Biscuits & Gravy – Comfort Food?

This southern staple is something I never grew up eating, and in fact the first time I had it was today.  After a long hard week of many ups and one big down I found myself in the kitchen.  Friday night I made some of my easy-mode cheesy scallion drop biscuits to go with some salmon and veggies.  I guess rice would have been more fitting for that dinner, but I needed to cook.  So I made biscuits.  In my haste I did not cut the recipe in half, so we ended up with way too many biscuits.

Last night as I sat on the sofa sipping my gin and tonic I decided the best use of those extra biscuits would be to try my hand at Biscuits and Gravy.  I started thinking about which gravy recipe I should use, this did not take me long.  I quickly made my way over to Pioneer Woman’s Blog and looked at her gravy recipe.  Simple enough, fat, flour, milk, and seasoning.

Early this morning before I got out of bed Aaron had walked to the store and picked up some Jimmy Dean Sausage.  How sweet of him.

Bottom line- this recipe is so easy to make it is not even funny.  Gravy is simple, if you are scared of making gravy, make this recipe and you won’t be scared any more.  Big question is did this breakfast provide comfort?

For me I would have to say no.  It was good, but nothing to write home about.  Maybe if I grew up eating this I would have different thoughts, but for me it was too heavy.  I guess if you work on a ranch and are herding cattle all day this is the kind of meal you would need.  I don’t think spending a Sunday lounging around baking a fresh peach pie and partying with family constitutes the need for a breakfast that sticks to ones ribs.  Next time I will shoot for vine ripe tomatoes with some Fleur de Sel.  Now that sounds comforting.

For the Biscuit recipe please see my Easy-Mode Scallion Drop Biscuits post.

For the gravy please see below, this recipe was inspired/borrowed from Pioneer Woman-

Ingredients:

• 1 pound breakfast sausage, sliced
• 12 biscuits 2-3 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 Cup Milk- I used 1%
• Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method

Cook the sausage patties over medium to low heat for about 15-18 minutes flipping when needed so you don’t over brown them.  Watch the heat on your pan, mine got too hot and I ended up with too many brown tasty bits.  Nothing overly wrong with the brown bits but when you have too many of them the color of your gravy will darken.

Once you are done with the sausage remove all the fat.  Add 2 tablespoons of the fat back to the pan and slowly whisk in the flour.  Keep whisking, and only whisk one direction.

I read somewhere that if you whisk in different directions you will ‘unwind’ the gravy.  Sounds pretty scientific to me… Just saying!

OK so back to the flour and fat, if you notice that your mixture is looking to pasty add a little more fat or if it is too loose add some more flour.  When you get the right balance you will hear angels sing.

Keep whisking away for a few minutes the roux will darken in color.  Start to slowly whisk in the milk, you’re on the home stretch.

At this point you might realize you forgot to reheat the biscuits in the oven, so you yell sweetly to you’re loved one to get them in the oven ASAP!

If your gravy looks pasty add some more milk, you won’t hurt the gravy.  Now taste it, and then add the salt and taste it again.  It should taste completely different.  If it tastes the same you did not add enough salt.  Add as much or little black pepper as desired and serve.  If the gravy gets thick while you’re waiting around for your biscuits to heat up, just add some more milk. It’s pretty simple.  I know you can do it!

Biscuits & Gravy - Comfort Food?, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings