Tasso Ham Steaks with Red-Eye Gravy

Tasso is Louisiana in a single bite. This heavily spiced, oak-smoked pork shoulder carries enough cayenne and garlic to wake you up before the coffee does. Cut it thick, sear it hard, and you have got breakfast worth getting out of bed for.

Red-eye gravy comes from the old Southern tradition of deglazing the ham pan with coffee. The name comes from that little circle of fat that floats on top, staring back at you like a bleary eye. Some folks think it is too simple to be called a gravy. Those folks have never tasted it done right. The coffee cuts through the smokiness of the tasso, the bitterness balances the salt and spice, and the whole thing comes together in about three minutes flat.

At Lagniappe, we serve this alongside grits and eggs on Sunday mornings. The regulars know to get there early because we only make so much tasso each week, and when it is gone, it is gone. My grandmother Evangeline made her own tasso in the smokehouse behind her bayou kitchen. She would slice it thick as your thumb and fry it until the house smelled like heaven and cayenne. That smell is what Louisiana mornings are supposed to be.