The Tomato Gravy Experiment

I’ve been doing a little experimenting in the kitchen lately.

Lately might not be the best word. I experiment a lot. It might be taking refrigerators full of random ingredients and making a meal. Or I might take a recipe that has been tested to the height of perfection in professional kitchens, then tweaking it to make it my own - or tweaking it because I’m too lazy to go to the grocery for the right ingredient. I live in experiment mode.

A great example is my foray into tomato gravy this week. A while back I got some on a biscuit at Penn’s, posted a pic, and got lots of “oh, you haven’t tried my granny’s tomato gravy”, etc, etc. It’s one of those family-tested, “it’s the best because it’s the only one I grew up with” kind of recipes. It might be a can of generic tomatoes mixed with flour and love, but if that’s what you know, then that’s what you like. I come from a family that never, ever, had tomato gravy, especially on biscuits at breakfast. As a child I’m sure I would have avoided it if possible. As I reached adulthood with a bent towards breakfast, it began popping up on my culinary radar. However, it’s not something you often see in restaurants, which surprises me a little, given the memories folks seem to have about it. Of course, that may be the reason it’s absent - no restaurateur wants to compete with your grandmother. So when I saw it at Penn’s a couple of years ago, I tried it, and I liked it enough to order it again.

But until this week I still had never made it. I’ve made sawmill, I’ve made redeye - even chocolate gravy - but never tomato. Two worlds collided to make this happen. First was the Starkville Community Market’s Farm to Fork Dinner back in April. We had sauteed squash and zucchini with a tomato sauce, and Daughter actually ate it. She never eats squash and zucchini without strong encouragement or threats. But after trying Chef Caleb Nabors’ dish she was asking when we were going to have it at home.

The second factor was a recent purge of newspapers. I have a box full of recipes that I have torn out of papers and magazines - and by that I mean I already had a considerable number in the box. Then last week I decided it was time to rid myself of a few of the hundreds of magazines I had in various piles around the house. (I am not a hoarder - I am a voracious reader - I am a collector - I am not a hoarder.) In the process of the purge, I came across a stack of papers and random periodicals that contained recipes I had stacked up for review. Will I cook every recipe I have ever torn out of magazine? Not likely. But I still collect them. And this time I came across a recipe for Grandma’s Tomato Gravy, provided in the 4-county member newspaper, Today in Mississippi, in their feature of Krista Griffin’s Family Favorite Recipes. It looked simple, and it was named after Grandma. It seemed like a good place to start. Not only that, I had a bag of squash from Prospect Farms at the market, and my favorite smoked sausage from Beaverdam Farms in the freezer. All of a sudden that seemed like a great combination.

I started with the sausage, browning it then moving it to a plate, leaving the rendered fat in my skillet. Then I cooked the squash in the fat with a little green pepper and onion I had in the pantry. Meanwhile I got the gravy going. My first attempt was a dismal failure. I thought I’d try to make the roux with almond flour instead of regular all-purpose flour. I thought this would be okay because I had made a squash casserole a few weeks ago using unsweetened vanilla almond milk, homemade cashew creamer, and almond flour - and it turned out great. The nut products added an interesting touch of sweetness. Not so lucky with the roux. I turned around for a minute and it burned right up. The recipe said to cook till it was “light brown”, and we were well past light and on to dark chocolate. I started over with regular flour. (Sometimes you need to stick to the recipe. Of course, I didn’t entirely stick with it.) Instead of 4 tablespoons of “oil” (the variety left to the cook, I suppose) I used 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 T of clarified butter (for a little richness), and 1 T of bacon grease (for the smokiness, and for … the bacon). I am not a roux expert, but at least I didn’t burn it - in fact it took a

while to brown - and I think my combination of fats contributed a great deal to the flavor. Next I added a can of diced tomatoes - I used fire-roasted, because that’s what I keep in the cabinet, and I think it looks cool. Plus surely the char adds some flavor. A little water, a little tomato sauce, a heavy shaking of Bragg’s seasoning, a little simmering, and voila - I had my first tomato gravy! I didn’t put it on biscuits till a couple days later, but that night it was perfect in a bowl smothering the squash and sausage.

Thanks to Ms. Griffin and 4-County for inspiring this experiment. My first attempt (aside from burning the first roux, which was not your fault) made a tasty memory and a successful experiment.