[Sca-cooks] regional potluck

[Philip W. Troy & Susan Troy]

Sandragood at aol.com wrote:

> would you be willing to share your recipe for the chocolate gravy?  I have
> tried myself to recreate it after having it at a friend's mother's house one
> morning.  It was to-die-for and have missed it terribly.
>
> Liz
> (Who lives in Tennessee and has come to think this may be one of those family
> secrets they talk so much about)

This is adapted somewhat to ingredients available in New York City, and
compensating for things like homegenized, supermarket milk instead of
real, fresh cow-type milk, but here's how it appears in the fundraiser
cookbook from my son's school. It's has been pronounced as not _exactly_
perfect, but by no means sucking.

> Arkansas Chocolate Gravy -- from Allison Lassieur, aunt of Brennan Troy, K301
>
> This is a little-known regional specialty from the American South, and is exactly what the name says it is. Best made, and washed down, with farm-fresh milk.
>
> Serves 2
>
> Combine in a heavy saucepan 2 Tbs cocoa (Hershey's is the preferred brand), about 2 Tbs sugar, more or less, depending on how sweet you like it, and 1 Tbs flour. Mix thoroughly.
>
> Into that mixture, add about 1 cup of milk, a little at a time, mixing until smooth. If it ends up being too thick, you can add more milk later to thin it.
>
> Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently,
> till thickened. Check for desired thickness and sweetness, and adjust if necessary.
>
> Remove from the heat, and stir in 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
>
> Pour over buttered biscuits, and serve with cold milk. Makes about one cup, which is two servings or so.

What I tend to make when left to my own devices is a fairly thin, dark,
cocoa-flavored white sauce, starting with a white-to-blonde roux (butter
helps store-bought milk), adding the cocoa, then whipping in the milk.
I'm told this is _highly_ heretical, but that the final product is
adjudged good by those with experience in these matters. I also add a
very tiny pinch of salt.

The trouble with using homogenized milk is that the product never seems
to become the right, almost-black-coffee color; the type of flour may be
partly responsible for that, too.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98