What do you have to do when you make sausage gravy so that it doesn’t taste like either flour or milk? I’ve tried making this stuff many times, following cookbook directions, and even asked my sister. (Her advice was to cook it longer than I had been.) I’m on the verge of giving up, but before I do, I thought I would ask the Dopers.
Gravy (of all kinds) is a very important staple in the South, and I find it frustrating that I don’t know how to do it right. Can someone please list the most common mistakes, or something? Maybe I can spot what I’m doing wrong.
I prefer bacon gravy, and in any case it’s been a while since I’ve made it. I hope my memory is working.
Fry about six slices of bacon (or sausage).
Remove the bacon (or sausage) from the pan, leaving the grease.
Mix a little flour into the grease.
When it’s mixed thoroughly, add a cup or so of milk.
Simmer, stirring frequently, until thick.
Crumble the bacon (or sausage) and add it to the gravy.
Add salt and pepper if you have to, or to taste.
Most of the flavour comes from the grease, which is rendered fat. Know why “prime” beef tastes better than “good” (now called “select”) beef? It has more fat marbled into it.
I like to use 2 parts water and 1 part milk. It helps get rid of the sweet milk flavor but keeps it rich. Also, I use a lot of black pepper and some onion salt.
Standard rule of thumb for a cup of gravy is 2 Tbsp fat, 2 Tbsp flour and one cup liquid, but I’ve always found that I get better gravy using half again as much liquid as I should have, then letting it reduce down to thickness. Kind of what your sister suggested. The longer you cook the flour, the less flour you’ll taste. Along those same lines, when you add the flour to the fat, (Never mix flour with liquid then to the fat… ick) let it cook a bit. That’s a roux. Mix the flour with the fat well, then let it go, stirring constantly until it starts to turn color. The longer it goes, the nuttier and less floury it’ll be. Stream in the cold liquid, and boil it down until it gets to how thick you like it, season it up and away you go
One of the key elements that none of the recipes referenced so far seem to address is that the flour should be slightly browned before the milk is added. That may get rid of the uncooked flour taste you are getting. Also we only use 3 tablespoons or so of grease, pouring the rest out. One other thing that enhances the flavor is to add a half-cup of strong coffee during the boiling process. It adds a slight accent to the flavor.
Does the temperature matter during all this? Are you supposed to let the grease cool any before adding the flour? Do you cook the roux at a low heat, and then up the heat after adding the milk/water? One of the linked recipes (the only one that didn’t have all the weird stuff in it) said to cook the flour for two minutes. Is that long enough? It seems like I’ve cooked it a lot longer than that. Finally, is there a certain kind of sausage that works best? My gravy tastes bland even when I cook the roux a long time, unless I misunderstand what long means. Also, how long to boil down? 5, 10, 15 minutes? And at what temp? Gosh, I hope y’all’s instructions here turn me into a decent gravy maker! Thanks for all the information!
(Please answer temp questions in electric terms: low, med, med-hi, etc.)
Yeah, I guess that would explain why my grandmother, who eats it practically every day, is nearly ninety and spry as a spring chicken. Now, off with you, so this doesn’t go to the Pit before I get my answers!
Browning the flour is the key. For any sauce/gravy, the first step is usu. making the roux.
For a basic white sauce, etc., that means melting butter (or some other fat) in the saucepan, stirring in flour, and letting this roux cook for a few minutes over low heat. The longer you cook it, the less “pasty” or “flour-y” your sauce/gravy will taste. Just don’t cook it so long that you actually burn the roux. In other words, cook it as long as you dare. In my experience, it should be golden, just on the edge of brown. Darker than that=too long.
Farmers Brothers (of coffee fame) makes an excellent mix. It is so yummy that you don’t even need the sausage! Just boil water and toss in the mix for a minute.
The hard part around here is tracking them down, they don’t sell retail, although if you see their truck, they will sell it to you. Most restaurants use their products and would probably order some for you.
I buy it by the case, so if you are interested, E-mail me and I’ll send you a price for a package that’ll make a gallon of gravy. O’course you don’t have to make that much at once, but after you taste it you’ll wish you had.
No cooling of the fat. In fact, I don’t ever pull out the sausage. Add the flour straight in, medium heat and cook it up. Crank the heat up to medium high and add the liquid. If it tastes bland, your sausage isn’t strong enough or you haven’t seasoned it enough. Throw in some salt and pepper little by little until it tastes the way you like it. You can also add a small about of beef base/boullion to it. For the sausage, usually I just use standard bulk pork sausage. The Hot Jimmy Dean stuff is pretty decent for biscuits and gravy. Use an amount of sausage that you would eat without gravy. You may not be using enough to get some good pork flavor, or a bland sausage. Seasoning is the key. Anytime you dilute a handfull of anything with a cup or two of water, it’ll be a bit bland until you play with the seasonings. Toss in some paprika, some herbs, anything you want. As far as time, A good gravy can take 10 to 20 minutes for me. The only thing that happens after 2 minutes is warm water/milk with flour and chunkies in it. Reduction equals concentrated flavor. Salt and onions are your friends too. Both are flavor enhancers until you use too much.
I recommend to use Wondra[sup]TM[/sup] flour for making gravies. It is easy to dispense and more granular so it take an effort to screw it up.
Also, I have an incredible sausage and gravy recipe from a friend, I will ask him if it’s okay to post (he keeps making noises about publishing a cookbook; he has a lot of really good, simple recipes).
