Sometimes the most delicious foods aren’t the “prettiest”. Take sausage gravy over biscuits, for example. No high falutin’ looks there. But the magic is in the taste and the tummy-happy feeling after eating a plateful.

Our friend, Charlene Castle, is the best Appalachian cook I know and her sausage gravy & biscuit breakfasts are legendary. Now I couldn’t wrangle  recipes out of her since she doesn’t measure specifically but she did tell me she uses half regular and half hot sausage. Char makes gravy with bacon grease, just like her grandma and mom. 

I learned how to make sausage and sausage gravy in cooking school, no mountain mama at my side! I’m sharing those with you today. 

You’ll see homemade sausage uses fresh pork shoulder, sometimes called pork butt. That has just the right balance of fat to lean. If you can’t get pork butt, go for ground pork, just make sure it’s not too lean.

The gravy is simple to make, too. Just flour and milk on top of the cooked sausage.

And about those biscuits? It’s the frozen butter that makes them bake up light and tender.

Homemade sausage

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork shoulder or ground pork 

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sage

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or ground red pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

Put pork in a big bowl. Stir seasonings together, then pour over pork and mix very well with your hands until it all comes together and feels a bit sticky. 

Cook a little in microwave and taste to see if you need more seasoning. 

Sausage gravy

1 pound sausage

1/3 cup flour

3 cups whole milk, or more if necessary 

Salt and pepper 

Instructions

Brown sausage in skillet over medium heat until done. Use potato masher or spoon to break it up as it cooks.

Reduce heat to medium low, then sprinkle half the flour over and stir allowing sausage to absorb flour, then add rest of flour and stir for a minute or so.

Pour milk in slowly, stirring as you go. It will be lumpy but as it thickens, in about 6 minutes or so, it will get smoother. 

Season to taste, then continue to cook until real thick. Add more milk if needed.

Buttermilk biscuits

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups flour 

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup/1 stick butter, frozen or very cold

1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup milk with 1 teaspoon vinegar 

Melted butter for brushing on top after baking 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

Now grate the stick of butter  and add to dry ingredients.

Mix well. Use a pastry cutter or fork.

Pour milk in and mix just until combined.

Dump on floured counter and knead a few times. Just until you can pat or roll dough out into 1” thickness.
Cut with biscuit cutter, cutting straight down so biscuits bake up fairly even.

Bake 15 minutes or until golden, then brush with melted butter.