As I hear feedback from some of you who read this blog, I've been so surprised how big of a hit a simple biscuit recipe is. For some its the fact that they didn't think they could make biscuits without expensive butter or shortening. Some of you just get excited about changing it up like I do. For others, they were just scared of making biscuits before they tried these. Now if you were scared of making biscuits, you might be even more scared of making gravy. Its TOTALLY easy though, so you should definitely do it soon if you like some good ol' southern biscuits and gravy. I rarely do this for breakfast in the morning, but its a staple if we do breakfast for dinner! This is also one of those things that I learned to make by watching. My grandmother and my mom don't measure anything for gravy, so neither do I. I've done my best to get an accurate measurement for you of the ingredients, but this might just be one of those things you need to taste to get just right! Please read the notes at the bottom because this is about as far from a straight-forward recipe as you can get!
Gravy
1 Tbs oil*
2 1/2 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
dash of cayenne pepper (opt)
1 1/2 cups milk
Heat oil in skillet. Whisk in flour, salt, and peppers. This makes a roux--you can let it cook and get dark, but I don't. Light brown is good for me! The goal is to have a smooth pasty look--not too thin (not enough flour) or too clumpy (too much flour). Add in milk and whisk together quickly. Add additional milk or water if its too thick and adjust salt and pepper if need be. At this point, you could add in some crumbled sausage if you want it! This makes enough for about 4 servings depending on how much you like to use!
Notes:
*The best gravy is going to be from the grease left after you've cooked some sausage or bacon or fried some chicken.
- I use this over biscuits with or without some crumbled sausage in it. Super good. It also goes great over some rice or potatoes alongside some fried chicken or chicken fried steak.
- You can use half milk and half water if you wanted and still makes a nice milky gravy.
- I don't think my mom or grandmother add cayenne but I like the little something it adds. It isn't spicy with just a dash. I sometimes even add a little garlic powder.
Gravy
1 Tbs oil*
2 1/2 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
dash of cayenne pepper (opt)
1 1/2 cups milk
Heat oil in skillet. Whisk in flour, salt, and peppers. This makes a roux--you can let it cook and get dark, but I don't. Light brown is good for me! The goal is to have a smooth pasty look--not too thin (not enough flour) or too clumpy (too much flour). Add in milk and whisk together quickly. Add additional milk or water if its too thick and adjust salt and pepper if need be. At this point, you could add in some crumbled sausage if you want it! This makes enough for about 4 servings depending on how much you like to use!
Notes:
*The best gravy is going to be from the grease left after you've cooked some sausage or bacon or fried some chicken.
- I use this over biscuits with or without some crumbled sausage in it. Super good. It also goes great over some rice or potatoes alongside some fried chicken or chicken fried steak.
- You can use half milk and half water if you wanted and still makes a nice milky gravy.
- I don't think my mom or grandmother add cayenne but I like the little something it adds. It isn't spicy with just a dash. I sometimes even add a little garlic powder.
Hey Sara, I love your blog!! I feel like I am learning to cook all over again. (You often say you hear from your readers, but I wasn't sure how to write to you... so I will just comment here.)
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I just moved to China. We are excited to begin our family soon, and was wondering if you have any tips for the "do's and don'ts" of a pregnancy diet in China. Anything unusual to keep an eye out for?
This is great! An oil biscuit recipe! We will be having biscuits and gravy SOON!
ReplyDeleteIt was good to meet you yesterday. :-)
Thank you so very much!!! You biscuit recipe is indeed a gift to us all! Wondering (in all your free time :) if you could post a list of things you for sure can not get in China- or a list of things you used to buy in USA but now can get in China. The longer I live here (six years) my list for the USA gets smaller and smaller. But wondering how big or small your list is when you go back to stock up? Also, do you make any of your own cleaning products? Would love to know more about that. Blessings from Shanghai! Emily
ReplyDeleteLisa--I'm a terrible person to ask about pregnancy dos and don'ts! I'm not too good about following them! :) If you listen to your local neighbors there are all kinds of things you should be eating when pregnant. Us westerners tend to stay away from certain fish, certain cheeses, etc but that isn't too hard to do here. I'm not aware of any local things that are no-no's that we wouldn't know about....someone else may be though!
ReplyDeleteEmily-we're going to the US next month and I find my list is smaller as well! I'll try to do a post though since that's something we're thinking through right now anyway!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteSB - this gravy post made me smile. I always kinda shake my head when we go for the "Happy Hour" vanilla coke at the 82nd Street Cafe here in Lubbock, TX - they have a "cup of gravy" as one of the side options. A little easier than what you are detailing, huh?
ReplyDelete