Red Eye Gravy
A thin Southern gravy made by deglazing a ham pan with strong black coffee, served over country ham and biscuits.
Photograph credit: Country ham along with red-eye gravy by beccapie · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Make Ahead and Storage
Best eaten straight away.
Red Eye Gravy: The Method
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Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the ham for 3 minutes on each side until browned and the edges curl. Lift onto a plate.
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Pour the coffee into the hot pan and add the sugar and pepper. Scrape up all the browned bits and boil for 3 minutes until reduced by half.
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Pour the gravy over the ham and serve at once.
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Tips for Success
- Use strong coffee, double strength if possible.
- Scrape the pan well; the flavour is in the sticky bits.
- Do not add salt; the ham is salty.
Behind the Recipe
What do you do with a ham pan and a cup of coffee? You make red eye gravy. It is one of the simplest sauces there is: the fat and brown bits left from frying country ham are loosened with strong black coffee, which dissolves the sticky browned layer and turns the drippings into a thin, savoury, slightly bitter sauce.
It does not thicken. Red eye gravy is meant to be thin, and the name comes from the reddish colour it takes on, with the fat floating on top. The coffee must be strong, brewed double strength, because a weak cup gives a flat sauce. A teaspoon of brown sugar rounds off the bitterness.
Fry the ham first in a hot, dry pan for 3 minutes a side, then lift it out. Pour the coffee into the hot pan and scrape the base for a couple of minutes while it bubbles and reduces. Spoon the gravy over the ham and split biscuits or grits. The ham is already salty, so there is no need to season it.
What to Put Next to It
Buttermilk biscuits · Grits · Fried eggs · Fried apples
Red Eye Gravy Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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