While I’ve shared a basic Southern gravy recipe here before, if you’re thinking of making biscuits and gravy it can’t be done with restaurant style gravy. It must be made with sausage gravy.  Sausage gravy is a Southern staple.  It can be found in nearly every restaurant and diner in the South and the Southwest and is undoubtedly made in nearly every home in the area as well.

Nothing quite compares with biscuits and gravy.  It’s not a fancy meal.  It shouldn’t be made into a fancy meal.  It’s peasant food at its best.  Pure, simple and filling.  It is food born from a need to feed a family with only what was on hand and feed them well.

This is my mother’s recipe.  I have not adapted it, modified it or otherwise mucked with it.  On the contrary, I’ve invested over 20 years of my life trying to perfect my mother’s technique. At first I tried to make it my own. These attempts resulted in some pretty good gravies, but they just weren’t “right.”  It’s taken a long time, but I think that if my mother was still with us, this gravy would make her proud.

The real secret behind sausage gravy is in both the sausage and in the way it is cooked.  The sausage used in this dish should be of the bulk store variety and preferably be very fatty. Also, low, gentle heat should be used to cook the sausage.  This low cooking temperature allows the fat in the sausage to completely render out of the meat.  The resulting grease is the heart and soul of a great gravy.  It ads the base flavor, body and character of everything that comes later.

Another key to success is in cooking the sausage properly.  The aim here isn’t to just barely get your sausage cooked through, but to take it just a tiny bit past that point.  At the end the sausage should be slightly dry.  It should then be strained for at least five minutes through a fine mesh sieve or colander and the drippings should be reserved.

From this point making sausage gravy is an identical process to any other flour-based pan gravy.  Return the oil to the pan, add flour and brown, season, add milk and stir, stir, stir!  I use all-purpose flour in my gravies, but there are those who swear by Wondra.  I’m not going to judge, but I’ve never ended up with lumpy gravy, so all-purpose is just fine by me.

Of course a gravy of this caliber needs something to be lavished upon.  The go-to (and highly preferred) vehicle for gravy delivery is the plain ol’ buttermilk biscuit.  The light, flaky, multilayered biscuits of the North are not appreciated here.  The gravy just makes them soggy and they don’t have the right texture.  You gotta have a biscuit with some heft to it.

And there, my friends, you have it.  The ultimate experience in breakfast, brunch or late night munching fare. The culinary pinnacle of flour, milk and flavor.  A humble food that deserves a place in every kitchen.  My mother’s sausage gravy.  Give this a try the next time you’re craving a little love. Trust me, there’s a lot of love in this recipe.

Read more…

Popularity: 5% [?]

From the archives.  My go-to giblet gravy.  sure to please a table of twenty or a table of two.  don’t waste those giblets!

Giblet gravy is one of the staples on my holiday table, and has been since my grandmother introduced me to it as a child. At the time this brown gravy was something different, even a bit exotic for a child who was raised on southern gravy. For me this succulent new flavor sensation became one of the things I looked forward to most at the holidays, which was the only time I’d ever had it.

Over the years I tried many times to perfect my grandmother’s recipe for this gravy without success. I suppose I’ll never get hers right, but this version has become my favorite, and is adapted from a recipe I got from a Safeway Select Magazine.

I’ve never looked back. It’s just that good.

Read more…

Popularity: 5% [?]

White gravy is a staple of Southern cooking. In the South and Southwest we use it to top everything from biscuits to French-Fries. Every family has its own unique method of making Gravy, and most families will tell you theirs is the best gravy ever made. (They’re all right, by the way. It’s a family thing.)

Then of course, there’s the stuff you get in restaurants across the country. In the South and Southwest it’s pretty close to what’s made in homes all across the area but once you start moving North, the story changes. The gravy starts turning into a floury-tasting ooze with all the culinary soul of preschool paste. This affront to gravy is usually made from a pouch or bag by someone who has never had real Southern gravy and has probably never cooked anything for themselves at home.

Some companies have obviously noted that this foul mix needs more attention. I’ve seen it labeled as “Southern style with ham” in which tiny bits of processed ham are added in an attempt to mask the utter blandness of it all, and I’ve seen the same done with bacon and sausage.

It doesn’t help, it’s still awful and there’s no getting away from that. It’s usually too thin. It sets up like mortar if not eaten promptly, and is usually used to hide even worse attempts at biscuits or other southern staples.

So restaurant owners, listen up and let me tell you how to do it right! I was raised on white gravy, and I just can’t take it any more!

Read more…

Popularity: 39% [?]