Chuckwagon: Brown Gravy

      The following is a farm recipe for gravy from the late 1880’s.

       This gravy may be made in larger quantities, then kept in a stone jar and used as wanted.
        Take two pounds of beef, and two small slices of lean bacon.  Cut the meat into small pieces.  Put into a stew-pan a piece of butter the size of an egg, and set over the fire.  Cut two large onions in thin slices.  Put them in the butter and fry a light brown, then add the meat.  Season with whole peppers.  Salt to taste.  Add three cloves, and pour over one cupful of water.  Let is boil fifteen or twenty minutes, stirring it occasionally.
         Then add two quarts of water, and simmer very gently for two hours.  Now strain, and when cold, remove the fat.  To thicken this gravy, put in a stew pan a lump of butter a little larger than an egg, add two teaspoonfuls of flour, and stir until a light brown.   When cold, add it to the strained gravy, and boil up quickly.  Serve very hot with the meats. 

*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.