This bacon and tomato recipe comes out of the deep south from a long line of inherited recipes in a very small region. Hard to find even in most Southern states, biscuits and tomato gravy is a particular delicacy of the Tennessee River Valley.
It sounds strange, but this hearty meal is both filling and addictive. Ideally, this dish is served at dinner, utilizing the juices from the bacon fried for breakfast. However, cooking fresh bacon to serve on the side, along with scrambled eggs, is not unheard of. Two or three strips of finely chopped bacon is often also added to the gravy to add a little extra smoke and salt to the flavor.
The Key to Tomato Gravy is the Shake
Many specifics of this dish vary from person to person and generation to generation of cooks, such as whether to use all-purpose or self-rising flour, whether to add bacon or salt, and the exact amount and thickness of the roux. Despite such contentions every cook of this dish will agree on one fact: "The key is in the shake." When the water is whisked into the roux a little at a time, as the gravy thickens. The whisking process is key. The most successful gravy is whisked almost constantly during the thickening process. "The key is in the shake" because a properly exuberant whisker develops a shaking posterior.
This gravy is best served on powdery home-made biscuits, but is almost just as good on canned biscuits. It's served most often at dinner time, as a special breakfast-for-dinner night with bacon and scrambled eggs on the side.
Although the preparation process sounds odd, and the ingredient list vaguely distasteful, this gravy will have even picky eaters coming back for seconds. Take care about eating too much though, it becomes unexpectedly filling about twenty minutes after the first bite, usually just after you've picked up your second portion.
Tomato Gravy Recipe8 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 c leftover bacon grease
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup flour
- 1 8oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 8 oz cans water
- 2-3 bacon strips, finely chopped or salt, to taste
Directions:
- Simmer the leftover bacon grease with the diced onion. Some add more onion to taste.
- Once the onions turn clear, Add flour a little at a time and brown, until it congeals into a thick roux.
- When the roux is as thick as cake batter, stir in diced tomatoes without draining. At this point add either finely chopped bacon strips or a dash of salt, to taste.
- Add water, a little at a time, and whisk thoroughly as the gravy thickens.
 |
 |
