One Pot Sausage Gravy (with Biscuits)

Growing up in the South I fell in love with Biscuits 'n Gravy for breakfast. Some folks'll use a Country gravy which is really just thickened milk with salt 'n pepper. Some'll use Red-Eye gravy which usually involves ham drippin's and black coffee. But for the discriminatin' Good Ol' Boy, nothin' says "Breakfast" like Sausage gravy! Maybe add some Cheese Grits or Shrimp 'n Grits, and some eggs done easy, but that's a whole 'nother Instructable. Or two.

This here will show you how to amaze your friends and family with your refined culinary skills and your extensive expertise in a culture much-maligned, little understood, and quintessentially American. Easily my most requested recipe and likely one of the simplest things I make, may I present:

(Biscuits 'n) Sausage Gravy

EQUIPMENT

• Heavy, flat-bottomed Dutch oven or similar pot (since we're making 2 quarts of gravy, a 4-quart pot is a great size)
• Flat-tipped stirring utensil (a wooden spatula is perfect for scraping the bits off the bottom)
• Measuring cups and spoons (you DO have those, don't you?)
• Peppermill or spice-grinder (please, please, please do yourself a favor and get both of these items if you don't already have them)
• Ladle (for serving)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 quarts half & half (You could substitute milk, but why would you??)
• 1 lb bulk breakfast sausage (savory, not maple or something sweet. No affiliation with the company, but I recommend Jimmy Dean - Sage.)
• 1/2 cup white, all-purpose flour (nothin' fancy, just, you know, the stuff everyone has in the cupboard.)
• Salt, to taste (I start with 3/4 tsp of use Kosher salt and go up from there. If you use (iodized) table salt or a fine-grain salt, start with 1/2 tsp and increase more slowly. Gravy should be slightly saltier than expected to compensate for the plainness of the biscuit)
• Medium-coarse freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste (I insist on fresh-ground. If you don't already grind your own pepper as you use it, this single act will have the greatest impact on the quality of your food. Pre-ground pepper is about as flavorful as the dust on your bookshelves and just as tasty. Which is to say, not at all!
• 1/4 tsp Rubbed sage, optional (If you use the sage sausage I recommended, you can omit this. Or, if you don't like sage you can omit it. I mean, it's your breakfast, do what you want! I'm not going to call the Food Police on you.)

ADDITIONAL ITEMS

• Biscuits (Make your own, buy them in a can, get them frozen, or use leftovers from your fried-chicken dinner the other night, just don't count this as a 2nd pot!)

The point here isn't to get it scalding hot, just to get it warm enough to cut down your cooking time later on. Might as well multi-task while you're frying up the sausage if it's going to help out in the long run. My Half & Half comes in a paper carton with a plastic spout. I open the carton, pull the sealed plastic tab, squeeze as much air out as I can, then put the cap back on. This way, when I microwave the carton and the liquid expands, it doesn't blow out into a mess. If yours still uses the old-school-fold-back flaps then you might want to either watch it closely and check it often so it doesn't bulge open, or you can put it in a 4-cup glass liquid measuring cup and heat it up that way, but then you're kinda breaking the "1-pot" rule, so... maybe buy the one with the plastic spout?

My microwave is 1100 watts, and I usually put both quarts (or a single half-gallon if that's what I have) in at once for about 5 minutes, then I shake it a couple of seconds, then back in for 3-4 more minutes. Again, the temperature isn't as important as using your time wisely and getting ahead of the game.

Oh, also, if y'ain't going to eat this like a soup (ain't judgin', just sayin'), now would be a GREAT time to put something in the oven to put this stuff on. Like... a batch o' biscuits maybe?

When frying the sausage, you can break it up into bits as big or as small as you like it. I prefer it to be on the small-ish side so I'm not chewing the gravy and the meat is more evenly distributed, but you do you. All's fair in love and cooking.

Toss the (unwrapped) sausage into a heavy-bottomed ("What'd you call me??") pot over medium-high heat and break it up while it browns. Cook it until it's done completely and gets to browning on the bottom of the pan a little. We're not going to take it full-charcoal, we just want it cooked through and a bit of toasty flavor. Don't worry about the stuff sticking to the bottom of the pan, just scrape up as much as you can without makin' too much of a fuss. That goodness will come up once we put the liquid in.

Oh, don't forget to check on the half & half every now and then. Mostly when the microwave beeps.

In French cooking, a "roux" is an equal blend of flour and liquid fat (usually melted butter) cooked together and used to thicken a sauce or add body to a soup. We're doing the same sort of thing using the grease from the sausage as the fat (instead of butter) and doing it in the same pot with the meat instead of separating the fat first, cooking it with the flour, and adding it back in at the end. You say "potato", they say "pomme de terre".

Also, for the Culinarily Curious, the beautifully delicious brown cruft stuck to the bottom of the pan from the meat in the previous step is called "fond". So the next time someone tells you they're "fond of you", well... they could be telling you they're roasted (BOOM!), sometimes burned (Ohhh!), bits of crap you leave behind. Why are you so mean?!? Or they might be saying they want to eat you, in which case you might want to watch your back. But hopefully, it's just that they like you. The more you know...

Sprinkle the flour over the cooked sausage and stir well until the flour is all combined and no longer dry. Here we're going to toast our "roux" just a bit by stirring and scraping the bottom. I know, it is scary how badly it wants to stick to the bottom of the pan. Just keep scraping it up and mixing it all in. Do this until the flour bits that stick to the bottom start to brown nicely around the edge of the pot. Look at the picture here for an example.

Do this the same way rich people go bankrupt: Start slowly at first, then get faster. The point here is to let it begin to thicken, add a little more liquid, and stir until it's the same consistency, then let it thicken some more. Rinse and repeat, each time adding a little more liquid than the time before. Don't worry that it looks thin at the end. It will continue to thicken as it simmers, it will thicken more if you boil it after it simmers, and it will DEFINITELY thicken more after it cools off, just like an old, married man. Not that I would know anything about that. Besides, there's no hard & fast rule about "Gravy Viscosity and its Application on Leavened Products", so just chillax and know it's all good. And if tomorrow your leftover gravy is too thick (not really sure what "leftover gravy" is, but people have told me stories), a tiny splash of milk goes a long way.

Start adding your half & half a bit at a time, letting it thicken up between additions. Once you've added all the liquid, bring it to a simmer, then turn down the heat. Continue to stir and be sure to scrape the bottom so it doesn't scorch. Burned gravy is bad gravy!

This is YOUR food. Season it like you like it. I like salty, peppery, savory gravy. So do the people I feed. If you don't, adjust it how you DO like it. The world is your canvas! But this morning, let's just stick to the pot in front of you.

Once all the half & half has been added, it's safe to start seasoning. If you tried to season and then kept adding liquid, it would dilute the flavor and you would need to season again. While the gravy may thicken with additional cooking, it should have no effect on the final balance. Unless you thin it with more liquid. So don't do that unless you want to adjust the seasonings again.

Sprinkle in the sage, salt, and fresh-ground pepper (have I mentioned how important it is to have FRESHLY ground pepper? I have? GOOD! It's important!), taste the gravy, and adjust the flavors to your liking. Serve piping hot over a bowl of torn-up biscuits, and with a spoon. Forks are for uncivilized people who lick their bowls clean because they didn't use a spoon.

Another serving suggestion? Besides eating it straight like Cream of Sausage Soup? Ok. Well, I believe in supporting local businesses, so go to your local fast food breakfast place and get their special 2 for $3.50 Chicken Biscuit deal. Place the (unwrapped) sandwich on a plate, take the top layer of the biscuit off, smother the insides of the sandwich with gravy, replace the biscuit top, garnish with more gravy, and enjoy with a fork and knife. Your waistline, heart, and cardiologist will hate me.

You're welcome