The only recipe needed to make sausage gravy. My grandmother used canned evaporated milk out of necessity, who knew it was her secret weapon in the fight against thin tasteless gravy. Do not be afraid to fail at this, my first 3 attempts; without one of my parents at my elbow making this, turned into wall paper paste. Trial and error and technique, make the cook, not the recipe.
Get out your heaviest skillet and brown the sausage over medium high heat. Now when I say brown it, I don't mean break it up and stand over it till it is a grayish kind of sissy color that normally signals to most cooks that their ground meat is done. I mean break it up and walk away for 5 minutes. Come back, stir it around, break it up some more and walk away again. Do not play with your food while it is browning, or it will never brown. Do not, I repeat, settle for anything less than golden brown and delicious. I like to sprinkle mine with a little extra ground sage, that was another of my grandma's tricks.
When the sausage is done browning, remove it from the pan leaving behind any fat that may have rendered out and some of that beautiful brown stuff.
Now get yourself a gravy whip. It looks like a spiral spring and flattens out when you push down on the handle, that is to break up any lumps.
Now here comes the chemistry lesson. You want to have maybe 1/4 cup of fat in the pan to a 1/4 of flour. Add some oil till it you have a layer over the bottom of your pan, add in some flour, just a little at a time. You do not want the mixture too thick, nor do you want it too thin. If it is clumping up, add a little oil, if it looks life really super thin paint, add a tiny bit more flour.
Now, the longer you cook the flour, the less thickening properties you have and the better it will taste. The less time you cook the flour, it will thicken up like mad, but will taste like uncooked flour and no amount of seasoning will save you.
I cook mine till it has a nice color and you kind of get a nutty smell when you stand over the top of it. When you hit that sweet spot, add the 2 cans of milk and stir, really get after it. If it starts to really thicken up, you can add some milk, but if you don't have that, you can add some water. But watch out how much water you use, you could end up with a watery tasting gravy and that is no good. Once again, no amount of seasoning can bring you back from the edge. Bring it up to a simmer, flour doesn't really live up to it's thickening potential till it has come up to a boil and then starts to cool, that is when it will be at it's thickest.
Add the well browned sausage and let it cook for a couple of minutes in the gravy. Taste and add salt, pepper and paprika to taste.
Ladle over a biscuit and marvel at what a good cook you are while your friends stand around eating and thinking you are a miracle worker.
I also use this technique with a cube of butter, evaporated milk, and Land O'Frost beef lunch meat, best SOS in the land!
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Serving Size: 1 Serving (169g) | ||
Recipe Makes: 8 Servings | ||
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Calories: 309 | ||
Calories from Fat: 152 (49%) | ||
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Amt Per Serving | % DV | |
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Total Fat 16.9g | 22 % | |
Saturated Fat 6.4g | 32 % | |
Monounsaturated Fat 7.4g | ||
Polyunsanturated Fat 0.8g | ||
Cholesterol 46.9mg | 14 % | |
Sodium 381mg | 13 % | |
Potassium 185.9mg | 5 % | |
Total Carbohydrate 24.3g | 7 % | |
Dietary Fiber 0.9g | 3 % | |
Sugars, other 23.4g | ||
Protein 13.7g | 20 % | |
Powered by: USDA Nutrition Database Disclaimer: Nutrition facts are derived from linked ingredients (shown at left in colored bullets) and may or may not be complete. Always consult a licensed nutritionist or doctor if you have a nutrition-related medical condition. |
Calories per serving: 309
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