Red-eye gravy is a Southern American dish made from pork fat and coffee drippings. Its name’s origin is unclear, but it is often served with biscuits, ham, grits, and cornbread. To make it, cook ham in a skillet, remove it, and add coffee to the pan to loosen the ham bits. Serve the gravy over ham, grits, or eggs.
Red-eye gravy is a type of gravy often found and native to the American South, in regions like Alabama and Louisiana. Typically made from rendered pork fat and dripping coffee drippings, the origin of the name has its fair share of myth and rumor surrounding it. Red-eye gravy is often served with biscuits, grits, ham, and cornbread and can be part of any type of meal found in the southern part of the United States (USA).
While some sources indicate that the red-eye gravy is named after a famous person, such as former US President Andrew Jackson who calls for the gravy to be the cook’s red-eye, it is assumed he drank the night before the fabulous encounter, it is likely that the name comes from the appearance of the gravy. If red eye gravy is traditionally made with coffee and pork fat, the fat from the fat and the coffee are separated in a container. When held in a round container such as a bowl, the separate items can resemble an eye, with the light fat resembling the iris and the darker coffee appearing similar to a bloodshot eye. Other sources see the use of the coffee in the gravy as the source of the name, since eating it will potentially give a person a caffeine rush that could lead to a lack of sleep.
Regardless of the origins of the name, making red-eye gravy is a fairly simple process. Typically, it starts with cooking a ham, or part of a ham such as back fat, in a skillet. Salted country ham is often preferred for flavor and fat content, and the piece of ham may need to be scored with a knife before cooking. During the cooking process, fat seeps out of the ham and small pieces of meat inevitably stick to the pan.
Once cooked, the ham is removed from the pan and set aside. The pan is then ground using the coffee, although water may be used but will lack much of the flavor typically associated with red eye gravy. A small amount of coffee is added to the hot pan and then stirred with a spatula or spoon to loosen the bits of ham still attached to the pan, sometimes called sliced, and this is then removed from the pan into a serving bowl or gravy boat . The finished red-eye gravy is often used to dunk cornbread or biscuits or poured over baked ham with grits or eggs.
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