Sunday, March 25, 2012

gravy train

We all have our favorite comfort food. Noodles are pretty universal. Nutella seems to be pretty popular on Pinterest. You know what I mean. Some parts of the world it means mom's meatloaf with a side of mashed taters and mac-n-cheese. In others it is a little more exotic, if I have learned anything from Anthony Bourdain. Rotten tofu anyone? In the South, it usually means something fried and probably topped with gravy.

Ahh gravy. That rib sticking, soul warming slop that goes great on everything from a lowly country fried steak to a prized Thanksgiving turkey. In all its forms it is always welcome on the table. Giblet, redeye, brown, white - you name it and it is bound to bring on a tummy rumble. Here's the rub - it almost always requires some form of animal and this is a downer for a vegetarian craving comfort food.

Well never fear fellow vegheads. You can have you gravy and eat it too. Take these sausage and biscuits the carnivore and I had the other morning. Of course, his gravy was made with sausage grease as a base, but I simply fried a fake sausage patty in a bit of olive oil. I broke it into pieces (just like I do with a real one for the carnivore) to add in meaty lumps and flavor. One has to be sacrificed for the greater good of the gravy. Then a couple of tablespoons of flour and a splash or two of milk. Whisk until thick and then spoon over the buttermilk biscuits and more fake patties. You'd be surprised at how comforting a fake gravy can be. Or real, whatever floats your (gravy) boat.

(P.S. My fake version has strawberries on the plate, and his real version has grapes. Mine even looks prettier, don't you think?)

1 comment:

  1. The fella at my house is vegetarian, and he's always said that the only thing he misses is chicken fried steak. I got tired of hearing about it, so I grabbed some burger patties, thawed them out, breaded them, and pan fried them. Obviously it's not the healthiest meal, but he's from the south, and like you said- his comfort food is fried and probably covered in gravy. Anyway, you should give it a shot for dinner one night, you ALMOST can't even tell it's fake meat.

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