Country Ham with Red Eye Gravy
Ingredients
- To reduce the saltiness of the ham, soak for several hours or
- overnight in either water or milk. Rinse well and patt dry. Most
- of the border of fat surrounding the slices should be trimmed and
- reserved. When ready to prepare, render the reserved fat and remove
- and reserve the crisp pieces.
Instructions
Fry ham slices until they color and are browned. Remove to a warm platter. Without removing the fat from the pan, deglaze the pan with black coffee, water, or a mixture of the two. Cook to reduce slightly and, if desired, add back the crisp rendered pieces. Serve over and along with the ham, which is usually accompanied by grits. The gravy is excellent over the grits as well. It's called red eye gravy because the droplets of ham fat in the gravy are reddish brown and usually form small circular droplets.