Cast Iron Recipes – Southern-Style Biscuits and Gravy

Hello everyone!  Today I’m featuring a post in our “cast iron recipes” series, written by my sister Kimber who makes some phenomenal Southern-style biscuits & gravy.  Enjoy! – B

I was raised about as far away from the southern USA as you can get, and I had never tasted biscuits and gravy till just a few years ago. My husband, on the other hand, has lived in the South. He loves biscuits and gravy and knows how it should look and taste.

Hubby was slightly concerned the first time I offered to make biscuits and gravy for him, as he’s never met a non-southerner who could make it well. I told him it was okay if he didn’t like mine, but he had to at least try it.

The look of shock and pleasure on his face when he tasted it was priceless. He is now obsessed with my biscuits and gravy and brags about my southern gravy making skills to anyone who will listen. Not bad for a west coast girl, huh?

Not long ago when we had friends over, hubby requested biscuits and gravy (no surprise). In the kitchen, my friend asked where our gravy mix was. She was super confused when I told her I make my own gravy from scratch. I don’t really have a recipe, and it took me a while to perfect my technique, but once you get it, it’s pretty easy.

The basic ingredients for white gravy are milk, white flour, bacon grease and any spices you like. I keep a mason jar of bacon grease in the fridge since I use it often to season my cast iron and to cook with. If you don’t have bacon grease on hand, just fry up a package of bacon and save the drippings. You can use any kind of skillet for biscuits and gravy, but in my opinion, cast iron makes everything taste better.

Click here to view cast iron skillets on Amazon.com.

Here is how I make a mean plate of B&G.

1. First bake up a batch of baking powder biscuits. If they finish before the gravy, keep the biscuits warm.
2. Cook up a pound of pork sausage, then remove the meat from the pan. Throw a few tablespoons of bacon grease into the pan (hey, no one said this was low fat!). If I’ve cooked a pound of bacon, I’ll just use the grease from that plus a little more.
3. Add spices to taste—my version includes minced garlic, Italian seasoning, steak seasoning, and Johnny’s seasoning salt.
4. Heat the spices in the fat to medium heat. Test the temp by sprinkling a TINY bit of flour into the grease. It should bubble a little and not just sit on top.
5. When pan/grease is hot enough, start adding a small amount of flour and milk with a fork or whisk. My hubby and I like our gravy a bit lumpy, so I add flour and milk separately. For a smoother gravy, you can mix the flour with cold milk and add the combination to the meat mixture.
6. Stir flour in and mix constantly. Sometimes it thickens pretty quickly, depending on how much grease and flour you start with. Add a big splash of milk, mix it in, and continue with your stirring—flour–milk routine until it thickens to your liking. If it’s too thick, add more milk. Too thin, add more flour. Just remember that the longer it cooks, the thicker it will get.
7. Periodically taste the mixture and adjust seasonings, as the milk can dilute the flavor of the spices. Add more seasonings if you’d like, or if it’s too strong, add more milk. The most important aspect is to alternate, and stir CONTINUOUSLY.
8. If you need to make a larger amount, keep adding milk and flour until you get your desired amount and consistency.
9. When you’re happy with the consistency and amount, add the sausage crumbles. If you need to thin it out a bit after that, add more milk.
10. Pop a biscuit or two on a plate, top with gravy and enjoy.

It may take a few tries to get biscuits and gravy just right–but once you do, your tummy will thank you.

Note from Bethany – if anyone out there has a GREAT recipe and technique for making soft & fluffy biscuits please let me know!  I can’t make them worth a holler and Kimber buys them to make it easy, so there’s an opportunity for someone who would like to be featured!

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