Pure Comfort Food! Indeed, this recipe is not low fat, not low calorie, not low anything for that matter, but the essence of comfort food is to discount any nutritious value and soak in the comfort value.
This recipe is one of those things I remember my grandmother making in a big cast iron frying pan. She taught my dad, who I watched for years make this same gravy, and then in time he taught me.
Now I must confess that the measurements of the ingredients in this recipe may not be necessarily 100% accurate. Why? You see, there are a number of family recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation, that never really had written recipes. These are the food creations that come from watching, smelling the ingredients as they cook, and tasting along the way to make certain that the proportions and the length of cooking are just right.
Sausage gravy is one of those food creations that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a written down recipe, at least not how we make it. I learned simply by watching and eventually by doing. How much milk goes in? Well, you put enough milk in the pan to cover the whole pan and give the sausage depth to swim in, but not enough that the sausage is going to drown. The milk should sizzle when it first goes in – this is how you know that your pan is hot enough and ready for the milk. Likewise when considering the milk, if a little more flour was used to make the pan roux then you’re going to have to add a little more milk. The flour isn’t measured by tablespoons, but by handful. Enough flour is needed to cover the meat and to soak up the grease, but not so much that the grease-flour mixture looks like paste. If it looks like paste, be prepared to add more milk and to cook it a little longer.
Along the way, I have learned not to be frightened by the lack of exact measurement and have learned to appreciate that his is where the art and the finesse of real cooking comes in.
Below then is my recipe for sausage gravy – well, sort of. It might be this way or it might take a little more or a little less of each ingredient. I will say that the ingredient list is correct. Of course, if my dad were writing this recipe down, he probably wouldn’t include the pepper flakes. Not that he doesn’t like pepper flakes, but it’s not how his mother made the gravy and thus not how he learned to make it. I actually only started putting pepper flakes in because of my husband. Every time that he/we went to the Officer’s Club at the War College he ate sausage gravy there. The person who made the gravy (and it was definitely homemade) must have had a relative that liked a little heat in their food and taught them to put a few flakes in, because the chef/cook added chili flakes each and every time it was on the menu. After a while, my husband asked me to add chili flakes in addition to the black pepper for that added kick. I suppose that as my son and daughter learn to make sausage gravy, they will use chili flakes… or not.
SAUSAGE GRAVY
Ingredients
1 lb sausage (Jimmy Dean is my favorite)
3 T butter
2 T flour
salt and pepper
red chili flakes
milk
fresh baked biscuits
1. Heat a heavy bottom skillet (cast iron is best) Add sausage and begin to cook to crumble.
2. Add a big dollop of butter. Cook until the butter is melted and the sausage is cooked completely through.
3. Add flour, enough to cover the cooking sausage.
4. Stir in flour to coat all of the sausage.
5. Add milk. Moderate heat and begin to cook. Continue to cook until the gravy thickens and flour is cooked. If the gravy gets too thick, add more milk, stir gently and continue cooking until gravy is proper consistency. Remember, it’s an art and finesse counts.
6. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes. Pour into a warm bowl.
Serve over fresh baked biscuits.
~Enjoy!
