Biscuits and Gravy

[pipoman]

A favorite breakfast here on the plains is biscuits and sausage gravy. When I first started cooking at the restaurant the previous head cook used a packaged white gravy mix and left over sausage from the day before to make each days gravy. The gravy mix was a concoction of starch and dry milk and the resulting gravy was sort of translucent similar to the gravy at McDonalds. One of the first changes I made was to teach the other cooks how to make real cream gravy. It was an immediate success. We still use left over day old sausage. Recently it occurred to me that we are throwing away around 1/2 gallon of gravy daily. We were making around 1.5 gallons per day, some days we serve most of it, other days we serve less. I started making a 'sausage rue' and refrigerating it, then making around 1/2 gallon of gravy to start the morning and when that is gone making individual servings to order. I got thinking this may interest others who love this dish but don't want to make a large batch or don't have time to make it every time it sounds good for breakfast (or dinner). It is really simple.

Cook off some sausage and add a small amount of canola oil, around 1/4 cup per lb of sausage, some fresh or dried sage (maybe 2 teaspoons) and maybe a few red pepper flakes to the browned sausage. Over medium heat add enough flour to make a medium heavy rue. Cook the flour and sausage mixture on medium low around 5 to 10 minutes just until it begins to brown slightly then remove from heat. Let it cool then transfer it into air tight containers. It can be frozen but we keep it refrigerated. When we get an order for biscuits and gravy we put a heaping tablespoon of the rue into a small sauce pan, add around 1/2 to 3/4 cups of milk, and bring to a light boil. If it is too thick we add a bit more milk, too thin add just a bit more of the rue then add a little salt and pepper. Not only is it simple but there is something about freshly made gravy.

As for the biscuits, fresh baking powder buttermilk biscuits can't be beat, but if time is a factor those frozen biscuit dough rounds are good too. Just put a couple in the oven and 10-12 minutes they are fresh and delicious.

If anyone has experimented with freezing homemade biscuit dough, I would be interested in how it works. I am about to begin experimenting with this too. Any variations on this country favorite dish?

[Arkansas Granny]

1. What a good idea. I'm definitely going to try this.

[hippywife]

2. It's a favorite at the retirement center here where I work.

Most mornings, may of the residents here like to sleep in and take home a packed cold breakfast when they leave dinner the night before. But not on Thursdays, coz that's B&G day. LOL

Our kitchen cooks everything in small batches so throughout the meal, there is a fresh batch of whatever to bring out as they run out on the serving line in the dining room.

They just make drop biscuits but I think you could bake or just cut the baking powder biscuits the day before and stick them in the freezer, then pop them in your hotbox or oven first thing in the morning, maybe?

[Tesha]

3. MMm heartburn city...

wish I could eat it right now...
I love sausage.... but Mr T likes it, so thanks for the tip! it's going to be a weekend breakfast coming up!

As a curiosity - I'm going to freeze a couple of biscuits before and halfway through cooking and see if they're still good. After-baking freezing, my guess is you'd have no problems.

[Lucinda]

4. What a great idea pipoman! Thanks for posting this.

It is usually just the two of us, so I rarely make biscuits and gravy because it's a bit of a hassle. I'll try this! :hi:

[AwakeAtLast]

5. I had B & G this AM

It's our Spring Break here. AALette begged me to take her to the local diner for breakfast. Their biscuits and gravy are wonderful and of course I had to round it out with a couple of scrambled eggs and crisp hash browns. I didn't eat again until dinner!

Your process sounds like a winner!

:hi: