Cheese Grits & Sausage Breakfast Casserole -- The Morning After Thirty-Seven Years

The retirement party. Five months late, COVID-delayed, finally happening on a Saturday in October at the Orange Mound Community Center, the same place where Marcus and Angela got married, the same place where every Johnson milestone lands. Sixty guests, masked, spaced, the COVID version of a celebration — smaller, quieter, but real, and real was all I needed.

I smoked four pork shoulders. Not eight, not six — four, because sixty people is not two hundred, and the scaling is its own kind of lesson: you cook for the room you have, not the room you wish you had. The shoulders went on Thursday night and came off Friday afternoon, pulled Saturday morning, transported in foil pans, served on white bread with slaw and vinegar sauce, the same way I've served pulled pork for forty-five years, the same way Uncle Clyde served it on Lamar Avenue, the same way someone will serve it after I'm gone, because the recipe doesn't die when the cook dies — it just finds new hands.

Frank, my supervisor, gave his speech again — the full version this time, not the parking-lot version. He told stories I'd forgotten: the time I delivered mail in an ice storm and fell three times and finished the route anyway. The time a dog on Barksdale actually bit me and I completed the deliveries before going to the ER. The time a woman on my route went into labor and I drove her to the hospital in my mail truck, which is technically not allowed, which I technically don't care about.

Then it was my turn. I stood at the microphone — the same microphone I use at the fundraiser — and I looked at the room: Rosetta in the front row, Walter Jr. and Tamika and the kids, Marcus and Angela and baby Naomi (eight months old, bright-eyed, already showing Marcus's curiosity and Angela's calm), Charlie (who drove from Nashville, as she always does for the things that matter), Tyrone with no girlfriend and no apology, Deacon Harris, Pastor Williams, neighbors, colleagues, friends. I looked at them and I said:

"I carried mail for thirty-seven years. I walked six miles a day, then four, in heat and cold and rain and shine. I delivered letters that made people laugh and letters that made people cry and packages that made children scream with joy on Christmas morning. That was my job. But my life — my real life — was this: Rosetta, the children, the grandchildren, the smoker in the backyard, the church on Sunday, and the BBQ that I made with the fire Uncle Clyde gave me. The mail was what I did. The food was who I am. And now that the mail is done, the food continues. The fire doesn't stop. It never stops. Thank you for showing up."

The room clapped. Rosetta cried. I ate two plates of my own pulled pork and considered the evening a success.

The pulled pork was the centerpiece — always is, always will be — but the morning after the party, with Rosetta still in her robe and Walter Jr.’s kids running through the house, I needed something that would feed everyone without standing over a smoker for eighteen hours. This Cheese Grits & Sausage Breakfast Casserole is what I put together: pork still on the table, cheese holding everything together, the kind of dish that says the celebration isn’t quite over yet. You make it the night before, slide it in the oven in the morning, and by the time the coffee’s done, so is breakfast — which is exactly the kind of cooking a retired man can get used to.

Cheese Grits & Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground pork breakfast sausage
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup quick-cooking grits
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional, for garnish)

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray and set aside.
2. Brown the sausage. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground sausage, breaking it up as it browns, until fully cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain excess fat and set sausage aside.
3. Cook the grits. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add salt and stir in the grits. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheddar until fully melted and smooth.
4. Mix the egg custard. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, garlic powder, black pepper, and smoked paprika until well combined.
5. Assemble the casserole. Pour the cheesy grits into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Scatter the cooked sausage over the top. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the sausage layer, then sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar over everything.
6. Bake. Bake uncovered at 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes, until the center is set and the top is golden and slightly bubbling at the edges. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean.
7. Rest and serve. Let the casserole rest for 10 minutes before cutting. Garnish with sliced green onions if desired. Serve warm directly from the dish.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 320 | Protein: 16g | Fat: 21g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 540mg