Biscuits and Gravy
To be fair, this should be titled: Gravy - since I made my biscuits from a can. However, canned biscuits can be really good. Especially since many people's homemade biscuits, in my experience, are bland. I prefer Hungry Jack biscuits if you can find them, but any old fashioned style biscuits from a can work fine.
Then, while stirring vigorously with a wire whisk (vigorous stirring and wire whisk are, neither one, optional, must have those), I sprinkled in about 2 heaping tablespoons of flour. I kept stirring the flour and oil/butter mixture until I had a roux that was the color of coffee with a little bit of cream.
At any rate, I'm not a baker, and thus won't be making my own biscuits anytime soon. However, I did make my own creamstyle gravy, in the fine tradition my father set for me many a Sunday morning.
For those of you who have had cream gravy in restaurants, you no doubt have noticed that it can often be bland. I think that's because they have to make it in such large batches.
The very best cream gravy I have ever had in a restaurant, I would give a 5 on a 1-10 scale, most of it is a 2 at best. My Dad's gravy, on this scale, was a 10.
There are many things you can use as the oil/fat base for your gravy. Probably the most popular is breakfast sausage with lots of sage in it. Nothing wrong with that.
However, I like meat mixed into my gravy, so I did mine with a pound of hamburger meat, not terribly lean (after all, I want the fat). I browned that in a cast iron skillet with salt, pepper and cumin, then transferred it to a nearby bowl with a slotted spoon.
Before I started this whole process, I took my whole milk out of the fridge and poured a large glass, then let it sit (carton and glass both) on the counter during this process, so it warmed up just a bit. I didn't want it refrigerator-cold.
With my hamburger meat now browned and off in a medium sized serving bowl, I melted a tablespoon of butter in my skillet, which was on high heat and still contained the oil from the hamburger meat.
Then, while stirring vigorously with a wire whisk (vigorous stirring and wire whisk are, neither one, optional, must have those), I sprinkled in about 2 heaping tablespoons of flour. I kept stirring the flour and oil/butter mixture until I had a roux that was the color of coffee with a little bit of cream.
I then poured in my glass of milk as quick as I could without splattering, and took a second to add a lot of salt and pepper. It takes a good deal of seasoning, you will need to salt it more than you think you should and unfortunately, it needs to be salted while it's cooking, just adding it later doesn't really work.
I stirred that until it started to boil, then poured in another glass of milk just like the first one. I then added a good bit more salt and pepper, and let that go until it started to boil. Then I cooked it down some until it was noticeable beginning to thicken.
I then poured it over the hamburger meat, stirred that up and waited about 4-5 minutes. Then served it over my fresh, hot biscuits (from a can, which were just fine, thank you very much).
All in all, I'll give myself a 7. A far cry from my Dad's 10, not quite as good as my sister's 9, but a helluva lot better than the restaurants 5. You can bet that, every now and then, I'll be working on refining my methods until I get closer to that Holy Grail - 10 of gravy. If ever make gravy that good, who knows, I might try my hand at biscuits from scratch. (This is the part where you don't hold your breath).
What is the benefit of using hamburger instead of sausage. I prefer Jimmy Dean Maple sausage.
When I want the biscuits and gravy just as a meal to themselves, I prefer hamburger meat because it's not as salty, I mix my entire pound of hamburger meat back into the gravy, making it more of a meal unto itself.
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It's true, it's tough to get decent gravy around these parts. The best I've found is the Silo up in Glens Falls, NY. Not as good as what I got in Illinois, but the best to be found in the "capital district/upstate NY" region.
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I am a Jimmy Dean fan myself but to each his own. Try the homemade biscuits they really are easy, just don't over mix. Ten stirs and walk away.....
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I actually prefer my white gravy without meat in it but I do occasionally throw in some sausage that I have pre-cooked at the last moment. You can enhance the flavor of the gravy by substituting some of the butter with sausage fat.
I think the secret to flavorful white gravy is cooking the roux until it is golden brown or just shy of peanut butter color before adding the milk. I think it is important to add salt and pepper early too. If you want to be fancy, use white pepper. I have seen people use evaporated milk but I don't know how that turns out but it sounds interesting.
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