I recently did a cooking video for the North Carolina Folklife Institute, they graciously allowed me to share it with you too.
I love chocolate gravy! Its one of my favorite traditional Appalachian recipes.
Sunday morning breakfasts were always extra special when Granny made chocolate gravy and biscuits. She usually made sausage gravy or bacon gravy for the boys and Pap, but Granny and I loved chocolate gravy and usually ate the whole bowl 😀
There’s lots of recipes for chocolate gravy. A quick google will turn them up. Most use a combination of milk, butter, sugar, and cocoa.
Granny’s recipe, which she learned from her mother Gazzie, is different than any other chocolate gravy recipe I’ve seen. It only uses water, cocoa, flour, and sugar.
Watch the video to see how I make chocolate gravy and biscuits!
I hope you enjoyed the video! Do you like chocolate gravy?
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Is there any specific reason for using self-rising flour instead of flour without the rising agent in it, such as general all purpose flour?
Richard-all purpose will work too 🙂
I’ve always split my biscuits, but every time we had brown gravy, or even milk gravy for dinner, after I was done I’d take a piece of bread and pinch pieces of it off till it was all pinched (and sometimes got another piece if there was that much gravy left) and pour the gravy over the pieces and eat them that way. I also used to finish off the beets, since nobody like them as leftovers 🙂
Nothing is finer to my taste buds than a big bowl chocolate gravy. Miss Julie made it with milk thinner than chocolate pie filling. Tipper try kraut dumplings, apple dumplings and all sorts of fruits dumpling, bu chicken with an old fat hen full of Tallor makes the best dumplings.
We grew up with the milk version of this. But, our family has always called it ‘Chocolate Sop’ instead of gravy.
I put my chocolate gravy in my plate and top it with butter then pinch my biscuit up in it!!!! I don’t like mine made with milk! I use the same recipe that you use and I thought it was an Arkansas recipe! LOL. I am 70 years old and I still eat it.
I also had never heard of chocolate gravy until reading the Blind Pig. Imagine my surprise when I saw packages of Chocolate Gravy Mix at the Sav-A-Lot in Dunlap, Tennessee. No, I did not buy any.
My brothers and I loved the mornings Mama made chocolate gravy and thick, flaky biscuits (using home-churned buttermilk) for us. I do not remember which she used, water or milk, in her chocolate gravy. What a treat. Your skillet looks exactly like the one I use in my cooking today, inherited from Mom when she passed. Thanks for reminding me of this precious memory.
I have eaten and enjoyed more than my share of delicious chocolate gravy.Tipper, I think I’ll let someone in Thistledown Hollow fix this. I really enjoyed your video!
We use to eat chocolate gravy and biscuits. As kids we couldn’t wait till it got done. The chocolate smell all through the house. Mm it was so good. A treat too .there was never any left in the pan. It sure got all ate up.
Tipper, I had never heard of chocolate gravy until I started reading Blind Pig. I have yet to try it, it sounds more like a dessert than an entree. My family thinks I am losing it when I ask them to try some of the mountain recipes. I grew up with N C mountain food and love it. Brown beans( pinto) with ham hocks, fried taters and cracklin cornbread. have a great day.
My grandmother also used water to make her chocolate gravy, water, cocoa, flour, sugar and for some reason I am thinking a bit of butter. So yummy over pancakes
We love chocolate gravy! Our family came from the KY mountains. My mother in law made it with cocoa, flour, sugar and water. I have seen recipes using milk and vanilla, but have never had it that way. It is a special treat for us that I learned to make from her. So m witness she would fry biscuits to go with it, but I like traditional biscuits. My son makes it for his family just like his grandmother did using water, Vivian, flour, and sugar. I suspect he will be making it for their new granddaughter as soon as she is a little older. We love family traditions!
Well, I reckon we’ve got us a TV cooking star in the making!
For my part, to borrow from Jerry Clower, you’ve done flung a craving on me.
I love the part, towards the end, when you say, “I’ll show you how I eat it.” If there comes a time when you need a truly homely soul to demonstrate the eating part, I know a stellar trencherman (yours truly) who can fill that role.
Jim Casada
I almost invariably begin by trying to split my biscuit. If it starts to crumble then I crumble it. If it splits then I split it. You see I am a crust man. A good crusty biscuit will crumble easily. A thicker, more moist biscuit open up easier. Now here is where my method deviates from the norm. I will remove all the doughy stuff from the center leaving only the bottom and top crust.
Now, none of the above applies if you are making a biscuit sandwich. The soft sticky interior is what provides the structure of the sandwich. In other words, the glue that holds it all together. If it fails and the crust crumbles you are stuck with a sausage patty or a slice of mater between your thumb and your fingers. It’s still good though, alternating between a bite of mater and a chunk of biscuit but it isn’t mannerly and best done when dining alone.
I love chocolate gravy! My mom used milk instead of water and that made it taste more like chocolate pudding. Either way, I could eat the bowl full and still want more.
I have never had seen nor heard of chocolate gravy but it sure looks mighty tasty to me! Your biscuits are pretty too! I will certainly have to try this recipe! I can relate to food being woven into the fabric of our lives. The older I get, I eat less but expect to get maximum taste and comfort of home. When I try to eat out I end up disappointed in every way! Nothing speaks love to me like homemade goodness!
Hi Tipper, I really enjoy your blog and videos. My Mom was from Franklin, NC and she would make us chocolate dumpling. The recipe was lost so I don’t know how she made them but it couldn’t have been much different than your recipe of chocolate gravy and biscuits. I’m thinking she must have made the gravy then dropped the biscuit dough into the hot gravy to cook. I know we loved them. I wish l had some right now.
Thanks, Betty
I’ve never eaten chocolate gravy but it sounds divine of course everything with chocolate in it is good! Have you ever made it with a little butter in it? Every sauce/gravy I’ve seen had a little butter in it.
I’d never heard of chocolate gravy till I met you, funny isn’t it, we only lived an hour and a half apart right here in Appalachia!