A Proper Breakfast, Y'all

     In the never ending quest to come up with new fair foods, The French Meadow Bakery at the Minnesota State Fair combined two iconic breakfast meals.  And in so doing created a clash of cultures, taking, as one colleague stated, "Two perfectly good foods and by combining them, ruining both."  But having downed the meal for breakfast one morning at the fair, I would disagree.  It was an intriguing amalgam of flavors never achieved before.  So let's examine the components:

     Sausage gravy is a traditional Southern breakfast meal.  After loose pork sausage is cooked in a pan and removed, a roux (see VinnyPost "Roux  Who?" June 4, 2012) is formed by browning flour in the residual fat.  Milk and seasonings, like salt and pepper, are added to create a moderately thick cream colored gravy to which the sausage is then re-introduced.  It is often served over freshly baked biscuits.

     Scones are a small British quick bread traditionally made from wheat, barley or oatmeal.  They were originally cooked on a griddle.  But then with the advent of baking powder were oven baked and well leavened.  They come in a variety of shapes from triangles and squares to rounds.  Some are lightly sweetened but can also be savoury and can include raisins, currants or dates.  In Scotland tattie scones are baked using potato flour.

     But combining these two cultural favorites?  Perhaps it is an acquired taste, but I did enjoy closing my eyes and transporting my psyche to rural Georgia and listening to bagpipes!