Biscuitmistress 2.0: Now with pork gravy

[anotheranon]

Ever since renewing my acquaintance with pork gravy while in Atlanta last, I've had a craving for it. This morning I finally had the time to follow that up.

This gravy goes by a lot of different names: white gravy, milk gravy, sausage gravy. My mom prefers to make it with sausage, but my dad made it with pork chops and I gather my grandmother did as well because he always considered his mama's the superior version - I remember one weekend I got up late and found my dad over the stove with pork chops and flour at the ready :)

I've never been overly keen on breakfast sausage so I made it using pork chop drippings this first go 'round (yes! I'm southern and this is my first time making pork gravy! Shoot me!) It's fairly simple though, involving leftover grease from frying [insert pork breakfast product here], flour, and milk.

SouthernPlate.com's recipe has useful photos so you'll know the color/consistency you're aiming for. My mom's directions are even simpler: "Basically you need equal parts of grease and flour - stir over medium heat to combine and it will brown a little. Add milk gradually stirring as you add until you have the right thickness. It will thicken rather quickly on med. high heat."

You'll want to cook the meat over medium as well - any hotter and you'll burn both the meat and the grease. Once you add the flour and milk you need to keep stirring it constantly so the flour won't clump. Chunks of meat are acceptable, even desirable - my mom liked to leave crumbled sausage in the pan.

Serve over biscuits, or dip your pork chops in it.

My results: Not quite in "liquid love" territory yet, but brought enough umami to salt/pepper into shape. Next try will be with bacon - I'm hoping the salt/smoke will bring more flavor to the final result. And it's an excuse to fry up a rasher (is that the right word?) of bacon ;)

Comments

[stanci.livejournal.com]

I like the simple directions that your mom has :)
A staple in my family's spice cabinet (which is fairly bare and not well stocked) is hickory smoke salt. That might help with flavorings with non-smoked meat, as probably would the lebanese spice mix that I like better than the plain salt.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

The hickory salt sounds like a very good idea! Where do I find such a thing? I checked the spice aisle at Safeway today and I'm not sure I know what I'm looking for (brand name, description etc.)

Congrats on mastering a new cooking challenge!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Have never been a fan of gravy (outside of stews), but then I've never tasted this kind ... my tastebuds are claiming this sounds like it should taste good without any physical evidence (or else they're still thinking about the addictively divine red onion potatoes devoured for breakfast at Ricky's yesterday.

Over the past year I've switched to buying most of my meat at the butcher shop down the street rather than at the grocery store; last week I bought and cooked one of their pork roasts it was the sweetest, juiciest, most savoury thing I've tasted since I left home and home-grown meat ... and, unlike the grocery store types, didn't require any flavouring help or the addition of water to the pan to keep it from drying out (ditto for anything else I've bought there). So I'd say that the source of your meat will definitely have an effect on your gravy flavour ... paying the extra few pence to a small independent meat cutter (look for a place that promises "hormone-free") is most definitely worth it. Find one that, in addition to cutting, makes their own sausage and cures their own bacon/ham and you've really got a winner.

Re: Congrats on mastering a new cooking challenge!

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I have been looking for a butcher, or grocery with a good one. I may just have to grit my teeth and go to Trader Joe's or Whole wallet Foods. It would help if I had more familiarity with good quality meat!

I am trying to buy more ethically - given the gross abuses of industrial pig farming (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters) I'm very careful not to buy Smithfield products, for example.

Re: Congrats on mastering a new cooking challenge!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Yes, I understand that judging product is tricky when you don't have tastebud memory to fall back on. But once you have experienced really good meat, you'll not forget. It will cost more than the sad stuff found in most grocery stores, but there's also a lot less cooking shrinkage in good meat, so it balances out to some degree.

If you can't find an independent butcher then you should make the splurge at one of the two places you named (I assume they promise high-quality meat), if only to get the experience of what to look for as you continue to hunt for other sources. On the plus side, good meat has far less cooking shrinkage than the run-of-the-mill grocery stock, so the price will work out to be less painful than it seems. You might also want to check for local packing plants, as sometimes they have their own onsite stores with bargain prices (the packing plant store in Lethbridge sold kilo bags of GOOD bacon for five bucks ... cheap because it was just crammed in any which way by the handful instead of laid out flat in rows).

Speaking of bacon, if you do have to get it in a grocery store, the thick-sliced brands are far better quality than the cheaper thin slices of mostly fat and are more likely to give you that flavour you're seeking for your gravy ... check the visible slices at each end of the package to make sure they're both at least 50% meat and it's good odds that all the slices in between will be the same (I aim for about 70-75% meat myself ... minimal shrink while still enough fat to cook properly without drying)

Hrrmmm ... what else. 100% grainfed = bland chicken ... they're natural-born voracious little carnivores and need their bugs, worms, and slugs to taste good. Ditto for beef ... cattle "finished" in a feedlot on a grain/corn diet lack flavour (that's why I recommended looking for a hormone-free sign in shops ... that eliminates most feedlots)

If any other tips occur to me, I'll let you know ... have to analyze my shopping instincts and turn 'em into words. ;-)

Re: Congrats on mastering a new cooking challenge!

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

The problem isn't just my lack of tastebud memory, it's my suspicion that US standards for "organic" might be different than those of Canada. The livestock might be free range, but they're still eating antibiotics. Or maybe no antibiotics, but still bland feed with no tasty bugs or other variety of diet to make them flavorful.

Having said this, I guess the only way to tell if there's a difference is to get out to Whole Foods and the like and sample 'em. I've already got the bacon (NOT Smithfield!), but if I get sausage it will be from one of these places.

Re: Congrats on mastering a new cooking challenge!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Canada has pretty iffy and inconsistent standards for "organic" too (and it's often just used as an excuse for extreme price hikes on products that never normally have chemical exposure/treatments anyway). That's why I look for the specifics like free-range and hormone/medication-free instead ... those do have specific legal requirements and definitions up here.

Yes, sampling is your best bet ... think of foods you've had in restaurants/other people's homes/etc. that make your mouth water just remembering them and use those memories as your standard for judging what you try. Wish it was practical to mail you something I could vouch for from The Better Butcher, just to help out.

P.S. Farmer's market season is coming upon us ... one of the best places to get a really decent chicken that lived a happy and bug-yumming life.