My granddaddy ate syrup and biscuits almost every morning of his life that lasted for 90 wonderful years. Cane syrup was his favorite. He’d sop up the thick, rich, dark amber liquid with a hot biscuit and declare, “That Top O’ The World sirp sho’ is good.” Early in my life, I had the notion that syrup and biscuits represented something very good. That’s exactly what I want “Syrup and Biscuits” to represent. Goodness. Just simple, honest, unpretentious goodness.
Some of my earliest food memories are of breakfast at my grandparent’s house. Regardless of the day’s events, a good hearty breakfast was going to be in the plans. A consideration was never given to a throw-a-poptart-in-the-toaster-and-eat-on-the-run sort of breakfast. Sometimes before sunrise, the hearty aroma of bacon, sausage or ham would engulf their tiny three room house. As soon as the aroma snapped you to your senses from a deep sleep, then you would hear a cacophony of sounds: the crackling of the pork of choice as it sizzled in the hot black cast iron skillet, the shuffle of feet against the linoleum kitchen floor, the clinging of plates, the conversational voices. That little kitchen was a beehive of activity. Once my senses of smell and sound had been intrigued, I couldn’t wait to experience the sight. Waking up was never hard. It was a pleasure.
We would gather at the enamel table under the single pull down light with no light fixture. Granddaddy would bless the food. As food was being passed around, Granddaddy’s coffee would be “saucered and blowed”. A recent discussion on Vintage Vera reminded me that I needed to write a story about “saucered and blowed”. Long ago, when people had to boil their coffee, it would be so hot they couldn’t drink it. They would pour the coffee into a saucer and blow it to help it cool down. This practice never left my granddaddy even after they got fancy and had an automatic coffee maker. He would make a loud slurp as he sipped the coffee from the saucer. Highfalutin people would call this rude and ill-mannered. I call it smart especially since I have learned to love coffee and savor that first cup of the morning. I want to drink my coffee as soon as the black gold hits my over-sized coffee cup and I get my half-n-half and honey in it. It would make me ill as a hornet’s nest if I had wait around for the stuff to cool down enough that it wouldn’t take the hide off my tongue.
This morning’s breakfast made me relive those mornings in my grandparent’s kitchen. The memories were so vivid, I almost saucered and blowed my coffee just for old time’s sake. With leftover Easter ham, I fried it up and made red-eye gravy. That gravy was a staple on my grandparent’s breakfast table. Granny would save whatever leftover gravy she had, store in the refrigerator and that would be the starter for the next morning’s gravy. The gravy was always served in a certain little white glass bowl. That bowl was always on the table. I feel like we grew up together. It’s not fancy. No one else would probably pay it any attention but it’s as closely tied to my childhood as blackberries in the summer. And the very best part about that little white bowl: I have it!
In my kitchen this morning with the white gravy bowl, the fried ham and red-eye gravy, I felt like my grandparents were here with me. As I poured the water and coffee into the iron skillet after the ham had been taken up, I held my face over the steam that arose and just breathed it in. That smell was so familiar and so comforting. Before I poured the hot gravy into the white bowl, I tempered the bowl with hot water….just in case. This bowl is probably older than me. I don’t ever remember my grandparents not having it. After pouring up the gravy, I just sat back and admired the little white bowl in it ‘s resplendent glory.
As I enjoyed my breakfast of browned ham, bold gravy and creamy grits, I reflected on why I write Syrup and Biscuits. That little white gravy bowl containing the red-eye gravy told me everything I need to know.
Y’all come see us.
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Fried Ham and Red-eye Gravy
I think fried ham has gotten a bad reputation for being full of saturated fat and unhealthy. Hams, in general, are leaner and healthier than they have ever been. Fried doesn’t mean deep-fried. I just coat the bottom of a black cast iron skillet with some olive oil. Once the skillet is good and hot, I add the ham and cook on both sides until it’s nicely colored. This is how it should look.
After the ham is removed from the skillet, add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup black coffee. Keep scraping the bottom of the skillet to make sure that all the bits and pieces are scraped up. You want that to flavor the gravy. Reduce by one half. I added just a teeny bit of honey, maybe 1/2 teaspoon. The coffee I used was pretty strong and tasted a tad bitter when it was reduced. Pour into your favorite gravy bowl or pitcher. Serve hot with fried ham, biscuits, grits and eggs for a might fine breakfast. This is how grits and gravy look…in case you were wondering.
Jan says
Thanks for the memories — I’m writing a family cookbook, including stories to give to my children and grandchildren. One of the things I’ve included is about my Alabama grandmother “saucering” her coffee!
Jackie Garvin says
Jan,
I ‘m sure your children and grandchildren will come to treasure that cook book and story book. What a thoughtful person you are!
Donna Godfrey says
I sure could have ham/red eye gravy and biscuits!
When we went to visit a cousin in NC he would serve this and a local man sold him that great ham……It was so good with a cup of his peculated coffee on top of the stove and than a visit to Pickins to the flea market.
Jackie Garvin says
Donna,
What great memories you have! Thanls for sharing them with me.
Tammy says
That is a beautiful bowl!!! What precious memories ! My mother used to make red-eye gravy too!!! We ate it with ham and biscuits. YUM!!!
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks, Tammy! So glad you liked my little story!
Paula says
Oh my, does this bring back memories for me too! My Granny saucered her coffee too. I remember as a child I wondered why in the world.. my dad would just say “to cool it off”
I was a picky eater as a kid and wouldn’t eat the red eye gravy. My mom made it once and I tasted it and I didn’t like it at all.
Last fall, my parents and one of my favorite aunties visited me and we got to talking about Granny and her food. Red eye gravy came up and I said “I tried it and I don’t like it” My mother AND my aunt said “It wasn’t made right, then” My mom then admitted that she probably wasn’t very good at it.
I must try it myself and serve it to my yankee husband. Thanks so much for sharing!
Jackie Garvin says
Paula,
I didn’t like red-eye gravy as a child, either. I just edited the post to include that I add a tiny bit of honey, perhaps 1/2 teaspoon. The coffee I used was strong and came off a little bitter when it was reduced. I think the gravy is going to best if you have good biscuits and grits to eat with it. I’m going to have it again tomorrow morning. I saved the leftover gravy for a starter so I won’t need to reduce it down again. I will add it to the skillet to deglaze after I fry the ham. Thanks for you sweet comment. I love reading them.
Mona Stout says
Okay, now I know for sure we’re long-lost cousins. I still have MY granny’s gravy bowl (a little unpretentious blue number that I use all the time — in fact, I mixed up the dressing for our salad tonight in it) AND the frypan my Gramps used to fry up his bacon every morning, AND the three-tine cooking fork that was forever and always the “bacon fork” used to, well, turn the bacon. Never got used for anything else. Many’s the morning I’d wake up as a kid to the smells of bacon and coffee … I can still feel the linoleum under my bare feet. Gramp’s favorite breakfast was to assemble a flapjack tower. To wit: One flapjack, buttered, topped with one fried egg over easy, syrup poured on top, add another flapjack and repeat, top off with a third flapjack and LOTS of syrup, with pork-of-choice on the side. The man worked out-of-doors his whole life and needed fuel! Oh, Jackie, I love your memories because they’re so much like mine!
Jackie Garvin says
Mona,
Do you find it amazing that we were two little girls growing up in different parts of the country yet sharing the same memories and, for the most part, customs. Our food may have been a little different. Probably more variations on a theme than being completely different. All the pieces I have that belong to my grandparents are priceless to me. I have a table that my granddaddy called his “Pearl Harbor” table. I will not reveal the story behind that table just yet. I’m trying to work it into a blog post but I’m having a tough time coming up with a related recipe. But I will. I just know it. I need to stop thinking about it and it will come to me.
Mona Stout says
Well, if you dig deep enough in your granny’s recipes, you’ll likely find some that came about because the war, having to do with either rationing or victory gardens (20 million of ’em were planted, and folks did a lot of canning!) One of my gran’s that she still whipped up now and then even into the 60s was an eggless-milkless-butterless cake that I loved. Haven’t seen the recipe in about that long, either.
Jackie Garvin says
Gosh, I’ve never heard of that cake. I’ll have to do some digging.
Tina says
What great memories you have! When we went to visit my grandma, (both of them) she would make home made biscuits every morning! I remember the sounds of the plates being set on the table, and also the glasses for our fresh squeezed orange juice…which were actually little jelly jars that she collected. We would sop our biscuits in butter and Johnny Fair syrup or fresh honey from the man across the street who owned his own bees.
Thank you for bringing back some great memories!
Jackie Garvin says
Tina,
Thank you for sharing your sweet memories with me! I still like to drink out of jelly jars. Milk just tastes the best when you drink it out of an 8 oz canning jar! I loved to eat syrup and biscuits,too! We would put butter in ours. Granddaddy didn’t because he didn’t like butter. I can’t imagine! Thank you for reading my little stories and leaving me comments. I love hearing from you!
Ginger says
As always your stories ,spark wonderful memories of my childhood ! I was just gifted my grandmother’s biscuit cutter this past week , and along with a few other things for the kitchen. I know I will put the biscuit cutter and other things to good use in my kitchen. It’s like having my
Mee Maw right here with me in the kitchen as I prepare her biscuits and use some many of her recipes to feed my family.
It’s breakfast time for me and I happen to have a container of leftover ham in the fridge , so I am off to prepare some fried ham and biscuits !
Have a wonderful day ,
Ginger 🙂
Jackie Garvin says
I can smell that ham frying, Ginger! Treasure all those wonderful kitchen pieces and teach your children to love them, too!
Nana Ann says
I agree with Mona – you and I were raised so much alike – mornings at my Grandma’s house were just like that too – we got to have “coffee-milk” at Grandma’s – half coffee, half milk and sugar when we were not allowed to drink coffee at home – and the biscuits were to die for!!! there was always some on the stove and some leftover bacon or ham or sausage. I just loved spending the night with them and having that big breakfast! – and there were always great meals at dinner time (lunch) too. I too have a little white bowl, it was my Mama’s, but looks almost like that – was the gravy bowl!!! My grandma wrote a little book for all her grandchildren telling them how life was when she was a little girl – it is fabulous!!! Anyway – just love love love your stories – take me back down memory lane!! thanks so much for sharing!
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks so much for reading, Ann! I’m sure you cherish your little white bowl just as I do.
Mrs. Jen B says
I can almost taste those grits now. I only had them for the first time not long ago (shocking, I know) and now I’m wishing I had some at home because I would definitely make them for dinner if I could! 🙂
Jackie Garvin says
I could eat grits anytime of the night or day!
Anne says
Mmmmmm, yummm.
( I’m stopping by from Giveaway Corner’s Saturday Social. )
Jackie Garvin says
Anne,
Thanks for stopping by!
Life Below Zero says
Angela says
What a precious story, thanks for sharing and prompting some pleasant memories for me as well. Grandpa was the coffee drinker, but Grandma made it in the little tin coffee pot. She was always cooking something, biscuits or chicken or my favorite, tiny little fried apple pies. Yum! She also made biscuits with mayonnaise instead of milk that I can’t find the right recipe to either, as with that milkless cake mentioned in another comment. She passed away when I was only 8 so I didn’t get to have her share any of her recipes with me. I have tried several mayo biscuit recipes, but they never have turned out right. Maybe one day I will find the right one. 🙂 Until then thanks for the memories! I found you on the Blog Hop at Giveaway Corner. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Angela
Jackie Garvin says
Angela,
If I happen to run across a biscuit recipe containing mayo, I will send it your way! Thanks for stopping by.
Yours Faithfully says
What a lovely story. Following you from the Saturday Social Blog Hop (www.yoursfaithfully.ca/blog). Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks for stopping by!
Adelina Priddis says
What wonderful memories! I don’t think I’ve ever heard it called syrup and biscuits, but we often had gravy and biscuits for a quick cheap dinner. I think it’s still one of my favorite dinners. You have a lovely blog!
Jackie Garvin says
Adelina,
Thanks for stopping by! Syrup and biscuits is different than gravy and biscuits. They both are wonderful! Syrup and biscuits is simply syrup pour over hot biscuits or syrup mixed with butter and then sopped up with the biscuits. Give it a try sometimes!
Lisa Ferguson says
Love this, reminds me of my childhood my grandmother raised me.
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks so much, Lisa!
Julia says
I’m a newbie to this site, and am enjoying browsing my way through
all the different blogs, recipes and stories. I grew up eating syrup and biscuits with either butter OR peanut butter. You will not believe what
a wonderful treat that is. Peanut butter mixed with good thick cane
syrup and eaten with my Mother’s hot bisuits was about as close to
Heaven as anyone will ever get on earth. Eaten as a dessert at any meal,
it was also a very nutritious breakfast.
My Father “saucered” his coffee too, and we kids were allowed to have
coffee-milk which worked very well to warm us on cold mornings before
walking the mile or more to school. I was born in 1935, and grew up helping
my parents take care of her caged hens and frying -sized roosters and we’d
all spend an entire weekend working in our Victory Garden all during the
war years and afterwards.
Daddy would buy half a beef at the city’s Lockers where everyone rented
freezer space. The people there would cut up the beef just as you wanted
it, package, label and keep it in your locker. You’d pick up whatever you
wanted when you wanted it. You could also take anything you wanted to
freeze like the day my Uncle called and told us my Grandfather was very
ill and in the hospital. I helped Mother kill and butcher her 47 pullets
to be taken to the locker for freezing.
The memories that others are sharing here are as familiar to me as the
backs of my own hands, and it’s a real pleasure to find you.
Thank you all for sharing so generously.
Julia
Jackie Garvin says
Julia,
Welcome to Syrup and Biscuits! What a blessing beyond measure to wake up and find such an eloquent comment waiting for me. You have touched my heart with your words and have described exactly what Syrup and Biscuits is all about. I hope you visit often. If you haven’t found us on Facebook yet, come on over. I have LOTS more recipes and shorter stories over there. (www.facebook.com/syrupandbiscuits)
SweetSugarBelle says
You made a lot of people smile with this one =)
Jackie Garvin says
SweetSugarBelle,
Thank you. A lot of people were kind enough to let me know they enjoyed this post. I sure enjoyed authoring it, too!
Donna Smith says
I recently found your site and I am loving it. We grew up on red-eyed gravy and hot biscuits also. We had this gravy and tomato gravy. They are my favorites to this day. thanks for sharing. I will have to go make some now.
Jackie Garvin says
Donna,
Welcome to Syrup and Biscuits! I am so happy you found us tucked away over here in our little corner of the world. I hope you visit us often. Invite your friends and family, too. We love company! Here’s are recipe for Ham Grits which is how I use my leftover Red-eye Gravy. This recipe actually starts the Red-eye gravy from scratch, but if I have some leftover from the precious morning, this is the way I use them up. I absolutely love, love, love these Ham Grits!! http://wp.me/P1lazE-tu
Thanks so much, Donna, for taking the time to read and comment. It means the world to me!
Mary Bearden says
Stopping by from the blog hop and now following your blog thru RSS Reader and Facebook. Gosh, the ham really looks good and I love grits but I don’t know about red eyed gravy but I bet my husband would love it! He loves all that salty tasting stuff! His mom makes biscuits with chocolate gravy every Christmas morning and I tried it but just can’t bring myself to eat chocolate on top of a biscuit. I feel the same way about IHOP’s chocolate pancakes. Just something about chocolate in breakfast food is so unappealing and I love chocolate. I would eat a chocolate donut for breakfast but I don’t want it mixed into something I consider real food for breakfast. I would love a follow back on Facebook and RSS when you get a chance. Thanks so much for your help and have a great day!
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks for stopping by, Mary! I subscribed to your feed and look forward to getting to know you.
I feel the same way you do about chocolate for breakfast. I not opposed to chocolate, at all. I just don’t crave it for breakfast. 🙂
Rhonda says
Thanks for sharing your memories of your grandparents. Felt like I was reading about mine and kinda got a bit verklempt!!
Jackie Garvin says
Rhonda,
I hope you have as many good memories of your grandparents as I do of mine! 🙂