Old Fashioned Gravy with Blue and Gold Sausage
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Sausage gravy is comfort food that grandma made that is unforgettable. I’ve worked for years to perfect her methods of making old fashioned gravy. For all the best homemade dressing, dip, and sauce recipes check this out.
Gravy is one of those comfort foods that warm you like a hot bowl of soup. It sticks to your ribs. It warms your soul. And it reminds you of where you come from. And my favorite thing on grandma’s old-fashioned biscuits is some sausage gravy. There’s nothing better.
My favorite thing on the Thanksgiving table is turkey gravy like my grandma made. Mmmm, grandma food!
Alton Brown biscuits and gravy
I looked up the recipe for Alton Brown’s sausage gravy recipe and it looks good, but it’s missing the love that grandma’s has. Alton is awesome and the expert. I love him. But grandma knows more than facts about cooking. It’s more than science. It also has soul.
Blue and gold sausage
One of the keys to making the BEST sausage gravy is to start with a good quality sausage. My family loves blue and gold and it’s locally produced in Oklahoma where we live. So, we get it any chance we can.
Once you have some good sausage, there are a few key hints that make some gravy blow away all the other gravy. It takes a little finesse. The longer you cook gravy, the better it tastes. You definitely need to cook it long enough to cook out the “raw flour” taste. But the longer the better.
In Alton’s recipe, he says to remove all the fat but two tablespoons. In the south we don’t do that, we let the amount of fat speak to our soul as to how much gravy will be made. If you have leftover, it can always go on a piece of toast or some shoe leather, or whatever you have around the house.
Old Fashioned Gravy with Blue and Gold Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 pound blue and gold sausage (or sausage of your choice)
- up to 1/2 c flour
- milk the amount depends on how much fat renders from your sausage
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown the sausage well in a skillet, stirring to break it apart as it cooks.
- Scoot all the sausage to one side of the pan and tip up the pan to see how much fat rendered out. If you aren’t able to eyeball it, you can dump the pan into a measuring cup and then strain the sausage back into the pan. If you have ¼ cup fat, you’ll sprinkle on ¼ cup of flour.
- Stir the fat, sausage and flour as the flour cooks.
- Watch it closely, there will be a mixture around the sausage. Once you see that mixture turning just barely brown, you’re ready for milk. This usually takes about 2-5 minutes. Stir as you watch.
- Pour in the milk slowly all at once. You’ll need about 10-12 times the amount of milk as you needed flour. So, if you had ¼ cup of fat to begin with, you’ll add in at least 3 cups of milk.
- Gravy is made from your soul, so there aren’t exact measurements. Scrape the bottom of the pan as you stir to get all the yummy bits off the bottom and into your gravy.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- As it cooks, stir it frequently. If the gravy seems really thick, add another ½ cup of milk until it coats the back of a spoon but isn’t thick.
- The gravy will boil in the skillet, just keep stirring. You’ll see it change and darken just a little bit.
- Boil and stir for about 5 minutes until you see the darkening or until your soul says, honey, that’s it.
- Taste it and make sure it has enough salt and pepper and remove from heat.
- Serve over just about anything.
For my second choice of sausage, if I can’t get blue and gold (it’s only sold through school fundraisers), I choose jimmy dean country style. It’s a close second and may be available to more people around the country. It makes a really good gravy too.
When choosing sausage, make sure it’s pork sausage. Make sure it has a little spice to it (not too much for me). I love sage sausage, but not for gravy, so I wouldn’t choose that. Most sausage does have a little spice (which means peppers) so if you are can’t do a tiny bit of dried peppers (a nightshade) like I can, choose another way to spice it up like ground pork with lots of black pepper. Whatever works for you.
If you’re thinking about the gravy packets. JUST DON’T! That is not gravy, but if you need something to hang your wallpaper with, you could buy it for paste. Old fashioned sausage gravy does NOT come from a package.
Gravy is cheap to make and easy once you get the hang of it, so learn the skill and save your tastebuds and budget. Gravy packets are also full of chemicals you don’t need.
If you master homemade gravy, you can be a legend too. And while you’re at it, work on mastering my grandma’s homemade biscuits. You’ll be so glad you did because these two are a match made in heaven!
For other sausage recipes using blue and gold sausage (or whatever you have available that tastes great) check out sausage balls that can be made ahead and frozen or made fresh and served. There are also sausage empanadas.
Blue and Gold Sausage Recipes
For more recipes with Blue and Gold Sausage, check these out:
- Rotel Dip with Real Cheese
- Sausage Tortellini Soup
- Sausage and Potato Empanadas
- Sausage Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
- Old Fashioned Sausage Balls without Bisquick
For more breakfast recipes, check out breakfast casserole, pancakes, banana bread and more on the blog. I want your breakfasts to hug you for the whole day.
Photo cred Everchange Productions
