Southern · main

Country Ham with Red-Eye Gravy

Country Ham with Red-Eye Gravy reads richness 7.3, umami 7.1 and salinity 6.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Southern main, about 47 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 7.3 · Umami 7.1 · Salinity 6.5 · Bitterness 4.0 · Funk & Ferment 3.5 · Sweetness 3.1 · Earthy 2.3 · Smoke 2.0 · Nutty 1.8 · Warm Spice 1.7 · Heat 1.1 · Sourness 0.8

What's in it (9)

Time & effort: about 47 min · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 151.6 kcal, 4.1 g protein, 7 g fat, 20 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

  1. Country ham is a preserved product and should be understood as one: a whole hind leg rubbed with salt, sometimes with a little sugar and saltpetre, hung in a smokehouse and aged from three months to well over a year. The result is dry, dense, deep red, intensely salty and closer to prosciutto or jamon than to the wet-cured pink ham in a supermarket packet. Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee are the traditional producing states; Edwards, Benton's and Colonel Bill Newsom's all ship by mail, and Benton's is the smokiest of the three by a distance.
  2. Red-eye gravy is the two-ingredient pan sauce that goes with it: the salty, sugary fond left in the skillet, deglazed with black coffee. The name is variously said to come from the reddish eye of fat that floats in the middle or from the state of the farmer who made it. It should be thin — this is not a cream gravy and it is not thickened with flour. Anyone who adds flour has made something else.
  3. Take the ham out of the refrigerator 30 minutes ahead. Cut the rind off and slash the fat edge in three or four places so the slices do not cup and curl in the pan.
  4. Melt the lard in a heavy cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Lay in the ham slices without crowding and cook 4 minutes a side, until the fat is translucent and the lean has browned in patches. Do not go longer — country ham is already cured and cooked through, and overcooking turns it to leather and drives the salt up further. Lift the slices onto a warm plate.
  5. Pour the coffee and the water into the hot skillet all at once. It will erupt and hiss. Scrape every bit of the browned fond off the bottom with a flat wooden spoon as it boils, about 3 minutes.
  6. Stir in the brown sugar and the black pepper and let it reduce 5 minutes, until you have about 180 ml of thin, dark, glossy gravy with a distinct red rim of fat. Do not salt it; the ham has salted it for you. Swirl in the butter off the heat.
  7. Serve a slice of ham on each plate with grits and split biscuits, and pour the red-eye over everything, particularly over the grits — which is what it is really for.
  8. Substitutions: bacon drippings can stand in for the lard.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.