Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

I like my biscuits n gravy with poached eggs.

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

You should be able to find a local butcher that can fix you some sausage any way you want it? We get whole hog sausage made every winter. We have half a hog processed with normal cuts then the entire other half made into breakfast sausage and all the bacon is fresh side uncured.....man I'm hungry now!!! :dr

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

Wade I'll go to Christies and watch how she cooks it and take notes and then come back and show you and your wife how she done it.

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

It'll have to be when the frozen tundra returns. When's that, like sometime in August up there?

Rewrite on the sausage the boss uses. It's Bob Evans Sage loose sausage.

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

No, week after next.

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

TMI? :confused:

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

When I am making gravy, I get a cup / glass, what ever, of milk and mix flour with it until is is the consistency of paste. Then when the sausage is done, I fill the pan with milk, when that is heated up I slowly pour in the Milk/flour misture from the cup into the pan with the milk/sausage.


Buy doing it this way I do not get any clumps at all.

I still have not been able to get the hang of mixing the flour with the grease then adding the milk, etc. Always end up with clumps and it seems I never have enough greese.

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

The trick to adding flour to grease is to add less than you think would make it thick and lumpy and stir and chop with the
edge of the spatula until it is smooth and thickly runny. That probably is worse, but if you stir like a madman, you can
get it there no problem. In fact, I would say that it's a ratio of 1:1....for every teaspoon of grease you think
is in the pan, add a teaspoon of flour. But based on what you say goes wrong everytime, I'd say add half of
the flour you think it needs and stir it down and add a little more til it get's "thickly runny". That presents a bit
of a heat problem, I SPEED-cook a roux in about 40 seconds. My mom takes 30 minutes. I go fast because
I know about how much flour I want to use by eye. In order to get your proportions right and still have time to
add the right amount before it overheats, you need to heat slowly. Once it gets the consistency of syrup,
FIRE IT UP...Only use the milk to STOP the process dead when it's the right color and temp, which is brown
and HOT, lol. Then just slowly cook the milk out, or the liquid, so to speak.

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

Right proportion of flour to grease? I do this by eye. I almost always have to pour off at least half the grease (unless you want a really big pot of gravy!!). If the flour is NOT all absorbed, then, too much flour (this can easily be corrected by adding back some of the grease you pour off at the front-end - if you saved it!). If too runny, add more flour. Do this step over medium heat only!! Do not use Brad's "speed-cook" method unless you are an expert at gravy making! Brad is right in that this is only for the experts. And, if you can successfully pull this method off, you don't need this thread!

The gravy will NOT be lumpy if you cook the flour/grease to a non-lumpy stage and follow the rest of the method instructions! The benefit of medium heat is that you can easily adjust your flour/grease ratio while cooking/stirring, and NOT risk burning your flour. Cooking the flour for at least 5 minutes ALSO results in cooking the flour taste out of the mixture. Otherwise, you taste the flour, and not the sausage. That's another reason that roux's is done over an extended period. It cooks OUT the flour taste.

Once you have your flour and grease cooked and smooth, the next step is critical to avoid lumps. You have to have a contrast in temperatures. Hot roux, cold milk and/or water. You have to have this contrast. Turn the heat up to near high, keep the liquid in the fridge until time to use. Pour in enough liquid on the first pour to give yourself plenty, and time to mix it in, and be ready to add more liquid before the mixture in the pan turns to jello! The reason that cast iron pans work so well for gravy, is because they retain heat well, and you do not have to spend great time in bringing the pan back up to heat. The down side is that the gravy will "lock-up" quickly if you do not add enough milk at the start. I start with milk, with water as a second pour, then finish with milk. Remember that the gravy will NOT reach full consistency until it reaches a boil. So, you have the ability to play with the gravy a bit. If it looks too thin initially, just keep stirring, and give it time. I most often end up adding more liquid after the initial boil, so don't fret if it seems to thin initially!

Add the crumbled sausage to the gravy, and let it simmer on low heat for a few minutes will also enhance the sausage taste of the gravy. And, you can always stir in a little more liquid if it starts to thicken more than you desire.

Enjoy the cholesterol!! I know I do!!

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

Anyone have a good sausage gravy made without milk or cream?

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

A more true statement has never been made. Everything the Kid said in his post is excellent.
Pay particular attention to the flour taste and why a lengthy cook is best. And the boiling part, too.
GREAT REPLY!
You are making sausage gravy, not thickened milk. You want the essence of the fat and spices to carry into
your gravy, and it it tastes like flour, you have failed, lol. This is why 95% of restaurants fail. Very few hire
actual chefs, they hire cooks. Cooks get it done, they don't create flavor experiences. That's what mama knew.;)
-------------
OOH, something mama also knows.....NEVER waste anything in burnt roux. Not shrimp, not milk. If you ever burn
a roux, you have to thoroughly clean your pan and start over. And if you did not save your grease, haha, you can't
even do that. Not burning it is especially important on a milk gravy. In a gumbo, you just have oil and flour in a pan.
In a milk gravy, hopefully you have many, many chunks of sausage, bacon, carmelized protiens, etc. They are the
nuggets of joy in your gravy. If you burn that roux, you lose ALL the gratin'. Starting from scratch in that instance
is costly.

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

Sorry, the boss came by, lol. Like I said, in a gumbo, you start your roux with oil and flour. If you burn it,
you have to start over, BUT you started with an empty pot, no big loss. If you burn your pan of sausage
leftovers, you LOSE ALL OF IT. All the little chunks of salty, greasy goodness. So work slowly on milk gravy.
In a gumbo, if you burn a roux, you haven't yet added anything of value (if you're smart), no shrimp,
no crabmeat, no onions. You can't SAVE a burnt roux. You can't cover it up with seafood, lol.
So keep that in mind, lol.

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

One day, Brad and I will meet up, and there will be goodness in the form of milk gravy and gumbo roux flying all over the place!!!! Good point about NOT wasting any efforts or ingredients on a burned roux!! I forgot about that one, mainly because it's been too long since I made gumbo! hmmmmmm...... That gives me an idea :)

Re: I'm Looking For A Good Southern Biscuits & Gravy Recipe
 

Lactose intolerant? If so, I would guess that soy milk might work, though I've never tried it. The fat in the roux should be enough without the fat in the moo juice, I'd think? Just make sure it's not some flavored substitute that will get in the way of the sausage taste.

When I make gravy for my country fried steak-CFS (venison, actually), I use about equal portions of water and milk, so water would also work, though it will be a much less creamy, and a much darker gravy. I think I'd try alternative milk types before I'd go all water. The main reason I use half water in the CFS is because I let the steak simmer in the gravy for 30 minutes or so, and part water gravy doesn't tend to stick as bad as all milk gravy on a longer simmer. On a non-simmer application like sausage gravy, all or half water isn't necessary or desirable (for my tastes).

If not lactose intolerant, is it a problem with access to milk, like on a hike or camping? If so, consider powdered milk. I've successfully made good sausage gravy while camping using powdered milk many times.