7 years ago, Thanksgiving Day, my grandfather died. I think of him often for a lot of reasons, but always more around Thanksgiving. Often, when I think about my grandfather, I think about food. As a kid, he'd often tote me down to the local diner where he and his other retired buddies would hang out for hours on end. He'd sit there, jawing with his pals about the weather and fishing conditions, drinking a cup of coffee and smoking cigarettes. I'd get a plate of biscuits and gravy.
That memory spurred me to make some biscuits and gravy a few Sundays ago. I didn't want to spend a lot of time finding the "perfect" recipe or some elaborate baking project. So I grabbed my trusty King Arthur Baking Companion and double checked ingredient measurements for a sausage gravy, and got to work.
The recipe I used was pretty simple: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, butter, shortening, and an egg. I don't normally keep shortening on hand, but I happened to have some from a project a few months back. It was pretty simple: whisk together the dry, whisk together the wet ingredients, then combine them. Once things are combined, roll it out and get it in a nice square-ish shape.
There's a little rest time but not long. Then it's just about dividing them using a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or a bench knife if you have one. 20 minutes or so later, they're done.
These biscuits, either due to my mistake in the baking powder measuring or just the recipe, didn't rise much. But they were flaky, buttery, and tasty.
Of course the next step is to make the gravy! I am a big believer that good breakfast sausage gravy MUST have paprika. I haven't seen anyone else make it that way, or any recipes that specifically called it out, so I don't recall where that particular insistence showed up in my cooking but there it is. In addition to the paprika, I use a little flour, milk, seasoned salt, and pepper.
Start by browning your sausage, mix in your milk and flour, and then season at the end after it thickens up. That's it. That's all you need for good breakfast sausage gravy.
Overall this meal was a 7. The gravy was great, though I thickened it a bit too much. But the biscuits were only so-so. Better than running to the store and buying some processed junk, but not quite the diner-style I remember from childhood. Worth the effort though!
