How to cook swill by Smockity Frocks

[meda]

I just noticed that one of my favorite bitchy bloggers has "Reel life" videos on her blog. The most recent is a 5 minute gem of her making so called cream gravy while exhorting her many offspring to change their clothes for church. The gravy recipe consists of about a cup of oil ladled directly from her deep fat frier, the same flour she used to coat her chicken, and milk. The whole pasty mess is barely cooked. I am a fan of comfort food, but that was just wrong.

 

smockityfrocks.com/

[GenerationCedarchip]

Ewww - I grew up eating plenty of southern home cooking, but that sounds just awful. I wonder if you serve that on the side with tater tot casserole?

[holierthanyou]

If the *crucial* part of her recipe is to make sure you have exactly the same amount of flour as you do oil, I am rather bewildered as to why she would not measure either.

[desertvixen]

All I have to say is yuck. That was not fun - and, um, using the same flour your used to coat the chicken? I know it's getting cooked and all but that kind of squicks me.

Admittedly, this is how I make cream gravy.

1. Go to store, buy McCormick's Country Gravy Mix.

2. Combine with milk as directed.

3. Serve on food.

or skip steps 1-3 and go to Cracker Barrel....

[doggie]

this is a typical way to make gravy. oil or pan drippings in the pan add flour make a rew this keeps the flour from lumping when you add the milk. add the milk bring to a boail thats its for good gravy. I have done this with bacon grease four and canned milk. my wife grew up on this and loves it.

[ADoyle90815]

I wouldn't use the flour the chicken was dipped in, but making a roux with the oil, drippings, and flour is the typical way to make cream gravy.

[Wolfie]

First of all, oil isn't the same as drippings, not the same flavor, not the same texture. I have often made gravy with drippings or stock, but never oil. (not southern, but grew up with Mennonite family recipes, even though my great grandma left the Dunker Church in the early 1900's.) If the oil actually had flavor from the chicken, I could see that, but I've never had much flavor left in oil from deep frying. (It's why restaurants can use the same oil for most fried items and those with allergies have to check what has been fried.)

[meda]

I think that's what was bothering me, that she used the same flour she rolled raw chicken in, and then barely cooked it. Also the fact that she used what looked like a solid cup of god knows how old deep fat frier oil. It looked like there was more oil than milk in the pan. I've made cream gravy from bacon grease and pan drippings too, I thought you were only supposed to use a few tablespoons.

[Witsec7]

I use oil when I make golden gravy (an old hippy standby) but I also add lots of rubbed sage and pepper.

[doggie]

not sure of the flavor of the oil I never deep fry anything. but I can see using the seasoned flour though I mean it is ready to go. but it may be too much seasoning though.

[Wolfie]

Yeah, the seasoned flour doesn't bother me if the gravy is cooked through- it really does get cooked if you actually let it thicken.

For some reason my brain moved on to actual yummy cooking and it wants a sweet white sauce made with unrefined coconut oil. (Since white sauce Mennonite style is basically sweet gravy.) Only a small percentage of the sauce would be the coconut oil, but since just frying french toast in it adds so much flavor, I don't think much would be needed.

[doggie]

canned milk works so well and adds lots of lavor.

[Wolfie]

I much prefer fresh or frozen milk, unless a recipe calls for condensed or evaporated milk.

[SunnyAndrsn]

The country gravy recipe I use calls for a couple of tablespoons of drippings from the sausage. Usually, I don't have enough, and according to Betty Crocker you can use butter to make up the difference. Butter versus oil flavor is a no-brainer in my opinion.

The several tablespoons of drippings/fat are combined with a couple of tablespoons of flour to make a roux, and then the milk (about a cup--must use at least 2% or it looks and tastes like white water) is added. Salt and pepper to taste, add back the sausage, and dump over homemade biscuits.

Needless to say, this is a recipe that we rarely make because of the fat content.

Despite that, I'm making this fat and sugar laden monstrosity from Rachael Ray tomorrow:

Ingredients

1 package bacon, chopped

1 8-ounce jar maple syrup

1 stick butter

1 package (8 biscuits) home-style buttermilk biscuits, preferred brand Pillsbury

Basically, you cook the bacon pieces, laying 1/2 the bacon over 1/2 the torn up biscuits in a greased pan. Repeat, saving a few pieces of bacon for the top. Melt the butter and maple syrup, then bake at 375 until it's a golden.

It sounds and looks weird, but it's that wonderful combination of salty and sweet.

I've made this once, and it's rather decadent. My husband just got back from out of town and has been having a craving for it. That's my excuse for making it--I'm sticking to it!

[bananacat]

I don't like any gravy at all, but this sounds even more horrible than most gravy. I also think it's weird that people own deep fryers. Yeah, I know a lot of non-fundies have them, but it seems weird to me. I loves me some junk food, but I just don't fry things often enough to warrant buying an appliance specifically for that. On the other hand, I also don't own a coffee maker or a toaster, and I use my toaster oven for toast. I cook almost everything on the stovetop, toaster oven, or microwave.

[Wolfie]

I don't like any gravy at all, but this sounds even more horrible than most gravy. I also think it's weird that people own deep fryers. Yeah, I know a lot of non-fundies have them, but it seems weird to me. I loves me some junk food, but I just don't fry things often enough to warrant buying an appliance specifically for that. On the other hand, I also don't own a coffee maker or a toaster, and I use my toaster oven for toast. I cook almost everything on the stovetop, toaster oven, or microwave.

If you have a gas or propane stove, it's slightly safer to have an electric fryer than to use the stove. I actually don't have an electric fryer, but I don't deep fry stuff, too much oil wasted for one person, even if I were to filter and save it. My parents used theirs a few times a month when I was a child- french fries, fried chicken, tempura, ect... One of my favorites was deep fried tofu. mmmmm.

But again, if you reuse the oil, you are supposed to filter it, not just leave it in the fryer and reuse it a bunch of times.

ETA- my family is also very guilty of having lots of appliances. And we buy even more appliances and kitchen tools for each other often. We do eventually get rid of stuff if we don't use it. I've recently discovered that my electric veggie steamer is great for cooking hard "boiled" eggs. It has a timer and turns itself off right on time.

[doggie]

I finally watched it and the fat she uses has a lot of chicken fat in it as it is pretty yellow. but she uses way too much fat and flour for what little milk she uses. the flour is cooked well but if she cooked it more it would be way too thick. too small of a pan too so she makes a mess. Her chicken looked like turns in a cesspool floating around.

[doggie]

I much prefer fresh or frozen milk, unless a recipe calls for condensed or evaporated milk.

mine does bacon grease gravy bacon grease flour and canned milk it is pretty good and flavorful.

[Jezebel]

If you have a gas or propane stove, it's slightly safer to have an electric fryer than to use the stove. I actually don't have an electric fryer, but I don't deep fry stuff, too much oil wasted for one person, even if I were to filter and save it.

I ended up with a deep-fryer for free--people moving out of my neighborhood are always leaving piles of stuff they don't want to deal with on the curbs or in the alleys, and a couple of years ago I got a deep-fryer and a toaster oven (which I use to bake polymer clay in) that way.

It's not something I would have bought, and I was going to donate it to Goodwill. But I got a late-night French fry craving before I was able to make a donation run, gave it a try, and decided to keep it. I use it only occasionally, whenever I get serious, unkillable cravings for something deep-fried. I figure since it lets me control what kind of oil is used and what ingredients go into the food, it's not such a bad thing. I also only use it outside, so I don't have to deal with grease-spatter all over my kitchen (plus, some things, such as fish and falafel, stink the whole damned house up). I filter the oil each time and store it in a jug in the fridge so it doesn't go rancid, because sometimes it'll go 3-4 months between uses. I've also lugged it along to casual parties and churned out piles of French fries and homemade chicken nuggets with it, and that's been a huge hit.

When I was a kid, we used to eat at an Italian restaurant that offered deep-fried zucchini and mushrooms, and I loved those things. So now, in the summer, when I start to get bombarded with zucchini, I make them myself. I also like stuffing squash blossoms with a blend of cheeses, breading them, and deep-frying them. Served with homemade marinara dipping sauce? OMG YUM.

That said, there's no way I would use the oil from it to make gravy. That sounds incredibly nasty.

[AnnieC 305]

OK, my favorite way to cook fried chicken.

http://youtu.be/gRMzDox-pMo

And make gravy

http://youtu.be/1CMBbvbi5bA

Seriously, there are so many better outlets for learning about how too cook than any of these people!

Edited because I cannot spell....

[Jezebel]

OK, my favorite way to cook friend chicken.

http://youtu.be/gRMzDox-pMo

Oh. My.

I know what I'm making for dinner sometime this week... :D

[ladypuglover]

I didn't know you could use oil to make gravy and I'm not going to find out any time soon. TMI as to why. :oops: I'm a regular snob when it comes to southern cooking as I'm used to my mother's recipes and they all called for pan drippins. Nothing yummier than good old pan drippins and her secert ingredient was using the wondra brand to thicken it up, better than corn starch or flour. Thankfully she showed my husband and me how to make wonderful gravy from all different kinds of fats. But never oil. :snooty: