# Breakfast gravy
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 1, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733 "2015-08-01T16:14:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/1 "2015-08-01T16:14:38Z")
Someone will be along shortly to tell me I do it wrong, but this is the way I make it, people like it, and it works for me.
The SO prefers bacon to sausages with her breakfast; so we tend to have bacon on-hand, but no sausage. So when it’s a biscuits and gravy morning, it’s usually bacon gravy. I can already hear people shouting, ‘Bacon gravy? Everyone _knows_ it has to be _sausage_ gravy!’ Nevertheless.
Take four rashers of bacon and cut them in half. Stack the halves and cut them in half. Cut the quarters in half. Separate the pieces into a saucepan and cook over low heat to render the fat. Mix in an amount of flour about equal to the amount of fat. Mix it together (including the bacon pieces) and continue cooking to ‘toast’ your roux. Add some milk and mix smooth, dissolving the flour into it. Add seasonings. I use a healthy pinch of kosher(ing) salt, about 40 grinds of black pepper (YMMV, depending on your grinder), and two dashes of cayenne pepper. Add more milk. Stir and simmer until thickened.
This morning we happen to have some leftover Jimmy Dean’s sausage. I make the gravy the same as in the last paragraph, except instead of bacon I ‘crumbled’ a half-pound of raw sausage into the pan to render the needed fat.
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### Author:  [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/2 "2015-08-01T16:54:40Z")
BACON GRAVY? EVERYONE KNOWS IT HAS TO BE SAUSAGE GRAVY!
Didn’t want to disappoint you.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/3 "2015-08-01T17:34:00Z")
Why does it have to be one or the other? 🙂 (I believe **Chefguy** ’s posted recipe on this board includes both. It’s great, if not traditional.)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/4 "2015-08-01T17:41:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Why does it have to be one or the other? 🙂 (I believe **Chefguy** ’s posted recipe on this board includes both. It’s great, if not traditional.)
I know I mentioned it, years ago. It had sausage, bacon, and ham.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/5 "2015-08-01T18:03:57Z")
Just so long as it comes from the magical pig, I’m happy.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/6 "2015-08-01T18:05:55Z")
Bacon gravy is the best. Can’t beat that smoky flavor.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/7 "2015-08-01T18:10:44Z")
> [@Spoke](#):
>
> Bacon gravy is the best. Can’t beat that smoky flavor.
Actually, the best is sausage, bacon, and ham. 😉
But the SO likes the bacon gravy. Even though I prefer sausage gravy, I like it too.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/8 "2015-08-01T18:42:50Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I know I mentioned it, years ago. It had sausage, bacon, and ham.
No ham. But I use dried sage and ground fennel in addition to ground pepper and a bit of cayenne. I use either JD sage sausage or a local fresh sage sausage, along with fried up pepper bacon. I use a combination of half & half and skim milk (since that’s what the wife drinks) as liquid. I also add a (un)healthy chunk of butter at the end to give it that silky look and feel, not to mention enriching the taste even further. I’ve even added onions in my shady past, but don’t usually. Tradition can kiss my ass.
The one thing I crave madly on this diet is biscuits and gravy. Fucking hell.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/9 "2015-08-01T18:52:52Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Actually, the best is sausage, bacon, and ham. 😉
spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/10 "2015-08-01T21:20:56Z")
Growing up in New England, the words “breakfast” and “gravy” were never used in the same sentence. To this day, I’ve never had it. Nothing against it, it just seems so odd.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/11 "2015-08-01T21:41:15Z")
Sounds tasty. Serve with grits, eggs, biscuits, and whichever meat is in the gravy. Orange juice, if you’ve got it. And maybe pancakes or waffles with syrup.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/12 "2015-08-01T21:44:54Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Growing up in New England, the words “breakfast” and “gravy” were never used in the same sentence. To this day, I’ve never had it. Nothing against it, it just seems so odd.
Looks like [hell](http://www.chowstatic.com/assets/2014/09/30499_buttermilk_biscuits_sausage_gravy_3000.jpg). Tastes like heaven.
I never tried it until I was in my thirties and visiting with friends who would have been rude to refuse. I was a quick convert. Bacon just doesn’t sound as appealing to me though.
ETA: Also - fried chicken and waffles? Yeah, that works too :).
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/13 "2015-08-01T22:52:55Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> Looks like [hell](http://www.chowstatic.com/assets/2014/09/30499_buttermilk_biscuits_sausage_gravy_3000.jpg). Tastes like heaven.
>
> I never tried it until I was in my thirties and visiting with friends who would have been rude to refuse. I was a quick convert. Bacon just doesn’t sound as appealing to me though.
>
> ETA: Also - fried chicken and waffles? Yeah, that works too :).
There’s a restaurant here that serves chicken and waffles. Haven’t gone yet, because they don’t take reservations and I won’t stand in line for a meal.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/14 "2015-08-01T23:24:05Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> Sounds tasty. Serve with grits…
You had me until the grits.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/15 "2015-08-01T23:30:15Z")
**Johnny** –you DO make your biscuits from scratch, right?
Grits are great, but use enough butter, salt and pepper.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/16 "2015-08-01T23:38:23Z")
Biscuits are so easy to make, that making from scratch is a pleasure. Plus you get to make them with butter instead of whatever packaged products use.
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### Author:  [@Lubricious\_Integument](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lubricious_Integument)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/17 "2015-08-02T00:01:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Growing up in New England, the words “breakfast” and “gravy” were never used in the same sentence. To this day, I’ve never had it. Nothing against it, it just seems so odd.
Apropos of nothing…
Growing up in a household that always had a Reader’s Digest within arm’s reach of each toilet, sentences whose first word ends in “ing” always remind me of Reader’s Digest.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/18 "2015-08-02T00:06:26Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> **Johnny** –you DO make your biscuits from scratch, right?
>
> Grits are great, but use enough butter, salt and pepper.
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I use Bisquick. Depends on how lazy I’m feeling.
I had grits once.
Once.
It was at the airport in New Orleans. OK, I had them at an airport. Probably instant. Fair enough. But I’d rather have potatoes.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/19 "2015-08-02T00:10:12Z")
I like grits and gravy. Pretty much anything with sausage gravy.
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### Author:  [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-gravy/726733/20 "2015-08-02T00:10:13Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Growing up in New England, the words “breakfast” and “gravy” were never used in the same sentence. To this day, I’ve never had it. Nothing against it, it just seems so odd.
Coming from the people who eat the giant bugs that they find in the ocean.
(ok, I love lobster too)
> [@](#):
>
> Looks like hell. Tastes like heaven
Nope… looks like heaven too.
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