Iron Skillet Love

One of my all time favorite meals is squirrel gravy. Now it is a must, must, must to have a iron skillet. There is a flavor that comes from the iron that you can not get from a pan. calm the hell down I'm not here to talk down about your Rachel Ray's non stick pans that take very little oil to cook full meals in 30 min. Iron can take the heat and any scratching one must do to get all the scrapings off the bottom for the best damn gravy out there.

Now you have to learn how to care for your delicate flours, no that is not bull shit. The one thing iron needs is seasoned. Other than that, just clean after your done and add a little oil so it don't rust and boom!

If you have purchased an iron skillet I can tell you you don't know where that thing has been so the best way to clean it is with steel wool, baking soda and water. Let it soak in warm water for a bit and add 2 TBS of baking soda and scrub with the steel wool until the inside of the pan is clear of rust. Next you'll set your oven to 400 degrees and while the stove is warming up, wipe the skillet with a light coating of rendered animal fat (bacon grease, sausage grease, some rendered fat, etc.) When the pan heats up, the cast iron's pours open up and lets the grease down in to them to seal it and keep it from rusting and sticking. When the oven has reached 400 degrees carefully put the iron skillet on the top rack and close to door for 2 hr. Yep it's going to smoke and as long as you've used, oh lets say bacon grease and NOT vegetable oil it will be fine. After 2 hr turn the stove off, open the door, put on your oven mitts and retrieve the iron skillet. Be very careful it will be dangerously hot. I put mine on the back burner and keep everyone away until it cools. What if your now seasoned iron skillet sticks? Well that's just its nature. lets say you've fixed hamburgers in the iron skillet and dinners done. The burgers were juicy, your belly is full, your now ready to clean up the kitchen. Your scraping the grease out of your skillet and burger is stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Calm down, no there is no need for the SOS pad. just put water in the skillet and return it to the heat. When it comes to a slight boil, gently scrape it off with a metal spatula, dump out the water carefully, and dry it off with a cloth or paper towel. Spray it with a little non stick spray (just to help prevent rust) and put it away. 

 Growing up with a grandmother living next door has its advantages. On Saturday nights I would stay up late playing cards and watching tv with my granny Sade and grandpa Oaky. Granny would get up early every Sunday and make all of us biscuits, sausage, gravy and eggs from scratch. Not gravy from a can but actual sausage gravy. The smell of the browning flour in grease till it was all but burnt is forever in my sinuses. That's the trick, dark brown color with a distinct smell of smoke then let it get a little darker. 

The process of gravy making has two keys for success. Start by frying up your choice of bacon or sausage. After it's done put in on a paper towel to drain and cool. Drain all but 4 tablespoons of the grease away (I prefer to put it in a coffee cup to be used later). Return the skillet to the heat and add 4 tablespoons of self risen flour. Your looking for a tooth paste consistsy. Take a metal spatula and scrape the bottom of the skillet to get all the goodness, making sure to keep stirring all the mixture in the pan. remembering you want it all to brown evenly. In between stirring, grab a cold bottle of water from the fridge for the gravy. Well cold water when poured on the almost burnt bubbling paste will keep the gravy from lumping up on ya. Now back to the paste go ahead and add salt and pepper (or you can wait till later) and keep stirring till it's dark. Just when you think it's dark enough leave it just a bit longer, carefully add the water so as to not splash this hot as hell concoction on your feet like I did and stir till it starts boiling again. Is your gravy to thick? Add some water. 

Is your gravy to thin? Don't you dare add more flour just simply let it reduce. Your patience will be rewarded. Oh and you can add salt and pepper to taste and let's not forget to add the meat you had cooling off on the towel. 

Gravy isn't the healthiest for you I know but every thing is in moderation and besides you've worked you ass off for this meal. So spread your gravy over a cat head biscuit and enjoy. If your gravy lacks taste then next time burn it a little more. If it's too thick try adding a little milk for shits and giggles. This is the basics of poor mans gravy and you can tailor it to your own taste without judgement.