COOK: Cheese Grits with Chocolate Red-Eye Gravy and Cheddar Jalapeno Venison Summer Sausage
- How to Make Chocolate Red-eye Gravy
- Cheese Grits with Venison Summer Sausage and Chocolate Red-Eye Gravy
🔥 This variation on our buttery cheddar cheese grits replaces the greens and bacon with diced pan-fried venison + cheddar + jalapeno summer sausage, chocolate red-eye gravy, and a dash of homemade habanero peach hot sauce. Hot dang and hallelujah! 🔥
If you aren’t lucky enough to have some homemade cheddar jalapeno venison summer sausage in your freezer, you can use regular or spicy beef or pork summer sausage, cut into thick slices and then diced. Saute some sliced or diced jalapeno with the sausage if you want your grits extra spicy, or skip it if you have a tamer palate (or are cooking for kiddos).
Either way, after sauteing the sausage you’ll de-glaze the pan with some hot coffee before making the rich brown gravy, flavored with a bit of pleasantly bitter cocoa powder. It sounds strange if you haven’t had it before, but it’s a perfect complement to the cheese grits and sausage.
This is everyday southern comfort food, and so delicious! Creamy grits, sharp cheddar cheese, hearty chunks of fried summer sausage, and a simple, flavor-packed pan gravy… it’s so good.
How to Make Chocolate Red-eye Gravy
One of our favorite ways to top creamy, flavorful cheese grits is with a real eye-opener… some spoonfuls of this rich chocolate red-eye gravy.
This improbably delicious chocolaty red eye pan gravy has hot coffee, rich meaty umami, and a bittersweet hint of cocoa to round out the flavors, and is finished with a swirl of butter to add richness and a silky mouthfeel… yum, man.
- Heat the butter or bacon fat in a medium cast-iron skillet. Sear the summer sausage cubes on all sides- you want to build up a nice fond on the pan and get the outsides of the sausage nice and crispy. Remove the sausage, set aside, and keep hot.
- Deglaze the pan with the hot coffee, reduce the heat to a simmer, and reduce.
- Whisk in the cocoa powder and keep stirring until the gravy will just coat a spoon… it should be thin, not syrupy, but have some body to it and a balanced bitterness.
- Whisk in a tablespoon of cold butter, and season to taste with Old Bay, Cajun seasoning, salt, and black pepper.
- Spoon the grits into hot bowls, top with the summer sausage, and spoon the finished gravy around the edges of the bowls. Serve with hot sauce!
Cheese Grits with Venison Summer Sausage and Chocolate Red-Eye Gravy
Ingredients
Cheese Grits
- 1 batch cheddar cheese grits
Summer Sausage + Chocolate Red Eye Gravy
- 8 oz venison or beef summer sausage cut into ½" dice
- 2 tbsp butter or bacon grease
- 1 cup strong black coffee (we use a moka pot. you can also use instant espresso powder and hot water)
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- to taste Old Bay
- to taste Cajun Seasoning (we use Tony C's or make our own)
- to taste Black Pepper fresh ground
Instructions
Cheddar Cheese Grits
- Prepare one batch of the grits from this recipe.
Chocolate Red-Eye Gravy with Venison Summer Sausage
- Heat the butter or bacon fat in a medium cast-iron skillet. Sear the summer sausage cubes on all sides- you want to build up a nice fond on the pan and get the outsides of the sausage nice and crispy.
- Remove the sausage, set aside, and keep hot.
- Deglaze the pan with the hot coffee, reduce the heat to a simmer, and reduce. Whisk in the cocoa powder and keep stirring until the gravy will just coat a spoon… it should be thin, not syrupy, but have some body to it and a balanced bitterness.
- Whisk in a tablespoon of cold butter, and season to taste with Old Bay, Cajun seasoning, salt, and black pepper.
- Spoon the grits into hot bowls, top with the summer sausage, and spoon the finished gravy around the edges of the bowls. Serve with hot sauce!
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