White Toast
Plain toasted sandwich bread, the universal gravy base. Under creamed chipped beef it becomes SOS; under hamburger gravy, a cafeteria classic.
Toasts & Bases
What gravy goes on: toast in every cut, biscuits, muffins, cornbread, grits, and the starches that carry a plate. Every base profiled with its texture, its classic gravy, and its swaps.
Texas Toast
White bread cut twice as thick as standard, about an inch, griddled in butter. The Texas steakhouse and diner base for pepper gravy and chicken-fried plates.
Sourdough Toast
Tangy, open-crumb toast from a levain loaf. Its acidity cuts rich gravies, and its crust stands up to a full ladle better than soft breads.
Whole Wheat Toast
Toast from a whole-grain sandwich loaf: denser, nuttier, and sturdier than white. The lighter-feeling base that still holds a gravy line.
Rye Toast
Caraway-flecked rye bread, toasted. A deli and Pennsylvania Dutch base whose spice flatters mushroom, onion, and milk gravies.
English Muffin
A fork-split, griddled muffin with a pocked interior made to catch gravy. The breakfast-sandwich bread that also serves as a plated gravy base.
Buttermilk Biscuit
The Southern buttermilk biscuit: tall, tender, and tangy, built to be split and gravied. The single most important base in this catalog.
Split-Top Roll
A soft white roll with a split baked into its top, the New England bakery roll. Toasted in butter, it is the base of hot sandwiches and gravy plates.
Cornbread
A wedge or square of skillet cornbread, split or crumbled as the base. In Louisiana it carries crawfish gravy; in the upland South, cornmeal and tomato gravies.
Grits
Ground hominy corn cooked to a soft porridge, the Lowcountry's base. Under shrimp gravy it is the region's defining plate; under tomato gravy, its supper form.
Hash-Brown Base
Shredded potatoes fried crisp on the griddle, used as a plated base. The breakfast-stack foundation: potatoes, eggs, and gravy in layers.
Fried Mush
Cooked cornmeal chilled firm, sliced, and fried crisp. The Midwest and Appalachian leftover base that takes gravy or syrup with equal grace.
Johnnycake
A cornmeal griddle cake of Rhode Island tradition, thin and crisp-edged. A New England base that takes milk gravy, syrup, or gravy-and-ham plates.
Bagel
A boiled-then-baked ring roll with a chewy crust, split and toasted. A New York base that shrugs off heavy gravies and anchors deli breakfast plates.
Leftover Dressing Base
Leftover baked dressing or stuffing, reheated crisp, used as a base for turkey and giblet gravy. The day-after plate that justifies making extra.