Biscuits and Gravy are my favorite, slow morning, breakfast dish. This dish is made from homemade biscuits and country sausage gravy. There are a few tricks included in the instructions below. Make sure you read all the way through! Make these as soon as you can so your family can give you a big hug and say,
"Thank you!"
Growing up in Tennessee, I learned a lot about Southern cooking. Biscuits and Gravy is a staple in the southern states. My mom made them all the time while I was growing up. She was an amazing cook and biscuits and gravy was her favorite. She ordered them every time they were on the menu at any restaurant we visited. My love of food came from her!
I order biscuits and gravy every time I see them on the menu, too!
How to Make Biscuits and Gravy
1. Fry up the sausage. Break it up into small chunks and use a wooden spoon or spatula to split up all the pieces. Sausage is harder to fry than hamburger. It sticks together more because of the high fat content.
I buy the large Jimmy Dean sausage log at Costco, by the bacon. I take it home and divide it up into three - 1 lb. sections. Then I put each pound of sausage in a Ziploc bag and flatten it. This way they stack nice and neat in my freezer.
Kitchen Hack - Put any kind of frozen meat, that has been frozen flat in a Ziploc bag, in a bowl filled with hot water and it will defrost in 15 minutes. After putting a bag of meat in the bowl, flip the bag over, in about 5 minutes, so the top part, that is still frozen, is now immersed in the water. Voilà, thawed meat ready to use in 15 minutes!
The great thing about this method, over defrosting meat in the microwave,
is there are no cooked edges.
2. Make the biscuits first and get them in the oven.
3. Make the gravy while the biscuits are cooking.
4. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or use your food processor. To me, it is easier to use my pastry blender for this recipe. It seriously takes 30, maybe 20, seconds to mix the shortening and dry ingredients together. You want the pieces of shortening to be the size of a green pea. If the shortening is cut up too small you will not get the lift you want in your biscuits. I like my biscuits to be tall and fluffy!
5. Add the buttermilk. You can use regular milk if you do not have buttermilk. Reduce your milk to 2/3 C. and do not add the baking soda. I grew up on buttermilk biscuits, so to me, this is the only way to go when making biscuits and gravy.
Kitchen Hack - If you do not have buttermilk you can use one cup of milk mixed with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice. As you mix these together you can feel the milk getting thicker, like buttermilk.
6. Mix the shortening mixture and buttermilk together with a spoon. Keep pushing the mixture together with the spoon towards the sides of the bowl until it starts sticking together. At this point, you want to use your hands to get it into a ball. Do not be afraid to mash it together for 30 seconds or so.
7. Pat the ball into a circle on a floured surface. You can use a rolling pin at this point, if you like. For me, when I use a rolling pin, I make the dough too thin. I like the dough to be about 3/4 inch thick. Thick biscuits are the best! There is more bread to eat with the yummy sausage gravy.
8. Use a biscuit cutter or your favorite small glass to cutout the circles in the dough. My mom always used a glass. I do too. I have several glasses that have a 3 inch opening. I like BIG biscuits.
9. Place dough circles on a greased cookie sheet. Place them right next to each other so they bake UP, not out. Bake for 15 minutes. You really need the tops to be very brown. If you take them out with just a light brown coloring on the biscuit tops, your biscuits will be doughy. No one wants doughy biscuits!
10. Add fat to the sausage and melt it.
Kitchen Hack - If you have any chicken fat left over from a whole chicken you have cooked, keep it in the freezer in a Ziploc bag. Chicken fat added with the butter gives this gravy an irresistible flavor you cannot get any other way.
11. Add 1/2 C. of flour to the cooked sausage and butter. Cook for another 2 minutes. I have learned the hard way, you want your flour to be cooked before you add the milk. Uncooked flour does not enhance the flavor of anything you make.
12. Gradually add the milk while the heat is on. Stir the entire time you are pouring the milk in and keep stirring until it comes to a boil. As the temperature gets higher the flour and milk will start reacting with each other and create a delicious gravy. If the gravy is too thick for your liking, add more milk and stir it in until you get the consistency you want.
13. Salt and pepper the gravy after it thickens. Even though the sausage has a lot of salt in it, you still need to heavily salt this sauce. The pepper is the crowning jewel. It makes the gravy taste fantastic!
Let me know on Instagram or Pinterest if you make this.
Post a picture and tag me @dinasdiner. I want to know how it turns out.
Biscuits and Gravy
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Buttermilk Biscuits
2 C. Flour
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Shortening
3/4 C. Buttermilk
1. Preheat oven to 450°
2. Place shortening in a bowl and add all dry ingredients.
3. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients with a pastry
blender until the size of a green pea.
4. Add the buttermilk.
5. Use a spoon to mix ingredients together.
6. Push the spoon against the side of the bowl as you mix to get
everything into a ball of dough.
7. Use your hands to push all ingredients together.
8. Once in a compact ball, place on a floured surface.
9. Use your hands to pat down until it is about 3/4" thick.
10. Use a glass to cut out dough circles.
11. Place them on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
Gravy
1 lb. Sausage
1/4 C. Butter
1/4 C. Chicken Fat (Substitute butter if you do not have)
1/2 C. Flour
4 C. Milk
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Cracked Pepper
1. Fry sausage in a large fry pan.
2. Add butter and chicken fat to sausage.
3. Melt completely.
4. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Gradually add milk and stir constantly.
6. As gravy thickens keep stirring until it reaches a boil.
7. Add more milk if it is too thick.
8. Salt and Pepper and serve over biscuits.
