Nana’s Biscuits and Gravy. My mom’s biscuits and gravy. Probably my favorite thing to make. A recipe handed down for several generations. I learned the recipe from my mom, who learned it from her mom and presumably my grandmother learned it from her mom. However, there wasn’t actually a recipe to follow. No piece of paper to give someone a copy of or for my kids to take a picture of. I have made it many times over the years, just by touch and feel. My kids friends always said it was the best biscuits and gravy they had ever had. My kids have been telling me for a couple of years that I need to write down the recipe. So I set out this week to make biscuits and gravy and record what I did. As I went through the motions this week, I realized that this was the first time in countless generations that this recipe had been measured and written down.
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my mom. She goes by Nana now that she has grandchildren and great grandchildren. One job I had as a child was stirring the biscuits and gravy until it got thick. I remember a day when my aunt was visiting. As I stirred, my aunt looked over me saying “Is it going to get thick? Yep, it’s getting thick.” It was as if your gravy getting thick was a medal of honor. After all, you made a roux by eye, added a whole skillet full of milk by eye, and then stirred. Getting the measurements right was like magic and you got your medal of honor if you worked your magic right.
Because I’ve grown up with the best biscuits and gravy, I don’t usually order biscuits and gravy in a restaurant. Most restaurants serve whole, dry biscuits covered in pepper flavored white sauce. No sausage involved. Have they never had really good biscuits and gravy? Try Nana’s biscuits and gravy and it will be a favorite at your house, too.
What you need
Baking mix
Buttermilk
Butter
Sausage
Flour
Milk
How to make the biscuits for Nana’s Biscuits and Gravy.
Set your oven to 450 degrees. Cut 2 tablespoons of butter into about 6 pieces and put them in a baking pan. Put the pan in the oven to melt the butter as it the oven heats up. Keep an eye on it, you don’t want it to get brown.
Mix 1 cup of buttermilk into 2 1/4 cups of baking mix.
Flour a silicone mat or a clean countertop. Gentle fold the dough over itself a few times and flatten out to about a half inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out as many biscuits as you can. Keep folding the dough and flattening it out to cut more biscuits. The last bit of dough can be shaped into the bottom of the biscuit cutter. When I was a kid, our biscuit cutter was a green chili or olive can with both ends cut open. I still have and use a biscuit cutter made from a small can.
Dip each biscuit into the melted butter in your baking pan and flip it over so that it is buttered on the top. Arrange them close to each other. These will be fairly soft biscuits that touch or nearly touch.
Bake at 450 degrees until the biscuits have risen and are golden brown on top. This will take about 12-15 minutes.
How to make the best sausage gravy
When Nana made biscuits and gravy, she first cooked sausage patties. She used the sausage drippings with butter to make gravy, then crumbled one of the sausage patties into the gravy. I use more sausage, as I think that is the best part.
Brown a half pound of breakfast sausage over medium heat. Don’t drain, you want the sausage drippings. Add 2 tablespoons of butter. I don’t bother to remove the sausage when making the roux. It doesn’t hurt that the sausage is still in the pan.
Add 6 tablespoons of flour. Stir the flour into the sausage drippings and butter and let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes to cook the flour.
Add 1 cup of the milk and whisk it into the flour mixture. It will be very thick. Starting with a small amount of milk will keep lumps from forming.
Add the rest of the milk and the half cup of buttermilk. Next, you stir until the gravy is thick. Or get one of your kids to stir it for you. It’s a great way to get your kids involved in cooking.
Salt and pepper to taste. I use about 3/4 teaspoon of each.
Now it’s time to serve up the best ever biscuits and gravy. Split a biscuit in half and butter each half. This is a very important step, and one that I think most restaurants get wrong. In order to have soft and fluffy biscuits and gravy, you can’t just pour gravy over the top of a biscuit. You need to cut it open.
Top with a couple ladles of gravy and enjoy Nana’s Biscuits and Gravy!
Nana's Biscuits and Gravy
Ingredients
- For the biscuits
- 2 1/4 cups baking mix
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons butter
- For the sausage gravy
- 1/2 pound breakfast sausage
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 3 1/2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions
- Step 1 Set the oven to 450 degrees. Cut 2 tablespoons of butter into 6 pieces and place in an oblong baking pan. Put the pan in the oven to melt the butter while the oven heats up. Don’t brown the butter.
- Step 2 Add 1 cup of buttermilk to 2 1/4 cups baking mix and stir to combine.
- Step 3 On a floured surface, fold the dough over itself several times. Pat out to about 1/2 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out as many biscuits as you can, refolding and patting out as you go.
- Step 4 Dip each biscuit into the melted butter and turn it over so that the top is buttered. Repeat with each biscuit until they are all coated in butter. Arrange as you go. They can be fairly close together.
- Step 5 Bake at 450 degrees until risen and golden brown, about 12-15 minutes
- Step 6 Brown the sausage in a large pan and add the butter. Mix in the flour and let cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Step 7 Add one cup of the milk and whisk into the flour mixture. The mixture will be thick. This will prevent lumps from forming.
- Step 8 Whisk in the remaining milk and the buttermilk. Stir until the gravy thickens.
- Step 9 Add the salt and pepper.
- Step 10 To serve, cut a biscuit in half and butter each half. Top with the sausage gravy.
