Mastering The Perfect Southern Breakfast Gravy

Once upon a time, 14 years ago, there was a girl in California that had never heard of biscuits and gravy.

In fact, she didn't even know gravy existed in any shade other than brown, and generally only ate it on Thanksgiving over mashed potatoes.

I know, crazy, right?

When I was 18 my best friend and I got our first apartment.  Literally two weeks after my 18th birthday we were out on our own.  It was then that I was first introduced to the idea of biscuits and gravy.

Sometimes she would make them for us on Saturday mornings.  Goodness we felt so grown up back then...we were babies!  But when we would have "the guys" grill for us on our itty bitty balcony, get dressed up and make lasagna and drink Arbor Mist (ugh), or sit around in our pajamas eating a real meal of biscuits and gravy on a Saturday morning we felt SOOOO grown up.

One of our first "grown-up" meals
in our little apartment- so young!

So adult.

:-) Those are a couple of years that I wouldn't trade for the world.  Good times for sure.

Anyway, I've gotten off track a bit.

So anyway, my best friend would make biscuits and gravy...with brown gravy.

I didn't know that wasn't the way they were normally served because I'd never heard of biscuits and gravy before then.

You know what?  It's hard to go wrong with gravy.  They were delicious!

Then I joined the Air Force and there was this little place called The Little Kitchen right out the back gate of the base where we would often go for chow runs- they had a very weird combination of Southern food and Chinese food on their menu.  The restaurant was literally made of trailers that had been connected to form a larger building.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my little take out container after ordering biscuits and gravy from a chow run one day and found white gravy all over those biscuits1  Some of their food was good...most was acceptable...but the one thing they did REALLY well was biscuits and gravy.  

The place were I first met and fell in love with white gravy

It wasn't what I was expecting.  It looked weird.  And it was fantastic.

A love affair with white gravy was born.

Not just any white gravy, though.  Often it's so bland and boring.

No, good white gravy has sausage chunks and flavor.  The right amount of pepper is essential, as is the fat that forms it's base.  One time my husband attempted gravy with bacon grease and it was pretty much inedible.

Which brings me to my next thing- my love affair with white gravy had a happy ending.

I married the Gravy King Of The World.

Seriously...my husband makes the most amazing, perfectly seasoned, filling, satisfying, mouth-and-tummy-pleasing gravy I've ever eaten in my life.

If there's an occasion requiring gravy, my husband is your guy.  He won me over while we were dating and in 6+ years together I've never even attempted to make it myself.

Until this morning, that is.  :-)

Yesterday morning I threw together a batch of my favorite, easy, fail-proof biscuits.  Seriously, make them.  I used to be terrible at making biscuits- until I found this recipe!

Anyway, this morning I came downstairs and saw the last two biscuits sitting on the counter in a container and I knew I had to make biscuits and gravy for my daughter for breakfast- she has most definitely inherited my love for the dish.

I cooked a few sausage patties, pulled them out of the pan, and- just as I was about to dive in and hopefully get it right- my husband came downstairs.

His eyes moved from the sausage, to the grease in the pan, to the milk and flour on the counter.

"Are you....making gravy?" he asked, his trepidation evident.

I nodded a little apprehensively.  Thankfully he volunteered to walk me through it.

Now I can make it whenever the craving strikes!

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Anyway, a simple recipe for something as wonderful as my husband's white gravy is something that should definitely not be kept to myself- enjoy!

The Perfect Southern Breakfast Gravy
Click to see the recipe on Allrecipes.com!

1 lb ground breakfast sausage (mild or hot based on your preference)
1/3 C all-purpose flour
Approximately 2 C milk
1 tsp black pepper, or to taste
1tsp salt, or to taste

1. Brown sausage in large skillet.

2. Reduce heat to low.  Stir in flour until fully dissolved.

3. Pour milk over sausage, just enough to fully cover all sausage in pan.  Stir in salt and pepper.  Increase heat to medium high, constantly stirring and scraping sides and bottom of skillet.

4. Once mixture is simmering, return to low.  Continue stirring constantly until desired consistency is reached.

Some Tips...

*Choose flavorful sausage, most of the flavor of the gravy comes from the sausage.

When your husband says, "Oooh take a picture of this!" you
do it :-)

*If your sausage is too lean to produce much grease add a small amount of olive oil to the sausage as it browns.

*If your gravy thickens too much add additional milk 1/4 C at a time until desired consistency is reached.