Nov 26: Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Of all the holidays, Thanksgiving is the one holiday that represents, to me, family and family time. Also, it's a big food day for me too! lol!

Today, I had the time to spend with the next generation of foodies. Little M, a 5 y.o. budding cook...

The recipe for today Deviled Eggs.

The eggs were cooked and peeled.
I cut them in half and Little M did the rest.
He mashed and carefully added salt. I added a little mustard and mayo while he mixed and mashed.

Of course, we carefully tasted to see if we needed more something something.

Next, came the filling.
We used a plastic bag to pipe the filling into the halved egg whites.


The finished results pre-paprika.
The eggs looks like Modern Art, but they tasted good. :-)


However, the main thing was happiness and the BIG smile for making a dish to share.


My contribution...
Last year, I made gravy. Apparently, it was good enough that I was asked to make gravy again.
However, most of my recipes are improvisation with ingredients available at the time. Also, I don't remember what I did last years. I should have blogged about it. This year I will...

Gravy T-Day 2009
4 C Homemade Turkey Stock
4 C Turkey drippings/pan juices... The turkey was cooked in a turkey bag which saves all the juices.
1/3 C Celery, chopped
1/3 C Carrot, chopped
1/3 C Onion, chopped
1 sprig of Italian Parsley
1 sprig of Thyme
1/2 sprig of Tarragon
1 stick of butter (8T)
1/2 C Flour

1. Sweat the veggies in the butter for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the herbs and continue cooking about 2 minutes.
3. Add the flour, mix the flour and cook about 5 minutes.
4. Slowly add the stock and continue stirring to minimize lumps.
5. Add the turkey pan juices and continue to simmer to reduce... about 30 minutes on low.

Note... I used 1 T of flour for 1 cup of liquid, the resulting gravy is slightly thickened and loose. If a thicker gravy is desired, use 2 T of flour per cup of liquid.

Personally, I believe the secret to the gravy is the juices from the roasted turkey.

Jul 05: Bacon Gravy

When I was growing up, I ate a typical breakfast - bacon, eggs, toast or a biscuit, but I didn't discover the joys of sausage gravy until college. A few years after that, when I met Shawn, she introduced me to bacon gravy. The whole concept of gravy for breakfast was a delicious new adventure for me.

My quest for a good sausage gravy recipe continues. I believe good sausage gravy is dependent upon the sausage being used.

Bacon gravy on the other hand is very straight forward and consistent. Bacon pretty much taste the same from name brand to name brand - smoke, salt and a little sugar. However, supermarket house brands can be iffy since it seems the house brands (I've tried) are more akin to salt pork where the bacon is mainly salty and the smoke flavor is very faint to non-existent.

Bacon Gravy
3 T Bacon Grease (I know grease has a negative connotation, but used in conjunction with bacon the results are yummy!)
3 T Flour
2 C Milk (I used 2%)
Salt and pepper to taste

After you're finished cooking the bacon reserve some bacon grease.
Add the flour and blend in and cook over medium heat for a minute or two.

Usually I don't measure the flour, I add enough flour to form a slurry that's about the thickness of hot peanut butter on toast. I'm not trying to make a flour ball. In fact, sometimes I just add enough flour to absorb a majority of the bacon grease but mixture remains frothy as it cooks. Note the little bits of bacon fond adding to the flavor.


Slowly add 1/4 of the milk and blend together. As you continue to add the milk the "dough ball" will be transformed into gravy. Initially I used a wooden spoon to mix, but I found that a fork (or a whisk) works better at blending the milk and roux mixture.


As you continue adding the milk, the paste will transform into a gravy. Eventually, you can add all of the remaining milk. If you're serving immediately, I cook until a scrape across the bottom of the pan takes about a second or two to fill in, as shown below. Salt and pepper to taste. However, if you're not serving immediately, you can leave the gravy a little loose. Flour/roux based gravies will continue to thicken when taken off the heat.


Come to think of it... I've never tried dumping all of the milk in at once. I add the milk a little at a time to minimize lumps (floury dough balls). However, if I can add all the milk at once it will save some time in the long run. In theory, a roux is supposed to mix easily with the liquid without lumping/clumping. I should try adding all the milk at once the next time I make gravy.

The Dish
Bacon gravy over refrigerated Grands biscuits, scrambled, potatoes and bacon.

Delicious bacony goodness. :-)

May 17: Sausage Gravy in a Can !?!?

On a previous shopping trip, I found sausage gravy in a can!
Like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, I've heard of this mythical product, but haven't spied the can until recently.

My plan for today was to take advantage of three days of sunshine and warm weather to work on the backyard. To fuel up for the day's chores, this would be a good time to try the gravy.

Canned biscuits and sausage gravy from Campbell's.
Instructions are very simple: Heat, stirring occasionally.


The Final Dish:
Biscuits and sausage gravy with two fried eggs over easy.


The gravy has an initial taste of sausage, for a brief second, but then the saltiness overpowers taste buds. The little sausage bits have a weird squishy texture. From all of the processing?

This product would probably make a good basis for a larger casserole-type dish, like the other Campbell's "Cream of" soups. For serving on biscuits, maybe adding milk to the gravy would help cut down on the sodium.

The rest of the day...
After running errands around town, the temperature was 93F when I returned home, which is much too hot for working in the backyard.

I was able to replant a habanero plant I keep at work. After three years and many inadvertent attempts to kill it, the plant bounced back each time and did well. However, now it's pot-bound to the point where the leaves are dropping. This called for some drastic measures. Massive pruning on the top from 3 ft span down to 10" inches. Trimmed and cutout 50% of the roots.
We'll see if the plant bounces back after a drastic root and leaf pruning.


Took a look the seeds from a couple days ago... The brussels sprouts have sprouted. Wow! Germinated really quickly. No germination from the basil and sunflowers.

Apr 27: Biscuits and Gravy in a Box

I grew up on the West Coast where biscuits and gravy was not a common breakfast item. Biscuits and gravy is typical of the South and Midwest. In fact, I didn't know such heavenly goodness existed until my senior year in college. At least, I don't remember having biscuits and gravy before hand.

In my senior year, I was part of a group that went to Cleveland to present our aircraft designs in a student conference.

Why Cleveland? The city with the river that caught on fire? The city that's known as the "mistake by the lake"?

The funding for the project was provided by NASA. Each year a different NASA facility would host the student conference. That year NASA Lewis* (in Cleveland) was the host site**.

What does this have to do with biscuits and gravy?

Well, we were in Cleveland for about a week so we ate out daily.

One restaurant near the hotel was a Bob Evans. Bob Evans serves classic American food.
That's were I experienced my first order of biscuits and gravy. The sausage gravy was creamy, savory and peppered with little bits of tasty sausage. Gravy was served over crunchy on the outside, yet tender and fluffy on the inside biscuits. That entire week I ordered biscuits and gravy every time we went to the Bob Evans.

Imagine my surprise when I was walking through the supermarket and I spied the Bob Evans name on frozen Biscuits and Gravy. I had to try it out. It was on-sale for $2.50.


There were instructions for the microwave and the oven.
The gravy was heated in the microwave and the biscuit in the oven.

Overall, the gravy was flavorful, but a little salty/msg tasting. Indicative of a processed food. I was worried that the biscuits would be little dense, hockey pucks, but they turned out well. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Also, ample amounts of gravy to coat the biscuits.

Although I know how to make gravy, I just haven't been able to create a decent batch of sausage gravy. I think it has to do with the sausage available at the local market. Even the much advertised, nationally known brand is plain and flavorless to me.

I'm still searching for a good breakfast sausage to make my own country gravy, but in a pinch and for $.250, it's not bad. One thing I'd do differently next time is not microwave the gravy the full 5 minutes. My microwave would get the job done in 4 minutes. I did notice a drop-off in flavor at 5 minutes compared to the stir I gave at 4 minutes.

Food evokes pleasant memories...
Comfort Food: food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal

Comfort Food: Food that is simply prepared and associated with a sense of home or contentment.

*Note: NASA Lewis is now known as NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field or just NASA Glenn.

** Note: The following year, the senior class went to Florida. Although I had a great time in Cleveland, I still would have preferred going to Florida!