Here's Pork in Your Eye

It doesn't matter what part of the South you visit, pork is bound to show up on the menu. At the Silver Skillet in Atlanta, country ham and red-eye gravy is a signature dish. Having never tried red-eye gravy, my husband and I stopped in for breakfast one Saturday morning and found eggs, grits, biscuits and red-eye gravy make a hearty meal.

At the Silver Skillet, center slices of fried country ham are first hand-trimmed and marinated overnight in soy sauce, brown sugar, paprika and cola. Drippings from the marinade are mixed with hot coffee to make red-eye gravy.

Legend says red-eye gravy got its name from a cook who worked for General Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president. General Jackson asked the cook to prepare some gravy to accompany his country ham. The cook's eyes were bloodshot from drinking moonshine. Word spread around camp, and from then on, the gravy was known as red-eye.

Typical ingredients in red-eye gravy are fried ham drippings and strong black coffee. Some recipes call for additional ingredients like Worcestershire sauce and black pepper.

Watch a visit to the Silver Skillet from Guy Fieri of Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and see how red-eye gravy is made.

I Believe in Peace, Love and Hominy

Many times, I've tried to like grits. But I could never get past the bland taste and grainy texture. In the South, eating grits is pretty much a religion, and I have to say the Hominy Grill has finally made me a believer.

My brother Matt, sister-in-law Teresa and I recently visited this downtown Charleston, S.C., establishment for breakfast. I took one bite of Matt's plate of shrimp and grits and thought, "That's what I should've ordered!" I had buckwheat pancakes that were mighty tasty, but nothing akin to the savory goodness of shrimp sauteed with mushrooms, scallions and bacon atop a creamy "sauce" of cheese grits.

No wonder it was so good. Turns out that Hominy Grill's Chef Robert Stehling won the James Beard Best Chef Southeast award in 2008.

I did a little research and found out that grits--or hominy--was first introduced to colonists in Jamestown, Va., by Native Americans as bowls of boiled corn. The Indians called it "rockahomine," and colonists shortened the word to "hominy."

Today, shrimp and grits is a quintessential Southern dish that's graduated from breakfast into dinner menus of swanky restaurants across the South. Readers of Garden & Gun magazine recently named shrimp and grits the winner over (gasp!) pulled pork barbecue in a Southern Food Championship.

Of course, Jenn would probably disagree. She's a lover of Lexington-style BBQ, and who can blame her? I may believe in hominy, but I don't believe in comparisons when it comes to picking a favorite Southern food. It's just too hard to do!

As for the rest of you out there who aren't exactly singing the praises of grits, check out the other delectable dishes on the breakfast menu for Hominy Grill, like the high-rise biscuit smothered in sausage gravy. It's all good!

Speaking of Biscuits (and we usually are) …

In this year’s list of Saveur Magazine’s Fascinating Saveur 100, which is an annual list of culinary finds, innovations and novelties, Biscuitville made No. 96. The writer refers to the breakfast chain, which is headquartered in Greensboro, N.C. and peppered throughout North Carolina and Virginia, as “an old-fashioned gem in a modern world.” And their product as “the quintessential Southern biscuit.”

I think that’s a pretty fair statement.

The article then links to this piece at A Continuous Lean, where Michael Williams explores the restaurant even further:

“This past weekend I was in North Carolina and couldn’t miss the always delicious and still privately held regional chain Biscuitville. To me, Biscuitville is the Southern breakfast equivalent of the West coast burger mecca In-N-Out … everything on the menu is great and terrible for you.”

Oh lawsy. I think I need to go to Biscuitville ASAP. You know, for blog research.

And, oh yeah, don’t forget to check out the rest of the Saveur 100. No. 100 is one of my all-time faves and a Southern summer staple, the tomato sandwich!