Fried Country Ham with Red-Eye Gravy
Submitted by dennisray
Fried country ham with red-eye gravy: the classic Southern breakfast of thick-sliced salt-cured ham fried in its own fat, deglazed with hot coffee. Two ingredients, pure tradition.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
40 minREADY
1 hrsRed-eye gravy is Appalachian and Southern breakfast tradition distilled to two ingredients: country ham and brewed coffee. The name comes from the appearance, a reddish-brown ‘eye’ of coffee-colored pan sauce that forms after the ham’s salty drippings meet hot java.
Country ham is nothing like the pink deli slices most people know. It’s dry-cured for months, aggressively salty, and intensely flavored, more like prosciutto than boiled ham. The salt is a feature, not a bug. Paired with grits or biscuits, it makes sense.
The technique is cast-iron specific. Rendered fat from the ham’s edge greases the skillet, the ham slice browns on both sides, then you pull it out and pour in fresh brewed coffee. A minute of stirring deglazes the pan, combining the coffee with the salty fond into a thin, bitter-savory gravy. Unusual to modern palates but perfect poured over white grits.
This is authentic country breakfast, the kind of recipe Cracker Barrel sells 100,000 orders of a year without quite matching at home.
Chef Tips
- Use a genuine country ham (aka ‘salt-cured ham'). City hams or honey hams produce entirely different results.
- Soak the ham slice in water for an hour beforehand if you find it too salty.
- Don’t drain the rendered pan fat before adding coffee; the fat is what gives the gravy its body.
- Use strong, bitter black coffee. Weak drip coffee makes watery gravy.
Variations
- Add a tablespoon of brown sugar to the gravy for a sweeter Appalachian twist.
- Splash in a tablespoon of bourbon along with the coffee for depth.
- Serve over buttermilk biscuits instead of grits for a different regional spin.
Ingredients
Directions
Cut off a strip of fat from the outside rim of the ham, leaving a portion of the fat intact.
Cut the strip of fat into small cubes.
Using a sharp knife, cut the fat remaining on the ham at intervals down to the meat.
Put the cubed fat into a skillet, preferably of black cast iron, and cook, stirring, until the fat is rendered.
Scoop out and discard the rendered pieces of fat.
Add the ham slice to the skillet and fry until nicely browned on one side.
Turn the slice and continue frying until brown and cooked through.
Remove the ham slice.
Pour the coffee into the slcillet and cook, stirring, about 1 minute.
Cut the ham slice into 2 to 4 pieces and serve the gravy on the side, to be poured over grits and/or spooned over the ham pieces.
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