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Book Description Crispy fried chicken, field peas simmered with savory pork, crusty cornbread hot from the skillet, three-layer caramel cake, homemade peach ice cream-old-time dishes like these have made Southern cooking a cherished tradition. Southern cousins, Courtney Taylor and Bonnie Carter Travis, both experienced cooks and writers, now bring that traditon to you. The Southern Cook's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Old-Fashioned Southern Cooking Authors: Courtney Taylor,Bonnie Carter Travis Date: September 2001 ISBN: 1893062295 Publisher: Quail Ridge Press Plastic Comb |
Recipe from: The Southern Cook's Handbook by Courtney Taylor,Bonnie Carter Travis Cookbook Heaven at 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.
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:
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
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