Biscuits and sausage gravy, Southern comfort
Tall, flaky buttermilk biscuits split open and smothered in peppery cream gravy built right on the sausage drippings. The American South's answer to a slow Saturday morning.
In the American South, this is what comfort tastes like before nine in the morning. Tall buttermilk biscuits, all flaky layers and golden tops, split open under a blanket of creamy sausage gravy. The gravy is built the old way: brown the sausage, leave every bit of the drippings in the pan, and turn them into a peppery cream sauce with nothing more than flour and milk. Nothing about this dish is complicated. It only asks that you keep the butter cold, handle the dough gently, and grind the pepper with a heavy hand. Make it once on a slow Saturday and you will understand why the South never lets it go.
Method
Make the biscuit dough.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the cold butter with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until the pieces are the size of peas. Pour in the cold buttermilk and stir with a fork just until a shaggy dough forms.
Fold for layers, then cut.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and pat it into a rectangle about an inch thick. Fold it in thirds like a letter, pat it out, and fold once more: this is where the flaky layers come from. Pat to one inch thick and cut with a round cutter, pressing straight down.
Bake the biscuits.
Arrange the biscuits on a baking sheet so their sides just touch: they climb higher when they lean on each other. Bake at 450°F for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are deep golden. Keep them warm under a clean kitchen towel.
Brown the sausage.
While the biscuits bake, crumble the sausage into a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until browned in spots, about 6-8 minutes. Do not drain the fat. Those drippings are the foundation of the gravy.
Build the gravy on the drippings.
Sprinkle the flour over the sausage and stir until every crumble is coated. Cook for 2 minutes to lose the raw flour taste. Pour in the milk in a slow stream, whisking as you go, then simmer gently until the gravy coats the back of a spoon, 5-7 minutes.
Season hard and serve hot.
Season with salt and more black pepper than feels reasonable: the pepper is the point. Split the warm biscuits and lay them cut side up on plates. Ladle the gravy generously over the top and serve while everything is steaming.
Frequently asked questions
- No buttermilk in the fridge. Can I substitute?
- Yes. Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into a scant cup of whole milk and let it stand 5 minutes, until it looks slightly curdled. It gives the baking soda the acidity it needs, though real buttermilk makes a more tender biscuit.
- What kind of sausage should I use?
- American breakfast sausage: fresh ground pork seasoned with sage and black pepper, sometimes a touch of maple. Buy it loose in a roll if you can find it. Italian sausage works in a pinch, but the fennel takes the gravy somewhere else entirely.
- Why didn't my biscuits rise tall?
- Usually one of three things: the butter got warm, the dough was overworked, or the cutter was twisted. Keep everything cold, handle the dough as little as possible, and cut straight down. Check your baking powder too; if it is more than six months old, replace it.
- My gravy turned out lumpy. What went wrong?
- The milk went in too fast. Add it in a slow stream while whisking constantly and lumps never get the chance to form. If it is already lumpy, whisk hard off the heat or pass it through a fine sieve. Nobody will know.
- Can I make any of this ahead?
- The biscuits, yes. Cut them, freeze them unbaked on a tray, and bake straight from frozen with 2-3 extra minutes. Make the gravy fresh: it takes ten minutes and is never quite the same reheated.
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