Amos Weaver's grits recipe is simple. Just five ingredients. Well, six, really.
First he brings a mixture of water and cream to a boil, adds butter, and then stirs in grits, adding salt as needed.
"That's when the love starts," Weaver told us during a cooking lesson the other day at the stove he has manned for a quarter of a century. "I do a lot of praying. I ask the Lord to bless everyone I'm feeding, that it will be nourishment to their body."
In his practiced hand, Weaver's whisk becomes a scepter. His grits seem to respond to his muscular stirring as if they are working in concert. Like any member of a busy kitchen staff, he has a number of items going at once, but he keeps a tender eye on his grits, like a shepherd tending a flock.
"I don't want them grainy, I want them smooth," Weaver said. When he must eat someone else's grits he's polite enough, but no one seems able to match him. His son Amos Weaver III, 24, is emphatic when he comes home for a visit.
"He doesn't want his mother's grits," Weaver said. "He wants mine."
We asked what he thought of instant grits you can buy in the grocery store.
"A tragedy," he said gravely.
After 25 years of preparing this simple Southern breakfast food, Weaver's grits now bear his name. The breakfast crowd at the Cafe at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead can now order a bowl of "Amos' Famous Grits." (Not "Famous Amos' Ritz Gritz," as we suggested, since "Famous Amos" is already a trademarked brand of cookies, and this is the Ritz-Carlton.)
"I'm very proud," Weaver said of his now signature item.
The 73-year-old grew up on a farm in Pine Mountain, where making grits meant first sowing seed corn, awaiting the bounty, bringing in the sheaves, husking and grinding the ears and then putting the water on to boil. You can understand, then, why the idea of microwave or instant grits troubles him.
"No love at all," Weaver said. "You can't buy that at Kroger or Publix. The love has to come from within."
After about an hour of stirring, Weaver can feel when his grits are ready. That's right, he feels it. Only when his senses tell them do so does his grits start their journey to diners' tables. They arrive steaming, buttery and creamy.
"I can always tell when he's not here," said Peter Zampaglione, the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead's executive chef, who often starts his day with Weaver's grits. "He's not allowed to leave. We have him under contract for the next 20 years."
Weaver plans to stir and serve as long as he is able. His mother, Daisy Weaver, died recently at age 95. He now honors her memory with every bowl.
"She taught me to cook grits," he said. "She said, always put love in whatever you cook.' "
Recipe: Amos' Famous Grits
Yield: Eight servings
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup cream
12 cups water
1 1/2 tbsp salt
1/4 cup butter
4 cups grits
Lots of love (The most important ingredient)
Method: Mix water and cream together and bring to a boil. Add butter and salt. Then whisk in grits and stir for five minutes. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook five to 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally with love. Cook until grits are very smooth with no graininess.
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