Biscuits and Gravy

[Mike B]

I made biscuits and gravy again this weekend for everyone at the Fourth of July Teardrop Fun at Carnation, WA. Note that the following recipe has no real fixed portions for the ingredients; you just make as much as you need.

The biscuits are easy - a box of Bisquick (I prefer Jiffy mix, myself). Mix 'em up according to the directions on the box and spoon them or cut them and put them in a DO sprayed with PAM. When baking, most of the heat should be on top. So for a 14" DO, I put about 8 coals on the bottom in a circle, and at least 22 on the top. Let them cook at least 15 minutes before checking them. When they are golden brown, they are done. We made four batches of biscuits for the number of people we were feeding.

The gravy is the hard part. I used 6 pounds of bulk pork sausage for the number of people we were feeding. It was barely enough.

Using a 12" DO with lots of coals underneath, I browned 3 pounds of sausage. When it was done, I used a slotted spoon to remove the sausage and leave the pork fat. If you have lean sausage, you should add more fat or oil to cover the bottom of the DO (I used olive oil). I then slowly added flour to the fat, stirring constantly to eliminate lumps. I kept adding flour until I ended up with a very thick paste and the fat was all absorbed by the flour.

You then cook the paste for just a bit to eliminate the flour taste, then slowly start adding milk to the paste, stirring all the time. The milk will be absorbed into the paste and it will thicken up again. Keep adding milk until you have a mixture you think is the right consistency. Note that this will take a lot of milk. You should have a least a gallon handy for this. Then add just a touch more milk, as the whole mixture will thicken as you cook it. Add the sausage back into the mixture. Salt and pepper to taste and let cook for at least another 5 minutes.

Serve over biscuits, hash browns or whatever else you like in the morning.

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

[apratt]

Mike, you are making my mouth water!!! I make it about the same as you do, except I don't remove the susages. I leave them right in the frying pan with the fats, then I add the flour to make a thick paste and then add the milk. Ummmm yummy.

[Mike B]

Mike, you are making my mouth water!!! I make it about the same as you do, except I don't remove the susages. I leave them right in the frying pan with the fats, then I add the flour to make a thick paste and then add the milk. Ummmm yummy.

I have tried to do it without removing the sausage, but I found you can't get the flour lumps out as easily if you do that.

Glad to stimulate your taste buds

I will be fixing biscuits and gravy all morning on Saturday. We are doing a Dutch oven demo at the new Riverstone Park in Coeur d'Alene, ID. Serving biscuits, gravy and desserts from 9 am to 4 pm. It's gonna be a long day.

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

[apratt]

I couldn't stand myself, so I made some for breakfast this morning I am a happy camper now . I don't get any lumps in my gravy. I do take my skillet of the heat when I put the flour in the sausage and fat and let it all soak in and then I add the milk then back on the heat. I find the C.I. holds enough heat when I am adding the flour and milk.

[kajamelu4]

It's been quite a while since I cooked gravy for a large group. If you are camping on St. Patrick's day (like I used to do with my Camp Fire kids), be sure and add green food coloring to the gravy! And if the biscuits are from scratch, add it to them too!

(And if you're camping on April Fools Day, be sure and bake cotton balls into the middle of the biscuits!)


Karol

[apratt]

Oh my!!! You are sick.

[COMP]

cotton balls