Biscuits and Gravy

[Lynn_Bodoni]

I feel obliged to point out that sausage or hamburger gravy is very good over plain cooked white rice, too. This is good to know when it’s 104 F outside, and you don’t want to turn on the oven for another three or four months.

[WhyNot]

@Chefguy

Please read recipes carefully. The first time I made gravy was from instructions from my mother for turkey gravy. Unfortunately, when she told me “combine an equal amount of flour and fat”, she didn’t mention that I didn’t need all the fat. By the time I was done, I had the entire roasting pan full of something that can only be described as hardening concrete. If you are only making enough for a couple of people, a few tablespoons is more than enough fat and flour. If you need to thicken it more later, add the aforementioned butter/four mix (buerre maniere).

Absolutely! Plus, something I didn’t know until a few years ago (my mom was a cornstarch-thickener, not a roux-maker), is that a roux actually has less thickening power the darker you cook it before adding the liquid. You can work this to your advantage: if your sausage was greasy and you have too much roux, cook it longer and you’ll have a darker, nuttier, smokier gravy. If you only have a little good fat around, then make a light roux for more thickening power-per-teaspoon.

A really dark (like cooked for 40 minutes dark!) roux is not going to thicken a whole lot, but give a lot of good color and taste to something like a stew or gumbo.

A really light, barely-cooked roux is library paste!

I find that for a sausage gravy the way I like it, it’s 1T fat:1T flour:1 cup liquid, and the roux is only barely browned. When I notice a color change, it’s done.

[velvetjones]

Stop! I’m gaining weight just reading this thread.

[cornbread hijack]

DiosaBellissima I just made skillet cornbread the other night. Nothing to it. I just followed the instructions on the cornmeal package and then tweaked it a little. First time I added cooked onions and Adobo seasoning. The second time I added the remains of a bag of shredded sharp cheddar (about 1/2 cup). That was yummy. Goes really well with barbeque.

I believe the trick is to put the cast iron skillet in the oven while it’s preheating to bring the skillet up to temperature. That way when you pour the batter in you get a crispy crust on the bottom.

[/cornbreakhijack]

[Johnny_L.A]

@Cluricaun

All this has gotten me thinking. I wonder what would happen if you made the biscuits, then made the gravy and put the gravy into a cake decorating bag, inserted the nozzle into the biscuit and made gravy filled biscuits….could this actually make portable biscuits and gravy? You would have to really crumble the sausage down, but it could work.

Toad’s (a gas station/mini-market in Birch Bay) has ‘country burritos’: scrambled egg, sausage, hashbrowns, and gravy wrapped in a tortilla. I like them with Vegemite or Tabasco.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

Quick and easy:

Canned biscuits. Follow the instructions on the cardboard can.

Packaged cream gravy. Follow the instructions on the package.

[silenus]

Actually, Libby’s makes an acceptable canned cream gravy. We take it camping with us when we don’t want to hassle the “making it from scratch” routine. Not transcendent, but not bad in a pinch.