Since I have to wait a few weeks for my friend Sandi to show me how to cook the squash blossoms, I thought I would share a recipe my mother made for Sunday dinner: Steak and Gravy.
My mother, although she on the top of my favorite cooks list, was not that great of a cook. But you know how it is with your own momma’s cookin’. It’s good no matter what, and you always crave those special meals from good ‘ole Mom.
Mom was raised during the depression in Bristol, VA and for a short time (while their family dodged the law) in Kannapolis, NC. She grew up eating everything from scratch. Meat from their own animals and vegetables that she helped plant and tend. Her mom made homemade bread, biscuits and desserts. Although she loved these types of foods, there was NO WAY she was going to all that trouble for a meal. Forget it. She got caught up in the 50s, 60s & 70s convenience cooking/canned vegetable and Crisco craze. I never had a piece of lettuce until I was 12 when salads became popular.
She wasn’t a quality cook, but she WAS a quantity cook. My father ate in restaurants for seven years while he was single before he met my mom, so we rarely went out to eat. She cooked breakfast and dinner every day. At lunch, Daddy would come home and she’d make him a ham sandwich and a cup of coffee.
That being said, my father was a butcher and she did make meat everyday. No vegetarians in our house. I thought the meat Daddy brought home was so special, because it always had the orange sticker, “Sale Today” stuck to the package. Well, now I know that it was about to expire, or expired, by the time it reached our house.
On Sundays, we would rotate between Steak and Gravy and Pot Roast w/cream of mushroom soup. Both are delicious, but my favorite was the Steak and Gravy because it was from scratch, which was rare in my house.
My mother struggled all her life trying to make gravy. She tried everything from adding a couple of drops of Kitchen Bouquet to color it brown, to just buying it. She really didn’t know how to make gravy consistently until she was in her 60s, but there was some miracle in the way she made this dish that the gravy miraculously worked. It was never bad. I’m sure there was much work behind the scenes that I didn’t know about.
Bonnie’s Steak and GravyServes 4
Tenderize about 2 lbs of round steak until thin (Beat the meat, as we say in our house. I know, crude, but it always gets a good laugh.) You can use a meat mallet, hammer or edge of a plate.
Cut it into serving-sized pieces, about the size of your palm, then salt and pepper them liberally on both sides and dredge them in flour.
Heat an iron skillet on medium high. Add oil enough to cover the bottom of the pan.
(I use a combination of butter and olive oil, but my mother probably used vegetable oil or margarine. Suit yourself.)
When the oil is hot, fry the steak pieces on both sides to get a crust. About three minutes or so on each side. You may have to do this in batches if you are making a lot. Don’t crowd them.
Put all the steak pieces back into the skillet and just barely cover with water. Add a little more salt and pepper.
Cover the skillet tightly and turn heat to low.
Simmer for about 2.5 – 3 hours. (This should get you out of going to church on Sundays.)
Remove steak pieces from the skillet. Let liquid cool for about 5 minutes while you make a slurry of flour and water. (Put 1/4 cup of flour in a glass with enough water to make a liquidy paste.)
Turn heat to medium high. Whisk the slurry mixture into the warm liquid until dissolved. Bring to a boil. If the gravy is too thin, add more flour. If too thick add more water. If it’s lumpy, strain it before serving if you’re prissy about it.
Taste the gravy. Add salt and pepper if necessary.
Add steak pieces back into gravy and turn heat to low, cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes. Steak should be so tender you can cut it with a fork.
Serve with mashed potatoes, canned green beans cooked to death with bacon and refrigerator biscuits aka “butter bites”.
You can serve a with a lovely Cotes du Rhone wine or simply a cup of coffee, like Bonnie did.
Have a cigarette.
Bonnie's Steak & Gravy Recipe
Grocery List
- 2 lbs of round steak
- Approx. 3/4 cup of flour (1/2 cup for dredging and 1/4 for thickening the gravy)
- Salt & Pepper
- Oil and/or Butter
- Tenderize about 2 lbs of round steak until thin. You can use a meat mallet, hammer or edge of a plate.
- Cut it into serving-sized pieces, about the size of your palm, then salt and pepper them liberally on both sides and dredge them in flour.
- Heat a skillet on medium high. Add oil enough to cover the bottom of the pan. (I use a combination of butter and olive oil, but my mother probably used vegetable oil or margarine.)
- When the oil is hot, fry the steak pieces on both sides to get a crust. About three minutes or so on each side. You may have to do this in batches if you are making a lot. Don’t crowd them.
- Put all the steak pieces back into the skillet and just barely cover with water. Add a little more salt and pepper.
- Cover the skillet tightly and turn heat to low.
- Simmer for about 2.5 – 3 hours.
- Remove steak pieces from the skillet. Let liquid cool for about 5 minutes while you make a slurry of flour and water. (Put 1/4 cup of flour in a glass with enough water to make a liquidy paste.)
- Turn heat to medium high. Whisk the slurry mixture into the warm liquid until dissolved. Bring to a boil. If the gravy is too thin, add more flour. If too thick add more water. Taste the gravy. Add salt and pepper if necessary.
- Add steak pieces back into gravy and turn heat to low, cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes. Steak should be so tender you can cut it with a fork.
Regular Cooks 