I remember reading Big Secrets years ago discussing the history of fried chicken. Sanders thought his gravy was “like ambrosia” and was horrified at the tasteless, watery crap sold by Kentucky Fried after selling his recipes.
And this week the NYT is extolling a Texas chain known for amazing dipped roast beef sandwiches. They must have good gravy.
You see lots of rankings for best burgers or poutine. And the gravy at most places is a salty mix of MSG with little authentic flavour, even if served on poutine.
In Canada, some people like the sauces sold at Swiss Châlet or St. Hubert’s chicken and ribs. Not dishwater, but not good gravy either. Not tried the one at Costco.
So, does any fast food restaurant do a good job with the gravy?
I’m not sure how many fast-food restaurants in the U.S., other than the fried chicken chains, even offer gravy. Few of the major burger or sandwich places do, unless they offer mashed potatoes (with gravy) as a side dish – Culver’s, for one, does that.
FWIW, I think that the sausage gravy at Cracker Barrel isn’t bad at all, but that’s not a fast-food restaurant (It’s casual/family dining).
I think you’re referring to the article on the Hillstone restaurant group, which opens with a description of the French dip sandwich at their Houston’s restaurant in Pasadena. l looked up the menu; that’s a $28 sandwich and the restaurant is definitely not a fast food place.
Ain’t no one back there stirring a huge vat of gravy they made the roux for and slow…ly added liquid to, for hours.
Now, some of the higher end stuff is probably ok. But, it ain’t MY gravy and it ain’t homemade.
We get KFC occasionally. We toss the gravy in to the kennel dogs. Usually don’t even order the Fake ass potatoes.
More coleslaw. Everyone like KFC coleslaw.
Despite the Colonel’s remarks, I know a lot of people (including me) who loved KFC gravy. That said, I’ve not had it in a long time, and I’ve been told it has gotten a lot worse.
The ones I know that have good gravy are all smaller chains, that have managed to maintain most of their quality as they grew.
All of these are places where I’ve had gravy on biscuits, chicken fried steak, or whatever, and it has all been as good as I expected given the quality of their other food. None of these are national chains.
They seem to be awfully fond of adding sweet flavors to items that an American would expect to be savory, such as their gravy. The current menu describes the burger steak entree as “savory sweet”. My own personal tastes do not agree with this recipe choice (I dislike combining sweet and savory in the same dish. Just doesn’t work for me). The photo on the menu does show mushrooms involved.
I also find the gravy provided with the chicken (I do like their chicken) a bit sweeter than I personally care for in this application.
That’s fairly common with Filipino food, at least for Filipino versions of western food. Filipino spaghetti, for instance, uses a sauce made with brown sugar and banana ketchup.
I’ve seen Jollibee’s menu mention the sweetness of their spaghetti sauce. Nothing against Filipinos as people, but my taste buds do not seem to agree with theirs on this subject.