Sausage Gravy

Sausage gravy is a traditional Southern U.S. dish, usually eaten over biscuits or grits for a hearty breakfast, but you can also eat it as a main course at other meals, or use it as gravy to serve over potatoes. I really love this sausage gravy over buttermilk biscuits.

The kind of sausage you use will make a bit of a difference in the flavor of the dish. In general you want a "normal" or sage flavored breakfast sausage, not maple flavored, not Italian sausage. Spicy or hot breakfast sausage is fine, but not everyone will be able to eat your sausage gravy if you use spicy sausage. Try your favorite brand of breakfast sausage.

If you want good sausage gravy, you have to have a bit of sausage grease in it, so don't use "lite" or low-fat sausage. Fat carries flavor, and unless you want bland gravy, you need to use all the sausage grease.

Main Ingredients

1 pound bulk (not link) pork breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean, Bob Evans, or Neeses are good)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 teaspoons ground sage
½ teaspoon TABASCO® sauce (optional or to taste)

Liquid Ingredients

 EITHER:

2 (12 oz) cans evaporated milk    AND
1 to 3 cups water

 OR:

4 to 6 cups milk

Preparing the Dish

Cook the sausage over medium-high heat in a large skillet or pan until it is browned, breaking up the sausage as it cooks.

At this point, I like to remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and pulse it in my food processor to get the sausage broken up into small bits. This is not absolutely necessary if you have done a good job breaking up the sausage as it cooks.

Reduce heat to low and add the flour, stirring to combine the flour with the sausage grease and coating the sausage.

Add salt, black pepper, and sage, stirring well.

If you are using the evaporated milk and water, add all the evaporated milk and one cup of water. If using milk add 4 cups of the milk. Stir well breaking up any clumps of sausage. Bring to a simmer and continue to stir.

Continue stirring and cooking for two to three minutes as the gravy thickens, then gradually add more liquid (either water or milk depending on which you've chosen), stirring after each addition, and simmering until the gravy reaches the consistency you desire.

Add the TOBASCO sauce and stir in well.

Serve over split biscuits, grits, or mashed potatoes.

 

Enjoy!

craig