Gravy Bread a Forgotten Delicacy

     Memories are funny things sometimes a past memory seems to manifest itself out of nowhere.  It happens to everyone but sometimes we may to too busy to pay attention to them. They may be of some importance but more likely they are just forgotten moments of the past that somehow have resurfaced.

     While eating a roast beef sandwich, I happened to remember being a kid and having pot roast, which was good but the real treat for me was the gravy left on the plate.  It was a real treat to soak up the gravy with a piece of white bread; it was almost like dessert. There was always extra gravy in the pot so adding spoonful to your plate meant the gravy bread was sopping wet and tasty.  When I grew up gravy did not come in a paper pouch from the grocery store, it came from the melted beef fat, full of flavor, but not that healthy.  I'm not sure why but I looked forward to the gravy bread much more than the beef.

     Another favorite food indulgence of mine was fried puffed wheat which was fried in a skillet with butter then sprinkled with sugar. This would not be considered a healthy food choice today but when I was young there was no distinction between healthy and unhealthy food, it was all just food.  The puffed wheat used in this breakfast dish was unflavored with the consistency and taste similar to how I imagine styrofoam would taste.  However when it was fried, back then everything was better fried, it was tasty especially when you added the sugar to this buttery concoction. Cooking it seemed tricky because if you left it on too long the wheat puffs would shrivel and become hard.  There always seemed to be a few hard pieces but that was easy to deal with.

     One other breakfast item I liked was fried mush, I know it sounds disgusting, even as I say the words now "fried mush" it does not seem appealing to me.  As I remember mush was a block of cornmeal that my Mom would buy.  She would cut off a slice about 1/4 inch thick and pan fry it in oil or butter until it was golden brown on both sides.  I would pour pancake syrup on this crusty entree and enjoy it immensely.  Truthfully, if you think about it you could pour syrup on cardboard and it would be palatable. This breakfast delicacy is another item that would not be considered a healthy food choice today, but again it didn't matter then.

     Our lifestyles change which brings about changes to our diet without realizing it.  I can't remember the last time I had gravy bread, fried puff wheat or fried mush but I'm sure my brain has probably enhanced that memory so it's best left as a pleasant memory from the past.