There are two things that I had to struggle to learn how to make. For one thing, my grandmother never used recipes, just a pinch of this and a smidgen of that, you know, I'll bet your grandmother was the same way.
The other reason is because she set the bar so high that no matter how hard I try, it never comes up to her standards.
One of the things that I've never been able to make is red-eye gravy. When I make it, it mostly tastes like what it is – coffee flavored grease. As with most everything I cook, I’m trying to achieve the impossible, my grandmother’s perfection.
That woman could make salty country-cured ham grease and stout coffee taste like the best au jus you've ever had at any five-star restaurant.
Of course, she used ham that was cured in a smokehouse only steps away from her kitchen door, and even though I always thought the ham itself tasted like bacon-flavored shoe leather, the drippings turned into a treat that is truly Southern and although simple in theory, hard to perfect.
You have to use country-cured ham to make real red-eye gravy. If my granddaddy had but known the future market in jerky, he would have been on billboards all over the world today. Because that’s exactly what his ham tasted like.
You had to put forth a lot of effort using a sharp knife in order to cut it, and you were still chewing it when you got off the bus at school, an hour later.
However, most true Southerners will agree, the result of frying that salty, tough ham is worth the effort of killing a hog, even if you have to do it yourself. And although I've never gone quite that far, I have had to search high and low to find this delicacy, and find it made the way my grandmother, bless her heart, made it without even thinking about it.
The first time I spied red-eye gravy on the menu at The Busy Bee Café, I immediately decided to order breakfast, although I did so with trepidation, thinking that it would probably taste like mine.
While we waited, I explained to my daughter, Dominique, what red-eye gravy was, and of course, that sounded awful to her. She’s been raised on, “sawmill gravy,” about the only gravy I could ever make with any kind of consistency. (Well, that and chocolate gravy, which is in another category, altogether.)
When our orders came, she watched me close my eyes, as I tasted that first bite. I was delighted, and sent word to the cook, who had done a fine job-much better than I ever could.
Dominique, seeing all the fuss that this watery-looking little bowl of greasy gravy had caused, tentatively spooned a small amount onto her grits. I waited for the verdict. Then she dipped the pointed edge of her BLT into the bowl, and to my delight, she poured half of it into her grits, saving the rest for her, ‘au jus’ BLT. It was hilarious; she’d fallen in love at first bite.
It was a novelty to see her enjoy something so much. She’s normally a picky eater-monitoring every calorie- but that day, she dug in and savored every bite.
I’m not sure what it is that makes eating something that sounds so bad, such a rite of passage among us Southerners. Maybe it’s an inherited taste…. maybe we were born to it the way we were to the sound of cicadas, the smell of magnolias and the feel of bare feet on spring grass.
Whatever it is, there aren’t many people I know who were born south of the Mason-Dixon Line that don’t have a little red-eye gravy running through their veins.
Perhaps that salty, greasy component is embedded in our DNA, so much so, that it adds the flavor to our accents, the blues and country to our music and the flair to our personalities. Maybe that’s one of the reasons you'll never see a sign inviting you into a restaurant that proclaims, ‘Northern Home Cookin’ on any highway in the entire United States. Red-eye gravy is a Southern staple, and, as Cousin Tennessee Ernie Ford used to say, ‘It’s finger lickin’ good!’
It's also hard to make! But here are the basics. Good luck!
Save the grease from your country-cured ham in the same pan where you will make your gravy. Using about equal amounts of strong coffee and grease, pour coffee into hot grease and let come to a boil. (This is a trick that I read on Pinterest, and it works so well, I always do it now; Slowly add one-half cup of Coke (not diet) to the boiling liquid) Turn down heat and let simmer until it has reduced by almost half. Serve over hot biscuits, grits or eggs. If you did it correctly, you will see little 'red eyes' in the liquid. If it doesn't turn out right, run down to the Busy Bee…
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