Informative article
Before reading it I had absolutely no idea what plain white flour, lard, sour cream, salt and baking power looked like. Now I know.
Post-pub nosh neckfiller: Southern biscuits and gravy
Our call for reader post-pub nosh neckfiller suggestions continues to bear fruit, and for your wobbly dining consideration today we present "biscuits and gravy", courtesy of Robbin Nichol. According to Robbin, this stodgetastic delicacy – of 1996 movie Sling Blade fame – "is a big thing in some Southern States in the US and …
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Monday 27th July 2015 07:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
Many years ago
My other half made some pastry to freeze, some sweet, for pies, some savoury for , um, not sweet pies.
So one day she made a beef and ale pie. Lovely but the pastery was so sweet! Yeah, she had mixed em up. So a cobbler became a pobbler. P for "pie-crust".
Lovely juicy beef with a sugary topping does not work well....
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Saturday 25th July 2015 15:53 GMT Efros
Don't let appearances put you off
A well executed biscuits and gravy is a brilliant neck filler, post pub or otherwise. Here's mine.
My sausage gravy recipe.
1lb of good quality sausage meat
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic minced
1/2 pint of light cream
1/2 pint of milk (2%)
2 heaped tablespoons of flour
1 oz grated aged Asiago cheese
dash Worcestershire sauce
sprinkling of nutmeg
salt and pepper
Using a spatula to divide the sausage meat into little pieces, fry off the sausage meat with onions in a little oil, add the minced garlic once the sausage is almost done. Once the sausage meat is cooked through and some crusty bits are forming on the meat, sprinkle the 2 spoons of flour over the mixture and continue frying whilst stirring to form a roux. Once a fairly light roux has been formed add the cream slowly and with constant stirring, the mixture should begin to thicken almost as soon as the added cream comes up to temperature. Once all the cream has been added add the milk in a similar fashion, you may need more than that specified as some flours thicken better than others. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, some nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Allow to simmer until the sauce has cooked through at which point I usually add the grated aged Asiago and stir it in. This is usually served over American biscuits, but I think using cheese scones would work just as well.
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Saturday 25th July 2015 15:56 GMT chivo243
Awesome Post Pub Nosh
Back in my college days, we used to hit a little breakfast joint that was open 4am to noon. Regulars such as myself and my drinking buddies could get in at 3:30. They had the best biscuits and gravy! 1/2 order B&G plus your standard eggs, bacon, sausage etc really hit the spot. It was a sad day for my comrades and I when the owner passed away. No one picked up the business either...
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Saturday 25th July 2015 16:09 GMT Mark 85
Other variations
There's a lot of variations to the gravy recipe depending on who makes it and geographic location.
What the Navy/Marines used to have was a milk gravy (no cream or cheese) using hamburger instead of sausage, and heavily peppered over biscuits, toast, or even hash browns. The Army/Air Force did SOS (S**t On a Shingle) but that's a rather nasty compared to the Navy/Marine stuff.
There's also "red-eye" gravy involving ham and ham drippings. I've also seen a variation of this using bacon drippings.
A bit of Googling for the adventurous will turn up many different variations.
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Sunday 26th July 2015 09:52 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Edible
The sight of very large americans pouring ladles of this stuff over their morning 'biscuits' at hotels all over CO,NV,UT,OR,WY,MO,NE,NM,AZ (and quite possibly other states) was enough to put me off it for life.
Then they go back for seconds/thirds. Even grits and sauerkraut (not in the same meal) seem edible when compared to that ... crap.
Arggggggggghhhhhhh let me out of there.
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Monday 27th July 2015 00:09 GMT John Brown (no body)
Re: Edible
"The sight of very large americans pouring ladles of this stuff over their morning 'biscuits' at hotels all over CO,NV,UT,OR,WY,MO,NE,NM,AZ (and quite possibly other states) was enough to put me off it for life."
On the bright side, they make British cooking look appetising and move us from bottom spot in the World Culinary Opinion Championships.
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Saturday 25th July 2015 21:07 GMT Anonymous Coward
One for the Dirty Dirty! HEEEELLLL YEEEEAAH!!!
Yeah um... As one of those Southerner that not only had that and sausage for breakfast, but make it in a few of the available variations, first I'd like to say, "We finally made it to the Post Pub scene! WOOT WOOT!!!
Like it was earlier mentioned, we don't put onions in our gravy. We typically use flour, milk, either bacon or sausage grease, salt and pepper for our gravy. And sometimes we'll make a REAL "Mess" which adds meat or meats eggs(usually scrambled or fried) and fried potatoes(shredded or chopped hashbrowns, or steak fry cut), on top of the buscuit and cover everything in a hefty sum of gravy. It may be why the South lost the Civil War, but it darn sure tastes good!
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Monday 27th July 2015 12:15 GMT Zaphod.Beeblebrox
Re: One for the Dirty Dirty! HEEEELLLL YEEEEAAH!!!
+1
Proper Southern gravy has none of that onion, garlic, or cheese and it is pretty rare to use cream (at least in my neck of the woods whilst a wee lad).
Having lived and, unfortunately eaten, in the UK, I do find it amusing that so many here are decrying the appearance of this cuisine - I saw far worse gracing the plates in a number of pubs and can't count the number of times I was told "Go on, eat it - it tastes much better than it looks and smells...".
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Monday 27th July 2015 16:55 GMT Pirate Dave
Re: One for the Dirty Dirty! HEEEELLLL YEEEEAAH!!!
Amen. Gravy is simple - fresh grease, flour, milk, salt, pepper. The difficulty is in adding the milk to the roux without it going lumpy. Any meat (preferably what you cooked to make the grease) should be added AFTER the gravy has been put on the biscuits. I like Tennessee Pride sausage myself, especially the "Hot" version.
I'm Southern (Georgian), but admit to being a heretic - I like to top my gravy and biscuits with grits. And then drizzle honey over it. No, I don't plan to live past 50, thanks for asking...
Mmm, now I'm craving Cracker-Barrel. Over-medium eggs, bacon, grits, gravy and biscuits. Mmmmmmm. But payday isn't until Thursday. Thanks Lester...
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Sunday 26th July 2015 15:00 GMT Efros
Re: Gravy?
Funny thing I've found over the years is that the Americans sense and usage of English words is more archaic than the British, consequently a lot of words that we find in English to be misinterpreted in American English and vice versa is based on the fact that the Yanks use an older definition. Gravy originally meant a spicy sauce, derived from the French grané, probably from grain ‘spice,’ from Latin granum ‘grain’.
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Saturday 25th July 2015 21:44 GMT Kimo
Close, but not quite.
Biscuits look a tad off, and that gravy is an abomination. Best way to do it is simply drive to pretty much any diner in the Mississippi Delta. Red-eye gravy is better, and none of that cheese and cream. Milk, flour, and grease is all you need. And a ton of pepper.
In my experience, a diner either makes good hash browns or good biscuits and gravy. Never had both good in the same place.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
