white gravy primer

I just can't make gravy, you know the kind for biscuits and gravy. I found this BISCUIT recipe some time ago, and they are great (Thanks AGAIN Keri!!!). Now I need the gravy to go with them.

2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1 cup of milk
salt and pepper to taste.
sausage crumbles

This seems the basic proportions, but a few questions:

If I want more, say 3 cups of liquid, do I use 6 tbs or butter/flour? Mine also tends to come out tan rather than a nice rich creamy color. What's up w/ that? My Mom is an awesome cook, but I hated gravy growing up because she never did it justice. I seem to be following the same path and need it corrected. This is supposed to be easy right?

The sausage crumbles are making your gravy "tan" in color. If you're cooking your roux to anything past a light blonde color, that could be contributing as well to the darker color. Your proportions of fat to flour to liquid are fine, though. I usually make double that recipe, so I use 1/4 cup butter or, even better, bacon grease. Melt it in your pan, stir in the flour until very well-combined and just starting to turn a golden blonde color, then stir in your milk or 1/2 milk and 1/2 chicken stock. Bring to a boil and then just simmer over medium-low heat until thickened, stirring like crazy with a whisk to keep lumps from forming. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and there ya go. To make the color even more creamy, try incorporating a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream to the gravy after it's thickened. I've done that upon occasion, but not as a general rule.

I've been making "cream gravy" for thirty-five years, m'dear, and I proclaim you on your way! Get that cream gravy mastered, and I'll teach you to make Chocolate Gravy for those biscuits...

Keri C

Here's what I do, just a few more ideas to play around with...
I start with a tube of breakfast sausage (I like Tennessee Pride)...put it in a big frying pan with a couple of Tablespoons bacon grease or vegetable oil, brown it up good, and I always season the meat and the gravy separately, I guess I watch too much Foodtv...always talking about layering the flavors lol...I use black pepper, and two of my all-time favorites for everything I cook, Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (or More Sice if you like it hotter, I do, but this one's a bit harder to find) and Morton brand "Nature's Seasons" both of these have salt, so I don't salt.
Once it's nice and brown, I sprinkle flour on everything, and stir just like you would a roux, but leave the sausage in the pan, after 3 or 4 minutes, add your milk, and stir stir stir, taste and re-season!
Back in the day, you never had to add fat to the sausage, it had plenty already, but we've become so "health" conscious that even sausage is lowfat now...lol!!

I have to add my reply to this because my wife and I decided to have biscuits and sausage gravy for dinner tonight (funny huh?).

I make sausage gravy much like Michael does. I cook up a role of breakfast sausage until brown except I mix milk and corn starch together (I think corn starch makes a creamier gravy and it reheats better, 1 TB corn starch to 1 cup milk) and add it to the sausage. Bring it to a boil while stirring and lower heat and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the fat from the sausage has combined with the gravy mixture. Season to taste.

Keri is right about making a roux. You are cooking to long and that is giving the gravy a darker color. On point about a roux I would add is to weigh your milk and flour instead of volumes. You will get better results.

Hope this helps, my 2¢

What's wrong with a dark tan or even brown gravy. I cook my roux until it is about the color of peanut butter, or darker. Sure, it makes the gravy a bit darker, but also adds a great taste to it.

Even tastes good without sausage, just a lot of black pepper and enough salt.

Remember, the Cajuns make gumbo with a dark roux, for good reason.

Virgil

Nothing is wrong with a dark roux, especially if you are making gumbo. The original poster wanted white sausage gravy that you can only get with a light roux.

will keep on trying. Maybe I've let it get too brown, OR cooked it too hot. will try. Family's getting buscuits and gravy on saturday morning whether they want it or not.

Keri - when I was looking up the biscuit recipe I revisited that chocalate gravy thing too, that is just too decadent.

First, let me thank you all for this thread. It's exactly what I was looking for!

A couple of questions now, about saving and reheating.

If I make a sausage gravy for biscuits, how long will it keep in the refrigerator, and can it be reheated in a microwave? I'd love to take it to work and have it at the morning break!

Thanks,

JimT

Several days to a week or better on the first question. Yes, it can be nuked. Best if you nuke a bit, stir, nuke more, stir, etc., till hot.

The big deal when storing thick gravies and sauces, especially if there is significant dairy, is to cool quickly and thoroughly. A container full of thick hot gravy cools slowly. If it's stuck in the fridge too soon the outsides cool but the interior stays too warm too long and can sour. Pour whatever you want to save into a wide container and pour it shallowly; use several containers if needed.

Cool on the counter an hour or so, stirring periodically. (It helps to stick a spoon or fork under the container so air can circulate.) Finish cooling in the fridge: If you don't have a lot, you can combine in a wide container first; if you do, cool in separate containers, loosely covered, till cold. Once cold you can store it in anything you'd like, tightly covered. (If your fridge has glass shelves use the spoon trick to allow air to circulate under the container when you finish cooling in the fridge.)

Thanks Kevin!

I know I'm straying a little from the original post, but I just cooked up a small batch using about a half pound of a leftover "fattie" I smoked on Sunday. It was JD Maple, with a light dusting of rub. That is sooooo good, it's hard not to make it my supper!!

Got it spread out in a 9 x 13 pan on the counter, and will stick in the 'frige shortly. Can't wait to try it tommorrow over a cheddar/garlic bisket! Nuke & stir, nuke & stir. That's how I reheat most leftovers.

JimT