space between the pieces. If the pan does not sizzle, remove the meat and heat it more. You want to continuously hear a sizzle. Turn the meat after it is dark brown. Do not worry about the meat being tough. The color is the most important part of this step. Repeat the steps until all sides of the meat are cooked. Remove the meat when done and add raw pieces. The bottom of your pan should start developing a dark brown crust. This is called graton and you want that.
While the meat is cooking, make a dry roux. Use a small frying pan and add 3 Tbl flour in a thin layer on low heat. When you start smelling it, give the flour a quick stir. The underside should show a little color. Let it sit a couple of minutes and repeat. You’ll want to open a window because it’ll probably get smoky. After a few rounds of stirring, your flour will be taking on color quickly and you’ll need to stir constantly. You want the final look to be the color of peanut butter. Err on the darker side. If your pan is too hot or if you don’t stir often enough, you’ll burn the roux. Throw it out and start over. Don’t sweat it – it happens and there is no saving burnt roux. Trust me. If the pan starts to get too hot, the easiest thing to do is lift it off the burner (gas or electric) and set it back down after 15 seconds or so.
After the meat is cooked, use the same pan to make the gravy. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the trinity (1 c chopped onion, ½ c chopped bell pepper, and ½ c chopped celery) to the pan. Let it cook until the trinity is soft.
Here’s the fun part. Once liquid leeches from the vegetables into the pan, give the trinity a quick stir and watch the beautiful brown color that comes off of the pan. Once the pan runs out of moisture, add 8 ounces tomato sauce, 1 Tbl Better than Chicken Bouillon, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp cayenne, ½ tsp cloves, 1.5 tsp dried parsley, 3 Tbl roux, 3 c water and cooked beef to the pot. Bring it to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover and let it cook until the trinity breaks down into the gravy and the meat is tender. It should be about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
Serve over grits and garnish with fresh parsley.
Notes
You need to use oil to brown the meat because it creates more contact area of the meat to the pan which gives you more browning. It’s better to oil the meat than oil the pan which is more common because you’ll have less grease splatter if you oil the meat.
You can garnish the grillades with green onions instead of parsley.
I don’t know of a good substitution for cloves in this dish since it’s the dominant flavor. I don’t recommend buying a spice for only one dish often but you should buy it. Just buy it in the smallest amount you can.
