=========================================================================== BBS: The GWE BBS [ASV/CIN] Date: 01-17-94 (03:18) Number: 405 From: PHILBEAR #91 @1205602*1 Refer#: NONE To: ALL Recvd: NO Subj: Red-Eye Gravy and Milk Gr Conf: (37) Home Cooki --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was going through the posts a few nights ago and saw a terribly incompletely description of how to make Red-Eye gravy (it was in a post by Ed Brant ??) anyway, here is how my granfather taught me to make it. (1) Make a pot of coffee (2) Fry a slab of ham in a skillet (iron is prefered) (3) After the ham is done, pour off the drippings in to a non plastic container. (4) Pour 2-5 cups of coffee in to the skillet and bring to boiling. (5) Pour the boiling coffee in to a large serving bowl. (6) Pour the ham drippings back in to the skillet and heat until just before the point where it begins to smoke. (7) Pour the hot drippings in to the bowl of hot coffee. WARNING: This will spew in the same way that a skillet of hot grease acts when placed under a faucet. The gravy will spew/sizzle up (I have seen it go as far as 7 feet high before). The coffee/ham drippings is now red-eye gravy. Milk Gravy (1) Fry up several pieces of bacon or ham (2) Pour off enough of the drippings so only a small layer remains in the skillet (iron is prefered). (3) Heat the grease until when you flick a bit of flour off of your finger tips it sizzles (4) Add enough flour to absorb most of the gravy. Also add pepper. At this point, you are making a roux. Remember, the darker the roux the darker the gravy. I prefer a light brown color. (5) When the roux is to the color you wish, add milk. The milk will foam up and require rapid stirring. Add milk until you have a gravy which is about twice as thick as pancake batter. Remove the gravy from the heat and pour up in to a bowl. Remember, as the gravy cools it will thicken. If it gets too thick, you can put it back on the stove, reheat while adding some more milk or water. Now, the other bit I would like to impart is a recipee for biscuits. I can not give you exact measurements for this - biscuits are best done by feel/instinct. (1) Get a deep well bowl (2) Fill the bowl about 1/3 full of self rising flour and hollow out a little depression (a nest) (3) Put a good hen size egg worth of crisco (solid) in the nest. By todays standards, a grade A extra large egg. (4) Pour some milk around the crisco in the nest (5) Here comes the fun part - start needing the milk and crisco in to the flour. Continue until you have have used most of the flour. The dough should be slightly tacky or moderately tacky. (6) Flour a cutting board (7) Plop the dough on to the board and flatten until it is about 1/2" thick all across. (8) Begin to cut out biscuits - a biscuit cutter works best. If you do not have a cutter, you can use a drinking glass with a thin rim. The rim should be about 2" in diameter. (9) As you cut out the biscuits place them on to a greased cookie sheet. (10) Take some hot bacon drippings (Usually, you have someone fixing bascon and eggs or bacon and something while you are making biscuits) in a spoon and smooth over the top of each biscuit. This keeps the top from splitting open and also give a wonderful taste and nice "glow". (11) Place the pan of biscuits in to a 475 degree oven. Cook until golden brown - about 10-15 minutes. Now, once you have the biscuits made, slice them open and cover them with milk gravy, put some bacon and eggs on the plate and you have a meal which can not be beat. The down part to all of this - it takes a while to prepare everything and your kitchen will look like a tornado went through it. My grandmother can have a pan of biscuits in the oven in 5 minutes - start to finish. I am to the point where I can slide them in in about 15 minutes. When I first started, it would take me about 30 - 45 minutes to prepare. One last note, do not over work the dough. Over worked dough will result in a flat, heavy biscuit. There was a comercial in the 50's where the announcer asked a woman what her secret was to making good biscuits..her reply was "Don't over work the dough" - he then made a comment about "Didn't the flour matter" and the woman told him it didn't but she prefered Martha White flour or something like that. Trust me, over worked dough makes nasty biscuits! Good Eating Peace and Long Life TTFN (Ta Ta For Now) PhilBear The Forbidden Realm A Wiccan/Pagan Information BBS 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � (205)270-8489 VBBS 6.10 VNet 1205602 14.4 - CD-ROM � 읕Montgomery, Alabama컴� [VSP] VBBS CORE Support [PIB] MysticNet @1