Life is Good with Biscuit and Gravy

One of the most common dishes requested for breakfast at our house is Biscuit and Gravy. It is a year round feast here at our house but other places it is a seasonal dish. At our house it is as an honored and loved dish. Biscuits and Gravy has been honored with a week of its own. The week occurs the second week of September.

My husbands grandmother was a lady who cooked daily for miners in her time. Her daddy and husband were both miners. Cooking for these men was not always easy but when I met her I can tell you that she was a seasoned cook. She knew how to cook adding a pinch of this and a pinch of that, there was no measuring cups in her kitchen. When you went to her house you simply took a seat and enjoyed a nice breakfast, lunch or supper. It was nothing for her to make up biscuit and gravy to serve the whole bunch. Like grandma I believe biscuit and gravy can be served any meal of the day.  

 

 

 

Homemade biscuits covered with that rich "country" "white" "sausage" gravy made up from the drippings of cooked sausage, white flour, milk and bits of real sausage. Of-course, the dish is made even better when seasoned with pepper. Individuals in southern Illinois like it so much that the home I work in makes the dish for breakfast 2 times a week per request. 

 

 

 

 

Sausage Gravy Recipe

8 ounces breakfast sausage

2 tablespoons shortening or lard

3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups milk

salt and pepper, to taste

dash cayenne pepper, optional

PREPARATION:

Cook sausage in a medium skillet over medium-low heat, stirring and breaking up with a spatula. With a slotted spoon, removed the browned crumbled sausage to a paper towel-lined plate. Add 2 tablespoons shortening, vegetable oil, or lard to the drippings in the skillet.

Add flour, stirring until blended and bubbling. Gradually add 1 1/2 cups milk; continue stirring and cooking until thickened and bubbly. Add the crumbled sausage. If too thick, add a little more milk. Taste and add salt and pepper. Stir in a dash of cayenne pepper, if desired.

Serve over hot split and buttered biscuits. Serve sliced tomatoes or fresh fruit with these, or serve as part of a bigger breakfast.