Comfort Food - Country Gravy
Gram’s Country Gravy with Breakfast Sausage and Biscuits
Country gravy with sausage on biscuits is a dish that’s been a favorite in my family for generations. It’s a comfort food that can be made as any meal of the day. Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner. It’s simple, quick, and easy and most ingredients are always on hand. It’s cheap to make and serves a lot of people. The country gravy with or without the sausage can be poured over other foods like chicken fried steak, fried pork chops, vegetables, and casseroles. It can be seasoned with extra black pepper, fresh chopped chives, or some other favorite herb. The possibilities are endless.
Gram’s Country Gravy with Breakfast Sausage
Ingredients:
1 lb Breakfast Pork Sausage (prefer bulk sausage – with no casing)
¾ cup Flour ( little more or less for desired thickness of gravy)
¾ stick (6 Tbsp) Butter or Margarine
1 can (12 oz) Evaporated Milk
1 can Water (use the Evaporated Milk can after it is emptied)
1 cup Milk (or more as needed to desired thickness)
2 Tbsp Dried or Fresh Minced Onion – Optional
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
Directions:
Pull apart or chop up the sausage into desired size small chunks in a large skillet. For a more hearty dish, make the chunks large. Cook on medium heat until it’s brown and no longer pink. Remove from the skillet and set it aside.
In the same skillet, melt the butter. If you are using fresh minced onion, add it now to the butter and sauté/cook for a few minutes.
Add the flour to the skillet. Stir until the butter absorbs all the flour. All the flour should be incorporated into the butter otherwise the dry flour will make the gravy lumpy.
Add the evaporated milk, water and milk. The mixture will be lumpy at first but stirring it with a whisk will quickly make it smooth. Stir the mixture for about 5 or 10 minutes until smooth and creamy. The gravy will thicken as it cooks. If it gets too thick, then add a little milk.
Now lower the temperature to low heat and add the cooked sausage, black pepper, and dried minced onions to the country gravy. Stir and let cook for 2 or 3 minutes.
Serve over biscuits or toast and maybe with a couple of eggs “over easy”.
This country gravy keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days so you can use it for other dishes too. When you reheat it, you can add a little milk or water to get the desired consistency.
Enjoy!
Additional Tips and Information:
For four generations, my family has been using evaporated milk for country gravy. It gives the gravy a more creamy rather than a “milk” flavor.
If you don’t have evaporated milk, it can be substituted with regular milk or even powdered milk (with water added).
1 ½ cups regular milk = 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk with 1 can (12 oz) of water.
Add some favorite grated cheese and serve over cooked vegetables such as broccoli, or maybe some pasta, or even mixed in a casserole dish.
If you add 1 large jar of dried chipped beef, or a few thin sliced roast beef lunchmeat that is chopped up, to the country gravy instead of the ground pork sausage, you will have the famous Creamed Chipped Beef dish that is served on toast.
Plain ground pork, ground turkey, or ground beef can be used as the meat instead of the breakfast pork sausage. There are no seasonings in the ground meat so you might want to add some herbs to it.
This herb mix can be added add to your 1 lb of ground meat: (for ground pork, chicken, or turkey)
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Breakfast Pork Sausage Herb Seasoning Mix
½ tsp Rubbed Sage
½ tsp Dried Parsley Flakes
¼ tsp Dried Thyme
¼ tsp Ground Paprika (or Cayenne)
¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
½ tsp Salt
Mix all ingredients and add to the ground meat.
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These are the same seasonings/herbs that are added to ground pork for homemade breakfast pork sausage patties.
Easy Basic Drop Biscuits
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
5 tablespoons Butter
1 cup Milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Add the milk and stir to combine. Drop batter by spoonful on ungreased baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container or zip-lock bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Recipe makes 1 dozen
