The great ham gravy versus red eye gravy debate

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fairygirl69

Senior Cook
Joined
Sep 11, 2006
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I decided to make us some ham and sourdough biscuits for a belated Easter meal when I thought "gee, wouldn't gravy be nice too". So I searched the web for a really good gravy that would go with ham and biscuits. The recipes seemed to fall into two types of ham gravy: regular old ham gravy and red eye gravy. It's amazing how passionate people are about their gravy on their ham. Do you have a preference and why?
 
I was raised with regular old milk based ham gravy.

I prefer a gravy with some thickening.

The red eye gravy that I am familiar with is coffee used to deglaze the frying pan the ham was cooked in. That just isn't gravy to me.

Try cutting up some leftover boiled potatoes and heat them in the regular old ham gravy. We called them creamed potatoes, sometimes we tossed in a handful of frozen peas.

Good stuff!
 
See Aunt Bee, that's how I feel milk and fat and flour or cornstarch is more gravy like to me. And I rarely do coffee except with chocolate.
 
See Aunt Bee, that's how I feel milk and fat and flour or cornstarch is more gravy like to me. And I rarely do coffee except with chocolate.

I think it was just a case of using what was available.

My family were farmers and always had basics like milk, eggs etc.

If you were in a north woods lumber camp or on a cattle drive in Texas all you had was some leftover coffee to slosh in the pan.

I am glad I landed where I did! :ermm::ohmy::LOL:
 
This is probably more to do with regional preferences.

Sausage gravy is more commonly served with biscuits than anything else here.

By the same token, if the menu is ham steak, egg, and grits then red-eye gravy is expected.

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I've never heard of serving gravy with ham. Since ham doesn't really generate it's own juices or fond and is usually accompanied with some kind of glaze, plus it technically only needs warmed through, no one I know has ever made gravy from it... or to serve with it. If there is a potato served with it it is usually scalloped, au gratin or similar. Nothing that would require gravy.
Unless you mean fresh ham. Up here "ham" always refers to smoked ham.
 
I've never heard of serving gravy with ham. Since ham doesn't really generate it's own juices or fond and is usually accompanied with some kind of glaze, plus it technically only needs warmed through, no one I know has ever made gravy from it... or to serve with it. If there is a potato served with it it is usually scalloped, au gratin or similar. Nothing that would require gravy.
Unless you mean fresh ham. Up here "ham" always refers to smoked ham.

Or there's always good old mashed potatoes with a lake of butter in the middle. We're actually having ham tonight (plain, just clove studs and red wine poured over, then baked) but I was planning on making paprika potato cubes. Now I have a taste for mashed.:ermm:
 
I've never heard of serving gravy with ham. Since ham doesn't really generate it's own juices or fond and is usually accompanied with some kind of glaze, plus it technically only needs warmed through, no one I know has ever made gravy from it... or to serve with it. If there is a potato served with it it is usually scalloped, au gratin or similar. Nothing that would require gravy.
Unless you mean fresh ham. Up here "ham" always refers to smoked ham.
I think that the ham we get today does not generate much juice, but back in the day, ham came with an inch of fat. Plenty of drippings for gravy.

I never heard of red eye gravy until I got to the south. In Colorado where I grew up, ham gravy was the same as beef, pork, sausage, or others, a flour thickened based on drippings.
 
Now that you mention it, Jim, I recall fresh ham having a nice fat layer back in the day. It would all get hard and crispy... One of my favorite parts when I was growing up.
 
Like Pac .. I'd never heard of gravy with ham either. Sounds kind of gross to me .. but then they say don't knock it until you try it ! ... but I'm still gettin' shivers thinking about it ... maybe I need to hear what it tastes like.
 
Like Pac .. I'd never heard of gravy with ham either. Sounds kind of gross to me .. but then they say don't knock it until you try it ! ... but I'm still gettin' shivers thinking about it ... maybe I need to hear what it tastes like.
Yup, that's how I feel too, well, no shivers, but pretty much the same. ;)
 
at home, growing up, the only kind of ham we ever had was the fresh ham variety. and it had that crisped fat topper--yumm! lots of good, rich gravy, too. smoked ham, i usually have without any gravy at all, but i would happily make room for anybody's 'ham gravy' on my plate. :)
 
The milk gravy that I grew up with was just a white sauce made with ham, bacon, sausage or salt pork fat. Today you can buy it in a pouch.

1/4 cup fat
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Make a roux using the flour and pork fat. Add milk and stir until you get the desired consistency season and serve. Use lots of freshly ground black pepper!

Serve over potatoes or biscuits.

This was pretty standard at breakfast or as a quick supper.

I think it was just a way that people used to get every calorie they could from the food available to them.

Our society no longer has that problem, or at least I don't! :ermm::ohmy::LOL:
 
The milk gravy that I grew up with was just a white sauce made with ham, bacon, sausage or salt pork fat. Today you can buy it in a pouch.

1/4 cup fat
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Make a roux using the flour and pork fat. Add milk and stir until you get the desired consistency season and serve. Use lots of freshly ground black pepper!

Béchamel sauce with pepper.
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