Biscuits and Gravy are my favorite, slow morning, breakfast dish. This dish is made from homemade biscuits and country, sausage gravy. There are a few tricks included in the instructions below. Make sure you read all the way through! These biscuits need to be made as soon as you can so your family can give you a big hug and say, “Thank you!”
Growing up in Tennessee, I learned a lot about Southern cooking. Biscuits and Gravy is a staple in the South. My mom made them almost every Saturday morning while I was young. Biscuits and gravy were her favorite. When eating out, my mom ordered biscuits and gravy whenever she found them on a restaurant menu. I order biscuits and gravy every time I see them on the menu, too!
How to Make Biscuits and Gravy
1. Fry up the sausage. Break it up into small chunks and use a wooden spoon or spatular to split up all the pieces. Sausage is harder to fry than hamburger and sticks together more because of the high fat content. I buy Jimmy Dean sausage at Costco. It comes in a large 3 pound log. I cut it up into three equal pieces and place each pound of meat into a zippered plastic bag. I push everything flat and then stack them on top of each other in the freezer.
Kitchen Hack – Put any kind of frozen meat in a bowl or flat dish filled with hot water. The water will defrost the meat within about 15 minutes. I do not like using the microwave to defrost meat because it cooks the outside edges. If your meat has been frozen in a freeze plastic bag and been pushed flat, it will only take minutes before it is defrosted.
2. Make the gravy. Use a slotted spoon and take all the sausage out of the pan. Set it aside. Leave all the fat in the frying pan and add the chicken fat and the butter.
If you do not have any chicken fat, replace it with butter. I have a Roasted Chicken recipe on my blog. In the recipe you cook a chicken in a roasting pan. After the chicken is done, you pour off the most luscious chicken stock. I always save this and use it when making soups. After putting the chicken stock in the refrigerator, the fat will float to the top and become solid. Before using the chicken stock I skim this solid fat off and put it in a plastic bag and freeze it. Now I have have chicken fat any time I need to make chicken and biscuits. I also use the chicken fat sometimes in the soup when sautéing the onions and vegetables. It adds another layer of flavor.
Defrosting frozen meat in a bowl or pan of hot water is awesome!
3. Once the fat and butter have melted, add the flour and stir for a minute or two until the flour cooks. Cooking the flour is a necessary step when making any type of gravy or white sauce. Flour has a raw flavor and this needs to be cooked out when adding it to the fat. Once the flour is cooked, slowly add in the milk, over medium heat, stirring consistently. The gravy will seem thin and will continue to thicken as it cooks. Keep stirring. Once the gravy starts to boil, it will thicken up quickly. Add the cooked sauce and put a lid on it while you make the biscuits. Make sure to add the salt and pepper at the end.
4. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients. Use a medium size bowl and add the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. A pastry blender is my favorite tool to use when cutting the shortening into the dry ingredients. Some people use a food processor and add the dry ingredients with the shortening and pulse. When in a pinch, I have used two knives to cut the shortening into the flour. Many people like using their fingers and just smooshing the shortening into the flour.
It only takes about 20 maybe 30 seconds to get the shortening into small bits. The shortening needs to be covered in flour and about the size of a green pea. Make sure there are clumps of shortening, this is what gives the biscuits lift and creates the air pockets of flavor. 5. Add the buttermilk. You can use regular milk if you do not have buttermilk. Reduce the milk to 2/3 cup and do not add the baking soda.
Kitchen Hack – If you do not have buttermilk you can make it with regular milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. As you mix these together you will see the milk start to thicken up, like buttermilk.
Cooking biscuits until they are dark brown on top is important!
6. Use a spoon to mix the ingredients together. After everything starts to stick together, get your hands in there and really push the dough together. You want to create one large ball of dough. When things are almost together put not quite, dump out the contents of the bowl on your countertop. Keep pushing the mixture together with your hands. It will take about 30 seconds until you have a ball of dough.
7. Pat the ball into a circle on a floured surface. You can use a rolling pin to flatten out the dough, but using my hands is what I do. When I use a rolling pin, I have a tendency to make the dough too flat. You want it to be about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick. The thicker the dough, the thicker the biscuits. Flat dough makes flat biscuits. Thick biscuits cut in half soak up more gravy. This is the best!
8. Use a biscuit cutter or your favorite glass with a 3 1/2 inch opening. My mom always used a glass, so I do too. Look at your dough as a whole surface. Survey it to see how you can get the most biscuits out of it when cutting it the first time. When you have cut the dough, place them on a greased cookie sheet. I use a 1/4 sheet pan since this recipe makes about 8 – 9 biscuits. Mash the left over dough together and flatten it out and cut out more biscuits. I usually have to do this three times to get all the dough cut. The last biscuits is usually just a ball of dough you have smashed together and then flattened out.
9. Bake in a 450° oven for 12 – 15 minutes. I like my biscuits big, so I have to cook them a little longer. When the tops are dark brown, they are done. Pull them out and use a fork to divide them in half so you have a top half and a bottom half and then pour on the gravy. If you take the biscuits out of the oven when the tops are just lightly golden brown, they will be doughy in the middle.
Biscuits and Gravy
Ingredients
- 2 Cup Flour
- 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
- 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 Cup Shortening
- 3/4 Cup Buttermilk
Sausage Gravy
- 1 lb. Ground Breakfast Sausage
- 1/4 Cup Butter
- 1/4 Cup Chicken Fat substitute butter if you do not have
- 1/2 Cup Flour
- 4 Cups Milk
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°
- Place shortening in a bowl and add all the dry ingredients.
- Using a pastry blender, cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until the size of green peas.
- Add the buttermilk and stir with a spoon until combine.
- Once combine into a ball of dough, turn out onto a countertop.
- Using your hands, or a rolling pine, flatten the ball of dough.
- Using a biscuit cutter or a glass, cut out 3 1/2 inch circles from the dough.
- Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake until dark brown, about 12 – 15 minutes.
Sausage gravy
- Fry sausage in a large fry pan.
- Once the sausage is cooked, take it out of the pan and set aside.
- Add the butter and chicken fat to the fry pan.
- When fats are completely melted, add the four and stir for 2 – 3 minutes until flour is cooked.
- Gradually add in the milk and stir consistently. Cook until the mixture begins to boil.
- Add the salt and pepper and serve over cooke biscuits
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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