Culinary Corner: Homemade Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Culinary+Corner%3A+Homemade+Sausage+Gravy+and+Biscuits

Richard Hartman, Adviser

Did you ever wake up on a Saturday morning and think “sausage gravy on biscuits would be really tasty right about now”? Did you ever think that and then remember that there’s a pandemic? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then read on. 

With a little effort and a few ingredients you can have that sausage gravy over a flaky warm biscuit and never have to get out of your Saturday morning comfy clothes. Now before we begin I must warn you that this recipe makes a lot of sausage gravy, some folks (like my wife) might even say too much gravy. But is there really such a thing? 

Actually the sausage gravy keeps really well for up to four or five days if kept covered in the fridge. Also, I purchase my sausage (along with the rest of my meats) from a local butcher in bulk and freeze it in vacuum sealed two pound portions. 

So, enough talk, let’s get cooking. 

Ingredients:

Gravy

2 lbs loose country sausage 

1 cup all purpose flower

5 cups whole milk (reduced fat milk works fine with this)

2 tbsp dried sage

Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup whole milk (never used reduced fat milk so can’t speak to whether or not it would substitute well)

Biscuit recipe:

I’m not gonna lie folks, my biscuit making game is not really all that. The mean they are flaky and taste good, but there really isn’t anything all that special about my biscuits on their own. But when I want sausage gravy and biscuits, I kinda need biscuits, and this is my easy approach to making decent biscuits. 

Preheat the oven to 450. 

Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix together well. Add a stick of cold butter chopped up and mix with flour. I use a masher to incorporate the butter and flour together. Add the cup of milk and stir together with a fork until a dough is formed. Work the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness and then use a cookie cutter (or if you don’t have cookie cutters that aren’t holiday themed you can use the lid to a mason jar like I did). Cut biscuits and place on a baking sheet. Form the dough into a ball and roll out again to cut more biscuits. Repeat this until all the dough has been used. 

 

Place the biscuits in the preheated oven and bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown on top. 

Recipe for the gravy:

I begin with roughly two pounds of Hoffman’s loose country sausage. Hoffman’s is a family owned butcher in the Hagerstown area. If you like country sausage, and you’ve never had Hoffman’s, do yourself a favor and try it the next time you see it in a grocery store (most chain grocery stores in both Hagerstown and Frederick feature some Hoffman’s products). 

First I cook the sausage on low heat and add the sage. Once the sausage is fully cooked I remove from heat and add the flower, stirring until the sausage and flower are completely incorporated. I place back over medium heat and add the milk. Keep slowly stirring the mixture until it begins to bubble and thicken. You grave is done when it has the consistency of a thin pancake batter. 

Place a nice dollop of grave on a biscuit or two and serve warm.

Enjoy!

 

Dry ingredients and chilled butter
Butter incorporated in with the dry ingredients (small pebbles of buttery dough should be evident)
Milk added to mixture to form a dough ball
Rolled out dough ball
Use top of a mason jar to cut out individual biscuits
Keep rolling out dough until you have used it all up
a dozen biscuits ready for the oven!
Remove from oven when golden brown
Cooked sausage and flour mixed together
The mix will be very watery when you first add the milk, but stir it over medium heat and it will slowly thicken.
When your gravy is the consistency of pancake batter remove from heat.
Serve warm