Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

AT DINERS, ROADSIDE RESTAURANTS, AND FAMILY restaurants throughout the South, “biscuits ’n’ gravy” refers either to fried sausage patties between split biscuits covered with a thickened pan brown gravy or to fried country ham and split biscuits with red-eye gravy. Both are quintessential breakfast dishes that uphold the Southern tradition of starting the day with “serious food.” No matter where I travel, I never fail to search for places that serve one or the other—with, of course, some style of eggs. Unless you can find decent bulk sausage, I strongly suggest you grind your own, and unless you want tasteless, revolting, milky white gravy, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of frying the sausage and making the gravy in a cast-iron skillet (never a nonstick one) so that as much browned sausage debris as possible can be scraped from the bottom. And do consider doubling the biscuit recipe so there’ll be plenty of extra ones to spread with fruit preserves.

MAKES: 4 to 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

THE BISCUITS

• 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons chilled vegetable shortening
• 3⁄4 cup milk
• 1 pound bulk sausage

THE GRAVY

• 4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) butter
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1⁄2 cups milk
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 475°F.
2. To make the biscuits, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the shortening to the flour mixture and cut it in with a pastry cutter or rub with your fingertips until the mixture becomes mealy.
4. Gradually add the milk to the mixture and stir just until the dough holds together and is still sticky.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead it about 8 times. Form the dough into 8 smooth rounds, each about 1 inch thick.
6. Arrange the biscuit rounds on a baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch of space between each. Bake the biscuits in the upper third of the oven until they turn golden brown, which should take about 15 minutes. Keep the baked biscuits warm.
7. With your hands, shape the sausage meat into 8 patties. Fry the patties on both sides in a large skillet over moderate heat until they are nicely browned and cooked through, approximately 5 minutes. Place the cooked patties on paper towels to drain and keep them warm on a plate. Set the skillet with the fat aside.
8. To make the gravy, pour off about half of the fat from the skillet used to cook the sausage patties. Add the butter to the skillet and stir over moderate heat until the fats are incorporated, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Gradually add the flour to the skillet, stirring until it has absorbed the fats. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the flour turns golden brown, which should take about 2 minutes.
9. Gradually add the milk to the skillet, stirring constantly, until the gravy thickens and becomes smooth and slightly browned. Season the gravy with salt and pepper and stir well.
10. To serve, split 4 to 6 of the biscuits in half and place the bottoms on warm serving plates. Top each bottom with a sausage patty, arrange the biscuit tops at an angle, spoon hot gravy over the tops, and serve immediately.