Good Gravy!
May 3, 2012 (Thursday)
Yesterday I made gravy. This was not my first try, but so far in my cooking days it has been my best effort. I put too much pepper in it for my taste, but some folks would find it just right and others might say there was not quite enough pepper in it. My goal is to make gravy that tastes like the gravy my family and friends made and make. Good old country gravy that covers biscuits, corn bread, chicken, steak, plain sliced bread, potatoes, rice, or almost anything else.
The word, “gravy,” can also mean something wonderful that has come your way, or a windfall of some kind. It can describe unexpected benefits or profits.
A slang expression often heard is “gravy train,” a job requiring little time or work but paying well, or financial gain of any kind gained over a period of time, offering great profits with little or no effort.
In our world today, “gravy train” can even refer to a dog food brand, a rock group, a song title, a music album title, or a dramatic presentation by that name. Its use for other venues is proof of its popularity as slang.
Back to the real thing. Descriptions of my kind of gravy — the kind we eat — are: thickened gravy, brown gravy, white gravy, milk gravy, pan gravy, meat gravy, sausage gravy, bacon gravy, plain gravy, cream gravy, giblet gravy, roast gravy, brisket gravy, onion gravy, red-eye gravy, etc. Similar items on the table might be sauce, white sauce, butter sauce, salad dressing, etc. Just the thought of such things makes bells ring in my head (the kind of bells attached to weight scales).
I looked for a song about gravy and found one named, “Soppin’ the Gravy.” Apparently it’s only an instrumental–no words. Great! There are no words that can adequately describe great gravy, especially the soppin’ kind.