This is so easy and so delicious served over hot biscuits for a breakfast or supper, that is as southern as it gets. I wish everyone in the whole world could have something this good every day of their lives.
I was using sausage that I'd canned myself. I'd pick out my own pork to make the sausage and chose the seasonings. If you can do this, by all means take advantage of getting the best at a price that will surprise you, compared to already prepared and packaged sausage. If it costs you a few cents more, but it is well-worth it.
Break up and brown sausage in a skillet large enough to hold the entire recipe. Cook over medium heat until the sausage gives up all the fat, and if there's not at least 6 Tbsp. grease in the pan, then add the olive oil to make enough.
Do not drain off the grease that's cooked out of the sausage, unless it's super greasy and you have more grease than you need to mix with an equal amount of flour which will cook and thicken your gravy.
Add the flour, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. black pepper. Stir and cook until flour has browned to a golden color. Add milk slowly while stirring, and cook until gravy has thickened. Taste and correct seasonings.
Serve over hot biscuits or grits for a tasty hot breakfast treat that is famous in the south. Any leftovers should be refrigerated and can be reheated the next morning. You could freeze it as well, then just reheat it in the microwave when needed.
Note: If you can, have your butcher grind and season the fresh pork you want. It's so much better than anything in an already packaged product.
Source: The original recipe is one my Mother taught me, but being able to use sausage where I'd picked out meat and had it ground by our butcher who had all the best seasonings, was something I learned from our friend Herby in NC. There are no better or more sharing people in the world than those found in the North Carolina Smoky Mountains.
By Julia from Boca Raton, FL
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Make this favorite with your own fresh biscuits and sausage gravy at home for your family.
Hearty and tasty. It is great anytime and can be made with either bacon or sausage.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I need directions for biscuits and gravy using bacon grease instead of sausage grease. I try to make it like my grandma use to but mine always taste too floury. She only used about 1 teaspoon of grease then added a flour and water mixture to thicken. I do all of that but all you can taste in mine is the flour!
I taught my son to make "bacon grease" gravy years ago and now he tells me his friends love to come to his house for biscuits and gravy. Most of us don't measure and you won't either once you get it down. I had to make myself measure in order to tell him how much of "everything" to use. Just start with a small batch until you get comfortable.
Use 2 rounded Tablespoons of bacon grease and start melting it in the frying pan, medium heat. Then add 2 rounded Tablespoons of all purpose flour and start stirring and you'll have a sort of paste. Add some salt and pepper at this point, not too much because you can always add more when serving). If you like your gravy brown, then allow the flour to get brown before adding the 2 cups of milk (just brown, not burnt). If you like the lighter gravy, then just allow it to get a bit of a beige color.
Now, start adding 2 cups of milk and stir the gravy until it starts to bubble, keep stirring. This should thicken up nicely. If it's too thick, just add a tiny bit of milk at a time but don't get it too thin. If you'll notice, everything is in sort of equal parts. 1 Tbsp. of each bacon grease and flour to 1 cup of milk. You can increase your amounts accordingly if 2 cups is not enough.
Your gravy tasted floury because you didn't allow it to cook long enough :) We all did that when we were learning! God bless you, hope this helps.
You can make gravy from sausage OR BACON the same way. The way I do mine is I use 2 T grease from either one, 2 T flour. Add the flour to the grease & let it get bubbly for about a minute. Don't let it burn or get to brown, just light brown. Then I slowly add 2 cups of milk while stirring. Bring this mixture to a gentle boil until thickened. Add salt & pepper to taste. The final touch is to add some crumbled up sausage or bacon at the very end. hope this helps!
