SAMPLE RECIPES:
1. How
to Make Gravy
2. How
to Make Cream Sauce
3. Country-Fried
Steak with Cream Gravy
4. Dirty
Rice
5. Banana Pudding with Meringue
Book
Description
Southern cousins, Courtney Taylor and Bonnie Carter Travis, both experienced cooks and writers, get into the kitchen with you, explaining the fundamentals of Southern cooking and telling you how ingredients should look, feel, and smell.
You can't go wrong with: ·"Basics" section with advice about kitchen equipment and choosing fresh produce.
"Methods" section featuring step-by-step instructions for all the basics like pan-frying, making gravy, baking biscuits, and making cream cakes.
Over 200 of the South's most treasured recipes such as mint juleps, gumbo, cheese grits, fried okra, pecan pie, blackberry cobbler, and fig preserves.
Glossary of cooking terms. The Southern Cook's Handbook is a how-to manual, a primer for the new cook, as well as a refresher course for the old hand. It is an essential reference for any cook's kitchen
The
Southern Cook's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Old-Fashioned Southern Cooking
by Courtney Taylor, Bonnie Carter Travis
Quail Ridge
Press
Date: September
2001
ISBN: 1893062295
Spiral
Bound
ORDER/INFO
|
How
to Make Gravy
From:
The
Southern Cook's Handbook
by Courtney Taylor, Bonnie Carter Travis
(Quail
Ridge Press; September 2001; ISBN:1893062295;
Spiral)
Cookbook Heaven @ recipelink.com
Making a roux is as essential to a Southern cook as charming money out
of Daddy is to a Southern belle. Without a roux, there is no gravy-and no cream sauce for that matter-and you cannot get the real thing out of
a pouch or a can. Fortunately, the real thing is very easy to prepare.
By learning just a few fundamentals, you can produce a remarkable variety of gravies and sauces with a remarkable number of uses:
smothering meats and poultry; baking fish and seafood; topping rice, potatoes, and pasta. So if you have been relying on charm alone to
butter Daddy up, give this chapter a glance and ask him again after he's eaten.
GRAVY
If you blend flour smoothly into hot fat, add liquid, and stir
diligently, you will get gravy every time. Few things in life are so certain. Whether you are making brown gravy, milk gravy, or red-eye,
the method is the essentially the same.
Equipment:
A skillet is the best pan for gravy because blending and browning are easier in a shallow container. Any heavy skillet suitable
for frying meat is suitable for making gravy. Avoid aluminum-surfaced skillets, which can produce a metallic taste, particularly in
combination with metal utensils.
The handiest gravy utensil is a long-handled wooden spoon. It is safe on any surface, and the handle will not heat up while resting on the
skillet. You may also use a wire whisk; but unless it is coated with rubber or plastic, it will damage the surface of non-stick or iron
skillets.
Fat:
The tastiest gravy is made from the drippings of fried meat or
poultry because the residual fat contains not only food flavor but also crisp bits of browned flour. If you have no drippings, you can use a
good vegetable oil or shortening such as Crisco®. Heavy oils and cheaper store brands can produce a greasy taste.
Flour:
Any all-purpose flour is suitable. Self-rising flour is also
acceptable, but it contains baking powder; so don't be alarmed when it foams up like the head on beer. Cake flour, being lower in protein, has
the most thickening power.
Roux:
The first step in making gravy is blending flour and heated oil
(in roughly equal proportions) into a smooth paste, or "roux." When the flour and oil are well blended, the mixture will take on a satin sheen
and lose its raw smell. For most gravies, the roux should be browned, a process that cannot be rushed. It is difficult to predict browning time
with any accuracy since it depends on several factors: the volume of the roux, the size and weight of the skillet, the color you want to
achieve. The larger the quantity of roux and the thicker its layer in
the skillet, the longer it will take to brown.
Here is a rule of
thumb:
In a heavy 10 1/2-inch skillet, 1 cup roux (1/2 cup flour + 1/2 cup oil) will be the color of peanut butter in about 10 minutes and the
color of chocolate in about 20 minutes. To achieve very dark gravy, brown until the roux smells like popcorn but is not burned. When liquid is added, the color will lighten, so brown
the mixture a bit darker than you want the finished gravy to appear.
Liquid:
The tastier the liquid, the tastier the gravy. Homemade stock
and canned broths are both excellent choices. Water is fine if enriched with a commercial base such as beef, chicken, or ham extract.
Cream gravy is made with milk and the drippings of pan-fried meat or poultry. For whole milk, you can substitute canned evaporated milk
diluted with equal parts of water. Flavor is vastly improved by adding bouillon granules instead of salt to whole milk or diluting canned milk
with stock instead of water.
Proportions:
The proportions of oil to flour to liquid depend on what kind of gravy you are making, how long you cook it, and how thick you
want it to be. Even without a recipe, however, you can make an educated guess. Here's how:
-
Make the roux with equal portions of oil and flour.
-
Add 4 to 6 times as much liquid as flour.
-
Simmer about 10 to 15 minutes.
For example, 2 cups of liquid added to a roux of 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup
flour will make a medium-thick to thick gravy. If the result is too thick, simply blend in more liquid a little at a time.
If too thin, continue to simmer until the mixture thickens sufficiently.
Seasoning:
As gravy cooks and thickens, its true taste will emerge.
Bland gravy will improve remarkably with the mere addition of salt and pepper. Or the flavor may be further enhanced with other seasonings
such as Worcestershire sauce, Recipe Bouquet®, garlic powder, onion powder, and herbs. Take care to add seasonings gradually. Once they're
in, you can't get them out.
Storing:
Gravy may be refrigerated for several days or frozen for
several months. To prevent "skin" from forming on the top, lay a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap directly on the surface of the gravy before
covering the container. Thaw or warm stored gravy on half power in a microwave oven. Or place gravy into a little water and heat it slowly
on the stove top at low temperature. Use a wire whisk to restore a smooth consistency.
Blunders:
The most common complaints about gravy are that it is too
thick, it is too thin, or it has lumps. All three of these problems and their simple solutions are addressed in
"Correcting Consistency and
Lumping in Gravy and Cream Sauce".
Step-By-Step Gravy
-
With burner set to medium, heat oil in skillet until it shimmers and
swims around slightly.
-
Add flour fairly evenly around skillet and stir constantly with the
back side of a wooden spoon, pressing against the skillet surface to prevent the flour from clumping together.
-
Move the spoon continuously in circular motions from the middle of
skillet out to rim and back. Continue the process for about 5 minutes or until mixture produces a smooth, blended paste (or "roux").
-
Stir frequently as mixture begins to glisten and turn golden. Roux
in middle of skillet cooks faster than the rest and can burn on the bottom while appearing merely brown on top. If mixture threatens to
burn, lower the heat.
-
When roux reaches desired brownness, add the liquid, stirring
constantly as you pour. Continue stirring until mixture is well blended and smooth.
-
Simmer gravy for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent
sticking. Season to taste.
|
