My Dad’s Sausage Gravy

My Dad is amazing on the grill. He has also recently gotten into smoking meats and has pretty much mastered that skill as well. But when it comes to cooking in an actual kitchen, he gets by with only 2 recipes: Sausage & Gravy, and Fried Chicken & Gravy. So on the occasion that he was responsible for feeding us girls, we generally knew we would be eating meat and gravy.

Even though my Dad’s repertoire is limited in the kitchen, what he did make was DELICIOUS. I have such fond memories of Sunday mornings, all of us eating sausage, biscuits, and gravy. SO SO GOOD. And so simple to make. If you’re going through the trouble of frying up some breakfast sausage, why WOULDN’T you make the gravy to along with it?

And now I get to make Sunday morning memories with my own family!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lbs. Breakfast Sausage

• 2-3 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour

• 2 cups Whole Milk

• Salt & Pepper to taste 

INSTRUCTIONS

• I highly recommend making this in a cast iron pan if you have one. If not, use a stainless skillet/pan but try not to use a ‘non-stick’ / teflon coated pan. 

• On medium heat, cook the breakfast sausage in a skillet until fully browned.

• Remove the sausage from the skillet and set aside. DO NOT WASH THE PAN! The fat remaining in the pan holds all that magical flavor that is essential to the gravy.

• Now you will need to make a roux. A roux is typically equal amounts of fat and flour so you can judge about how much flour you will need based on how much fat was rendered from the sausage (generally 1 lbs. of breakfast sausage renders about 2 Tbsp of fat).

• Sprinkle flour into the pan and start to whisk. You want to continue to add flour while whisking until you get a paste. Always start with a little less flour than you think you need because you can always add more but you can’t remove any excess.

• Once the roux paste has formed keep whisking to make sure you cook out the raw flour taste. 

• Now slowly add the whole milk while whisking the entire time. Once the milk is added, bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thick, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and if you have some spicy food lovers in your house, this gravy is really delicious with some tabasco added.

*If for some reason your gravy is not thickening, all hope is not lost!* You can make an additional roux with about 1 Tbsp melted butter and 1 Tbsp flour - make a paste with it and then whisk it back into the simmering gravy and it should thicken.