On Monday, September 5, 2016 at 2:32:24 PM UTC-4, Ophelia wrote:
> "Cindy Hamilton" wrote in message
> ...
>
> On Monday, September 5, 2016 at 1:36:59 PM UTC-4, Ophelia wrote:
>
> > I do make something similar but it would be dumplings (made with flour and
> > beef suet which turn out fluffy) on the top and of course, that is with
> > gravy
>
> My husband and I favor a lean dumpling made with very little (or no)
> fat, which I also cook from time to time. He doesn't care for stew over
> biscuits, so when we have that he has his biscuits on the side.
> Everybody wins.
>
>
> Oh yes. All down to preferences ...
>
>
> > Milk gravy? I've
> > never had that but can't say it appeals to me much How do you make
> > that?
>
> It's basically a thick béchamel made from the fat left when frying
> something. I used to make it from the remains of frying chicken
> (not deep-frying); sausage gravy is made from the fond left when
> cooking crumbled sausage (and the sausage is added back to the
> sauce before serving).
>
> I'd recommend pouring off all but a couple of tablespoons of fat, but
> I'm sure that frugal (and impoverished) housewives left it all in, to
> fuel their family's hard work on the farm.
>
> Cindy Hamilton
>
>
> Of course!! <g> To me that sounds more like a sauce, but then
> it's just different words to describe the same things eh?

It's pretty common (as I understand it) on the U.S. East Coast to refer
to a long-cooked ragu as "gravy". My pure guess on the origin is that
when Italians started coming to America and were learning English, their
neighbors didn't use the word "sauce" (which is kind of fancy), but did
use "gravy". Thus, a saucy concoction served over food is "gravy".

> I give you
> 'biscuits' and 'scones' )

Yep. Could be parallel evolution of the foodstuffs. "Biscuits" are
not cooked twice (as their name suggests), but if you're familiar
with hardtack, it seems an easy transition to call them by the same
thing. Before chemical leavening there was a "beaten biscuit" that
rose because air was incorporated into the dough by literally hitting
it with a hammer (or similar implement). These weren't tender like
leavened biscuits, but looked pretty close to the same.

Cindy Hamilton