Biscuits and Chocolate Gravy

When I was very young, Saturday mornings were always the best! Being the youngest, I was usually the first one awake. After waking up on those chilly winter mornings in the Ozarks, I would stand in front of the stove in the living room in order to raise my core body temperature to a human level. It would be many years later before I had heat in my bedroom, so the stove at the edge of the front room was a thermal treat. I would watch Looney Toons in front of the fire until the rest of the family woke.

I'm sure my mom and dad cooked many things for Saturday breakfast, but the mornings I remembered most were the times they cooked Biscuits and Chocolate Gravy. The biscuits were big and fluffy, browned with a touch of lard on the top. The gravy was hot, sticky, and most of all, chocolatey. There was a method to how I ate the treat. I carefully pulled the biscuits apart, and after putting butter on each half, I poured the gravy over my biscuits and let it drip onto my eggs and sausage. In the days before worries of fat and cholesterol, it was celestial.

More than the flavor of the food, I savored the safety of being with my mom and dad. They didn't always get along during those years, but at breakfast time all seemed ok in my world.

It wasn't until I moved out of state when I was 19, that I realized that the rest of the world had been kept ignorant to the joys of chocolate gravy. Sure they had their cracked wheat, bagels, scones and lattes, but they were naive to the joys of real breakfast foods. I'm sure mom had learned to cook the treat from her mom, and she in turn from hers. Who knows how far back the tradition went. Over the years, the only chance I had to revel in the decadence of chocolate gravy was when I returned home to visit. My children soon anticipated a visit to Grandma's to eat chocolate gravy. Another generation had been converted.

My dad has passed on since those days of Saturday morning bliss. My mom is now battling brain cancer. I called her last night to get the chocolate gravy recipe. Sadly, she couldn't remember it.

That's ok Mom, the memories we associate with Biscuits and Chocolate Gravy will last us (and our kids) a lifetime. Take it easy now. It's your turn to rest, so pass the torch to other generations who will cherish the tradition of Grandma's Chocolate Gravy. We'll be glad to make it for you now.

Even though the recipe we use may be the same, I wonder if it will ever taste as sweet as when you stood at the stove stirring it while Dad was pulling the biscuits from the oven. With those memories instilled in us, I'm sure we can recreate those Saturday morning feelings in our hearts and the tradition will live on for more generations to come.