Mom's Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

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Every once in a while my husband will ask me one of those questions like, “If you could have any six people at dinner tonight, who would it be?” Or “If you could only eat one type of food all day, what would it be?” And my first typical reaction is to overreact. I take this shit way too seriously. I’ll start responding with who I’d want to have dinner with and then get so caught up in it that I can’t even finish my answer. Or then he’ll give his answer and I’ll have to change mine. I am completely aware of how silly this is, and that the point is to be spontaneous and fun and not overthink it because, well, it’s not reality, but I guess I just really want to have a good answer? Which I realize is also silly because it’s completely subjective. Ugh, I digress.

There is one question that never have a hard time answering. It has had the same response for as long as I can remember, and I’d be surprised if it ever changed. And that question is, “What’s your death-row meal?” Your very favorite, want it to be the last thing you eat in your entire life, can’t live without it, meal. My answer is my mom’s biscuits and gravy. I’d prefer if she made it, because, well, there’s always some magic thing mom’s do (they’re called secrets, and they’re sneaky AF about them) but anyway, I’d make it for myself too. I’ve been practicing for years and I think I’m pretty darn close.

The “secret” that is no longer a secret as I am about to tell you, is take. Your. Time. This meal will not be anything close to the same meal if you make it in a hurry. If you don’t brown your sausage so long that the grease starts to turn brown and stick to the pan a little, your flour won’t have anything to stick to. And if you don’t cook your flour/sausage mixture for a few minutes before adding the milk, the gravy won’t have that rich brown color at the end. If you don’t add enough milk it will be gooey and paste-like. And if you don’t make homemade biscuits to go with, well, you might as well not even try.

What You'll Need

For the Biscuits:

Flour - 2 cups

Sugar - 2 teaspoons

Baking Powder - 2 teaspoons

Baking Soda - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt - 1 teaspoon

Butter - 1/3 cup, cut into 1/2” cubes

Milk - 2/3 cup 

For the Gravy:

Pork sausage - 16 ounce roll (I use Jimmy Dean, hot)

Flour - 3 heaping Tablespoons

Salt - 1 teaspoon

Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon

Milk - 3+ cups (at least 2%)

What You'll Do

1. Start gravy. Brown sausage in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, constantly breaking up with the back of a wooden spoon, about 10 min.

2. Add flour, and salt and pepper, and stir to coat sausage in flour. Let that cook for about 5 minutes, stirring a couple times.

3. Pour in 2 cups of milk, and stir to combine. Let that simmer for 5-10 minutes.

4. Pour in 1 more cup of milk, stir to combine. This will now sit while you make your biscuits, so turn the heat to low and stir every once in a while.

5. Make biscuits. Add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

6. Cut butter into small cubes, and add to dry mixture. Use a pastry cutter or a fork (or your fingers!) to cut the butter into the flour mixture, until it’s pea-sized.

7. Pour in milk and begin to combine, either using a rubber spatula or your hands (I prefer my hands, I think it’s the best way to feel if you need to add more milk or not).

8. Once the dough feels like it’s sticking together, start folding it over on itself and flattening, repeating 5-10 times. You may need to add a little more milk if it feels too dry and isn’t coming together.

9. Place dough out onto parchment and cut into 6 squares.

10. Preheat oven to 450 and place biscuits in freezer until oven is preheated.

11. Take biscuits out of freezer and place on a baking sheet, parchment and all.

12. Bake 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

13. Assemble, Remove biscuits from oven. Place halved biscuit on plate. Smother with gravy. EAT.

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