Whatever Happened To Cracker Barrel's Red-Eye Gravy?
Cracker Barrel prides itself as being a place where people can go and get down-home, homemade Southern comfort food, be it fried, boiled, or baked. But one such item that Cracker Barrel served wasn't exactly a main course item, but a type of condiment: red-eye gravy.
Despite what you make think, red-eye gravy doesn't have a blood-red color. In fact, Southern Living describes the gravy as simply being "nothing more than fried county ham drippings and strong black coffee." While red-eye gravy is believed to have strong Southern roots (making it an obvious choice of a menu item at Cracker Barrel), one popular urban legend tells us that it was U.S. President Andrew Jackson who had a hand in the gravy's invention. According to legend, per Atlas Obscura, Jackson told a hungover camp cook to make him a ham with gravy that was "as red as the chef's eyes." It's a Southern Thing speculates the reason for red-eye gravy's name is because it resembles an "eye" when the coffee grounds sink to the bottom. It seemed red-eye gravy was a popular item at Cracker Barrel until the chain discontinued it.
People were pretty upset over the loss of red-eye gravy
Plenty of items at your local Cracker Barrel have been around for quite some time, with no sign of going anywhere. Perhaps this is why people became so upset when in 2017, Cracker Barrel seemed to remove its beloved red-eye gravy from the menu almost overnight, via Mental Floss.
Yahoo! reports that it wasn't like Cracker Barrel was struggling to purchase the ingredients or needed to special order anything to prepare the gravy. Indeed, the chain still serves its country ham and black coffee, the two main ingredients in making red-eye gravy.
Perhaps it was just a matter of "clearing house." Mental Floss does tell us that red-eye gravy was being discontinued around the same the shepherd's pie was being introduced. Maybe Cracker Barrel decided to make some extra room by removing some minor menu items to make room for a new item. But thankfully, you can easily make your own red-eye gravy at home.
Copycat red-eye gravy is easy to make
Rest assured, Cracker Barrel still has plenty of gravy for your meat and potatoes to go around. But if you find that its sawmill gravy doesn't scratch the itch that red-eye gravy did, you'll be happy to know that making the gravy isn't too complicated and can be made very easily and inexpensively at home.
According to YouTube chef and food reviewer TheWolfePit's take on the recipe, all one needs is country ham steak or pieces. Fry the country ham in butter for two to three minutes for each side until the ham is browned and cooked through on all sides. Once your preferred amount of ham is fried, add a mixture of strong black coffee and water into the pan to deglaze it, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove the browned fats at the bottom. Turn the heat up to medium-high, allowing the mixture to come to a boil while adding pepper and sugar to taste. After the gravy comes to a boil, lower the heat and allow the gravy to simmer uncovered until it begins to thicken. As the gravy thickens, add a pat of butter and stir until the butter is well-combined into the gravy.
Just as long as you don't order gravy with your take-out, Cracker Barrel still offers gravy to those needing a bit of good old Southern flavor in their lives.