Scrambled eggs, grits, country ham, & red eye gravy |
A typical old-fashioned Southern breakfast is honest, hearty fare that's meant to fuel the body and soul for a long day of hard work running a farm or a household. Eggs, meat such as country ham, sausage, or bacon (or more than one of those), buttermilk biscuits, and a bowl of grits... A well-prepared Southern breakfast may be a cardiologist's nightmare, but it will make an old-timer smile, a carnivore grin, and a lover of traditional foods rejoice. Although my typical breakfast is admittedly much lighter and "healthier" by modern standards, I do enjoy the occasional treat of a genuine Southern breakfast, especially if made using old-fashioned ingredients like our great-grandparents ate, namely eggs and ham from local, naturally-raised free range chickens and pigs, fresh hand-made biscuits, stone-ground grits from non-GMO corn, etc. At least that helps me rationalize the fact that I'm ingesting a whole lot of calories, carbs and fat grams for someone with a desk job!
Making red eye gravy involves more "feel" and "taste" than precise measurement, and the amount of coffee used will depend on amount of drippings left in your pan, as well as how many breakfast plates you're preparing. Keep in mind that different types of meat will produce varying amounts of drippings, with bacon and sausage usually shedding far more grease than country ham. If you end up with half an inch of grease in your pan but you're only making breakfast for two, you probably have too much grease. Pour some out--I save my excess bacon drippings in a glass jar in the fridge for other uses--and leave less than a quarter inch in the pan. You can always add more if you wish.
Buy NC country ham |
Do you make red-eye gravy? If so, please leave a comment to share your tips or your recipe!
Zestfully yours,
Gloria
PS: Be sure to visit our Country Ham page to browse through the different types of genuine Smithfield NC country ham that we offer through our partner, Johnston County Hams.
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