Biscuits & Gravy

When Oscar and Nobel prize winning playwright and author George Bernard Shaw said that Britain and the USA were two countries divided by a common language it is unlikely that he was thingking about food.

Yet, if ever there was a way to illustrate the veracity of his statement it is to say biscuits and gravy.

To someone in the states it is a part of the common recipe book indeed, for those in southern states, it belongs in the essential recipe book and is a breakfast staple.

From this side of the pond they are two words that just don't go together! Biscuits are enjoyed with a cup of tea. Gravy is a sauce served with your sunday roast.

See, two very different things.

So, when I found out about the US biscuits and gravy I had to give it a try.

It was interesting enough to add into the repertoire, though the chidlren didn't like it. Earlier in the week I had a hankering for some so told thie kids they could make tea for themselves on Saturday (yes, I know, it's traditionally a breakfast ot brunch dish) as I would be doing biscuits and gravy, and corn and greens,and a breaded, fried pork chop.

The more eagle-eyed of you who know the dish will have spotted that the gravy is darker than should be expected. I'll get to the reason for that as I talk you through everything on the plate.

Let's start with the easiest. THe sweetcorn. I like sweetcorn, but sometimes forget how much better it tasts on the cob. Here I sliced the corn off the cob and plated with a nice dollop of butter.
Next up is the greens. Simple spring greens, which is the UK name for what in the US is called collard greens. These had the main central stem removed and were then sliced into strips. To cook them I melted a little butter in a pan, ground up some caraway seeds and sea salt and added that into the pan, put in the greens and let them cook gently for a while.

Next on the plate is the pork chop. A nice chop, which I hammered thin, and put some seasoning on. When it came time to cook I made up a coating wtih cornmeal, salt, paprika, garlic powder, and chilli. A dredge in a beaten egg, covered witht he coating, and thenshallow fried in vegetable oil. I let it sit on a wire rack for a minute or two and then sliced into strips as can be seen.

Now we're getting to the business end of things. Let's start with the biscuits. In Britain, these are closer to scones and, fundamentally, do not meet the requirement to be a biscuit, which is to be cooked twice. Though the US usage has been around for a couple of hundred years, the first written example being from 1818.

These are soft, light, and fluffy, and are delightfully simple to make. Flour, lard (shortening), baking powder, salt, and buttermilk are the ingredients. This is the second or third time I've made them, but these were the best attempt yet. Key was grating the lard into the mix, and when the dough was made, letting it rest and chill in the fridge. About fifteen minutes in a hot oven, and they came out lovely.

Finally, we come to the gravy. I read that using bacon grease as the fat in the roux makes for an extra level of flavor so I used Polish boczek, which is similar to Italian pancetta, in that it is pork belly. I made sure to use some with a lot of fat on it. I cooked this nice a slowly to render the fat out, and added in a finely chopped shallot and some finely minced garlic. When the fat was rendered and the meat nice and crispy I drained off to a saucepan added flour and cooked the oil and flour together to a nice light brown color and then added in chciken stock (I'd made some last week, so had it in the fridge), and then I added a couple of spoons of plain cocao flour - hence the dark brown. While this was gently cooking I cooked off the sausage meat, adding in some sage with it. When that was nicely browned I added it into the sauce along with the crisped boczek pieces.

Is it a traditional gravy? Nope. But oh, it tastes good! And I have biscuits and gravy for breakfast in the morning, I'll probably add an egg over it.