Grandma’s Biscuits & Gravy
Once
a year when I was a boy, my parents and I would visit my paternal
grandparents at their farm in Virginia. Tucked away in the Blue Ridge
Mountains in southwestern Virginia, my grandparents had 40 acres devoted
to cattle, chicken, and vegetables. I have endless fond memories of
milking the cows, riding on the tractor with my grandfather, and getting
into trouble with my BB gun. One of the best things about visiting the
farm was my grandmother’s cooking. She made everything from scratch,
often with ingredients fresh from the farm. There are no words to
describe the disparity between the canned Green Giant peas I grew up on
and her peas picked fresh from the garden. Or the milk gleaned from the
cows that same morning. But the best dish of all, one of my favorite
foods to this day, was her homemade biscuits and gravy. Every morning
Grandma would get up before dawn and labor to produce, in my opinion,
the greatest comfort food of all time. Indescribably flaky and
delicious biscuits topped by a decadently rich and creamy sausage
gravy. Sadly, my grandparents have since passed on and the farm sold
off. But my memories of grandma’s biscuits and gravy will last
forever.
I have tried numerous times, with limited
success, to recreate the taste of those biscuits and gravy. Even if I
had her exact recipe, I will never succeed with store bought suburban
ingredients. But, after repeated experimentation, below is the recipe I
feel comes as close as possible.
I owe gratitude to Debra Cazille for the
gravy recipe. Debra owns the Living Spring Farm Bed & Breakfast in
Adamstown Pennsylvania, (livingspringfarm.com). Debra, like me, had a
southern grandmother famous for her biscuits and gravy. Debra is an
accomplished cook and prepares all the homemade meals at the bed &
breakfast.
For the biscuits:
2 cups all purpose
flour
4 teaspoons baking
powder
¼ teaspoon baking
soda
pinch of salt
3 oz. cold butter,
diced
8 oz buttermilk
Combine and sift
the dry ingredients. Gently knead in the butter. Add the buttermilk
and knead on a floured board just enough to bring the dough together.
It is vital that you knead gently and no more than is necessary or you
will develop the gluten in the flour and make the biscuits tough. Good
biscuits are as much a function of technique as ingredients. Form a
flat mass with the dough and cut out biscuits with a biscuit cutter.
Don’t make them too high or the outside could become over browned by the
time the inside is cooked. Place them on parchment paper on a sheet
tray and then into a preheated 400-degree oven. Start the gravy
immediately. It should be done close to the same time as the biscuits,
which is when they are golden in color.
For the gravy:
½ pound ground
breakfast sausage.
2 tablespoons
butter
4 tablespoons all
purpose flour
3 cups cold milk
Salt and pepper to
taste
Sauté the sausage
until it is cooked and has released as much of its fat as possible.
Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and do NOT drain the grease.
You’ll need it to make the roux. (I said this was delicious, not health
food). You should have about 2 tablespoons of rendered pork fat. Add
the butter and melt it. Then add the flour a little at a time over
medium heat, constantly whisking. Cook for about 2-3 minutes. Now
start adding the cold milk a little at a time, whisking incessantly.
Toward the end of the milk add the sausage back in. When you reach the
desired consistency add salt and pepper to taste. Cut the biscuits in
half, pour the gravy over them, and enjoy one of the most embracing and
comforting taste sensations known to man.
A
few points here. The perfect roux has equal amounts of fat and flour.
If for some reason your sausage renders noticeably less or more than two
tablespoons of fat, adjust the amount of flour accordingly. If you end
up making more roux you will need more milk so have extra on hand. Make
sure the roux is cooked on no more than medium heat. We do not want to
burn or brown the roux, just cook out the floury taste. Four things are
necessary to assure a smooth lump-free gravy. You must constantly whisk
the roux and the gravy throughout the process. You must add cold milk
to the hot roux. You must incorporate the milk a little at a time. And
finally, keep the heat at no more than medium. You can adjust the
consistency however you like, but a thick creamy gravy is the target
viscosity.
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