Below is reprinted Walter Blevin's May 26th post about the recipe for sausage gravy and biscuits. It's in here mainly because it is economical, but I also want to share a story. The man in the above pictures is my grandfather Zeno. He was as tough a man as you will ever find; a WWI veteran, in an artillery unit no less, but he was also a kind and fair man from what my father told me of him. Dad was in Korea, but was a bit too young for WWII, while Zeno was a bit too old. Zeno worked for Waterfront Lumber, and, during WWII dad worked with him. Since it was a wartime environment, they often worked 16 hour days 6-7 days a week engaged in difficult physical labor. (No containerized cargo in those days. The cargo was chocked by large wooden beams.)
When Dad had first started working with Zeno he told me of one of the times they went and had lunch together. Zeno ordered a very hearty meal and Dad ordered a salad. ( Now, my father was a shorter man and was always referred to as "Dink" by his father.) Zeno is somewhat taken aback by what Dad ordered and looks at my father and belts out "That ain't gonna get it Dink. Order some more food." The moral of the story is that if you are going to engage in a full day's work of hard labor, you need a good, hearty, satisfying meal to keep you able to work through the day.
There are not too many heartier foods than sausage gravy and biscuits and Walt's recipe looks like a winner.
===========================
Two Foodie Tuesdays ago I posted a piece (on Open Salon) on how I got my (self-proclaimed) nickname of “Mr. Gravy”. This Foodie Tuesday I thought I’d share a recipe with you from “Dad’s Cookbook and Kitchen Survival Guide”.
This is a cookbook of my recipes which I wrote for my kids Christmas 2007. They bugged me for a couple of years about recipes that I cooked for them while they were growing up so over a period of about 6 months, everytime I was on an airplane on a business trip I’d spend some time jotting down various simple and easy mostly half-hour recipes that I had cooked for them (some of them aren’t really “recipes” in the pure sense of the word but more like ideas for easy, inexpensive meals that are pretty good and reasonably nutritious).
And in the Comfort Food Chapter is the recipe for Sausage Gravy & biscuits. Bear in mind that I suggested using a tube of refrigerated biscuits which will get it done but obviously isn’t as good as scratch or homemade biscuits. But, they’re faster and less mess. If I’m doing this on Sunday morning, for instance, I’d do it with scratch biscuits.
My Mom used to make SOS with ground beef before fishing trips or as a special occasion breakfast. I’ve always loved it on Sunday morning or for “brinner” every once in a while. By the way, the recipe calls for slices of tomatoes on top of the biscuits and under the gravy. This is Southern Style (at least from my Mamaw’s kitchen in Kentucky) and adds a different taste and texture. Plus, you can claim “health food” benefits from having a vegetable with this.
1 lb breakfast sausage or ground beef (sausage is better!)
2 cups milk
1 medium tomato sliced
1 tube of biscuits baked to directions
1/3 cup flourWhisk Brown the meat over medium heat.
Remove browned meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl (leave the oil/grease in the pan). Put pan on medium heat.Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of flour into the oil and immediately start whisking—stirring it constantly.
Add a 4th tablespoon of flour if needed. You’re making a roux!Slowly add the milk to your roux. Keep whisking. Don’t put all of it in yet—about ¾ of it. Let it come to a boil. To quote Emeril “Always add cold to hot or hot to cold” and “You’ll never know how thick your gravy’s going to get until it boils”.
Add meat back into the mixture. Keep whisking. As it starts to bubble it should be thickening. Add more milk to get the quantity and thickness of gravy you want. (Or, if need be, make a flour/milk slurry with 1 tablespoon flour and 2 tablespoons milk to get it a bit thicker.) Salt and pepper to taste (I like lots of black pepper!). Remove from heat.
On a plate break 2 biscuits in half, put a couple of tomato slices down and then smother it all with your sausage gravy. (Note: I’m not a huge fan of refrigerated tubes of biscuits but I can be a bit lazy. If you prefer, make a batch of homemade biscuits.)
A great brunch, Sunday breakfast or cold weather supper! Well, there it is. Enjoy and let me know how you like it. (And if you’d like the whole cookbook, just send me an e-mail and I’ll send you a copy via return e-mail.)
No comments:
Post a Comment