This almost Broke My Southern Heart

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I have a friend who's family is locally famous for their sausage, and he still makes it right down the road from here. SO for sausage, we have several options and they are quite good. Come by sometime, you make the biscuits, and I'll do the gravy. Otherwise you get the frozen Mrs. B's. They aren't homemade, but they are a good second.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I do love some white pepper for sure...not sure where you are located but in my time living in New Mexico I found my favorite addition to be proper hatch green chilie! It seemed weird to me at first but omg its so good.

Regarding that cast iron...I have made it with and without...I don't see a noticeable difference aside from the novelty of cooking like an 1800s pioneer. I have a couple cast irons passed down from my dads parents which I bet are pushing that 100 year mark...possibly over 100 years old.

a reply to: RickyD

Regarding that cast iron...I have made it with and without...I don't see a noticeable difference aside from the novelty of cooking like an 1800s pioneer. I have a couple cast irons passed down from my dads parents which I bet are pushing that 100 year mark...possibly over 100 years old.

When you crumble the sausage in the cast iron it starts to cook. Then it fries it in it's own fat and creates a slightly crisp coating. Other cookware can do this, but cast iron does it differently. It is subtle, and the taste difference is subtle too. but there is a reason southern cooks have used it so long. It is very heavy and hard to manage, but there is a reason it is prefered. I'm not saying you can't cook a good biscuit and gravy in another vessel but I prefer cast iron.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
I’m not really Southern but I’ve always said I’m an old Southern Lady trapped in a Sassy Asian ladies body. I heard that when you are reincarnated that they put you in the you in a body dislike the most. Wouldn’t that be interesting and what a way to learn compassion? I’ve heard a lot of the most homophobic people are actually closeted gay..hmmm Or people that hate a certain race hate themselves the most….

Back to food. So there is an old Southern lady in me and she knows her southern food. Home cooked on an iron skillet kind of food. The other day my husband and I were traveling and we stopped for breakfast. My fellow southern eaters, please brace yourself for what I’m about to share with you………….

Brace yourselves!

We stopped at a restaurant and to my surprise they had Biscuits and Gravy on the menu. My heart pittered pattered. I couldn’t believe it, outside of Cracker Barrel, it’s just not something that is made, or eaten up here. Same with Sweet Tea.
So I happily order it. My mouth is watering, I’m dreaming of southern biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

When it arrived I let out a plllllllllp……..

There it sat. A biscuit that appeared to be made from from a tube, but oh my, that is not where the atrocity starts.
Poured on this biscuit was beef gravy from a can, with mushrooms and parsley.
YES as in pot roast gravy, on morning biscuits! I had to laugh. What this looked like was a Yankee cook that was told biscuits and gravy is real popular so they should try to add it to the menu, without them having ever seeing it or tasting it.
Then the worst part, the waitress came out and she said Aren’t the Biscuits great. My husband gave me “the look”. The look is him saying please don’t be sassy today over adulterated biscuits and gravy. So I bit my lip and smiled and said uh huh. Surely she knew we were lying as we left a full plate of it!

I know one thing for sure, if they ever have chicken and dumplings, or grits I will 10000% not order it!

I agree with network dude authentic sausage sawmill gravy is easy as hell to make and is cheap as hell too. Flour milk salt and pepper and some sausage crumbles fried and the grease.

One reason it was such a staple for the south, a fluffy buttermilk biscuit split with a tiny pat of butter and smother in real sawmill gravy and you don't have to eat for a week it's so filling. It's like my grandmother used to say when you are feeding a family of 12 during the depression you have to stretch the one pig you slaughtered for the winter, thus every dinner and breakfast had biscuits and gravy of some sort usually sawmill

I agree with what Jim Gaffigan said, no wonder people in the south talk so slowly, we all just had sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast LOL.

FWIW biscuits from scratch can be a little more difficult, but from a can, hell no, Popeyes biscuits are decent, and we have used Mrs. T's frozen biscuits OK for frozen but none of them are like my mom's. Ive seriously tried to get her to make a batch and let me freeze them to be cooked later and see how they turn out.

IIRC correctly just flour, milk, and Crisco mixed together solid and baked in a big cast iron skillet and we always like ours well done where the outside was crispy and the inside was fluffy white they delicious by themselves. These biscuits are smaller and thinner than most traditional southern doughy biscuits

a reply to: network dude

Say no more!

I’m sure it’s the best. Your state is to pork as Texas is to the bovine.

One day I want to check out some of those whole hog bbq joints Anthony Bourdain had on his show. Looks phenomenal, and it’s such a pretty state.

a reply to: CriticalStinker



A snippet of my teas. I didn't buy a single one of these! My other cabinet isn't as aesthetic as a lot of those loose leaf are in brown packages. I'd never judge a tea by it's container either.

One of my favorites is cheap ol' Jasmine Tea in the sunflower yellow tin (not pictured). I noticed that changed over Covid. China must be sending us their seconds and it's awful now.

The terrible thing is that I love tea so much but have become very sensitive to caffeine so I rarely drink it these days. I'm hoping to get over the sensitivities soon.

a reply to: putnam6

Popeyes biscuits are decent,

I love Popeyes chicken but only get it once a year. Where we are the Popeyes is truly awful so we only get while traveling out of state.
The last Popeyes I was at, it was either Kentucky or Tennessee had a sign that said if you order a biscuit it is required that you have drink, if you haven't bought one please see a cashier for a cup of water. It was not a joke, I'm assuming someone ate one with nothing else and choked.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Oh lord, I’d be in heaven. Plus the gifts are nice since it gets you to try varieties you may not have picked on your own.


I probably have a pound in various loose leaf myself 😁

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: JAGStorm

I lord, I’d be in heaven. Plus the gifts are nice since it gets you to try varieties you may not have picked on your own.


I probably have a pound in various loose leaf myself 😁

Yes and you find out which ones you absolutely dislike, for me that’s Rooibos! Taste like old leather boots smell! YuCK!
I prefer black malty teas. I also like Ginseng tea but it doesn’t like me. It makes me very warm.

I’ve also grown some of my own herbal teas. Chamomile, lemon balm etc.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I am not Southern but even I know that should be white sausage gravy.

Bojangles biscuits FTW

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: putnam6

Popeyes biscuits are decent,

I love Popeyes chicken but only get it once a year. Where we are the Popeyes is truly awful so we only get while traveling out of state.
The last Popeyes I was at, it was either Kentucky or Tennessee had a sign that said if you order a biscuit it is required that you have drink, if you haven't bought one please see a cashier for a cup of water. It was not a joke, I'm assuming someone ate one with nothing else and choked.

We used to live really close to a decent Popeyes and they always had nice fresh-cooked biscuits. They weren't at all like my Moms biscuits but we usually get ours and let them bake in the oven another 7-8 minutes and get crispier and they were decent enough

I used to go get a half dozen biscuits for our breakfast and get a good ripe tomato from the vegetable stand and be completely happy with one or two sliced tomato biscuit sandwiches for breakfast.

Just got Popeyes the other day and this new place is lousy, the biscuits were cold and hard and the chicken was undercooked. We won't be eating at that one again, I try not to eat fast food as it is but was really hoping for a better experience.

originally posted by: Crackalackin
Bojangles biscuits FTW

Bojangles is pretty good too, we just never had one close by.

a reply to: putnam6
I love their biscuits. Always made from scratch.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I’m not really Southern but I’ve always said I’m an old Southern Lady trapped in a Sassy Asian ladies body.

Which in no way makes you less Southern.
If you complain about the gravy you get at breakfast you are 100% Southern .
To a real Southerner , there is no perfect gravy.

originally posted by: Gothmog
a reply to: JAGStorm

I’m not really Southern but I’ve always said I’m an old Southern Lady trapped in a Sassy Asian ladies body.

Which in no way makes you less Southern.
If you complain about the gravy you get at breakfast you are 100% Southern .
To a real Southerner , there is no perfect gravy.

LOL Jagstorm has no doubt moved from honorary Southern woman status to full fledge membership.

Opinionated
check

Well-versed in multiple fields and subjects
check

Interested in Conspiracy theories and the paranormal
check

Completely comfortable telling men folk they are full of it
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Knows biscuit and gravy essentials
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Extra credit as per Jeff Foxworthy

Putting the worm on a fish hook

A good weekend is going mud bogging

Telling the police officer to kiss your ass, while you have a lit cigarette dangling from your lips

There used to be a few restaurants around here that made real biskets and gravy. I am sure the biskets were like the box biscuit mixes that they make at night. I had some at a local small restaurant last year, homemade gravy on it but the bisket was not fresh that day. I think if you are going to get them it is better to order there the day of the fish fry because they do seem to make them that day if people want them..

I tried them in fast food style restaurants, they are crap. They have them on buffets sometimes, again crap.

Well bless their hearts I tell you what...Forgive them Lord for they know not what they do, they just know not.

Southern redneck isnt a color or a race, its a lifestyle. You dont even have to be from the South, just look at Kid Rock!

I absolutely loved working in restaurants. I worked at 2 French, 2 seafood, 1 Italian, and 1 breakfast restaurant. The only reason I left was for the money. I went to work as a steel worker and made bank working overtime and double-time.

Make your own biscuits and gravy. If you aren't clear on the procedure, pull up some YouTube videos. I still use them when I do a refresher. I rarely eat in restaurants anymore. My cooking is superior.

Tonight was Pho. Rice stick in seasoned beef broth ( 5 spice, and star anise) with Golden Mountain sauce, and oyster sauce, Paper thin sliced choice marbled top round beef, sliced Spanish onions, chopped cilantro, wonderful fragrant Thai basil, fresh mung bean sprouts, hoisin sauce, and rooster sauce.

Good meat starts with hand ground good quality cuts of pork. Fresh pork. Parsley, Sage, Rosmary and thyme......... Quality butter, and a splash of heavy cream if you like. Fresh cracked peppercorns. I use Kosher peppercorns. Then sea salt to taste. I use Maldons. If you are feeling Asian, I suggest a splash of Golden Mountain sauce, and a dribble of Lady in the boat Oyster sauce. I use organic flour to thicken.

I wont advise you on biscuits. You know what to do.

a reply to: JAGStorm

If you explained Redeye Gravy to them, you would literally smell the copper wiring burning as their mind unraveled.