Southern Red Eye Gravy

Southern Red Eye Gravy
When I was kid growing up in North Carolina, my Mom (GranMa Sandy) would cook up some ham, make red-eye gravy and black-eyed peas for breakfast. It was always a fill your tummy with warmth and comfort on a cold winter day.

It’s been 20 years since I’ve had a breakfast like that, until New Years 2010 when Vickie created her version of Red Eye gravy just for me. And boy not only did it bring back memories, it was really good too.

I guess those folks from Tennessee know how to make some stick to your ribs gravy too!

Preparation Time: 10
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 large slice of Virginia Baked Ham
• 2 tblspn Butter or Margarine
• 1 tblspn Flour
• 2 c Strong Black Coffee
• 1 tblspn Brown Sugar
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

• Cut ham slice into bite size pieces.
• In a medium skillet, melt butter and lightly saute the ham pieces.
• Cook for about 2 minutes on medium heat.
• Remove ham pieces, and set them aside to add back in later.
  You want to leave behind as much of the melted butter as possible, in the skillet.
• Add flour, salt and pepper to mixture.
  Stir constantly and allow flour mix to brown slightly.
• Add coffee and brown sugar, mix with a fork until the gravy is smooth.
• Add the sauteed ham pieces and Stir constantly until the mixture thickens.
• Remove from heat and serve.

Serve:

• Serve hot over biscuits, rolls or toast.

Alternatives:

• Consider adding diced onion to the butter to saute with the ham.

Tips/Notes:

• Gravy will not thicken like sausage gravy does. So expect this to be slightly runny.
• You can make strong coffee with 2 cups of water, 2 Foldgers Coffee Singles. Heat in a small sauce pot for about 2 minutes, bring to a boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove the singles bags of course before pouring into gravy mix.

© 1997-2018 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf’s Creations. All Rights Reserved.