What is Sausage Gravy?

Sausage gravy is a tasty flour based gravy that is enhanced with cooked ground sausage as part of the mixture. Often served over biscuits as part of a hearty breakfast along with eggs and bacon, this gravy combine several textures in each bite. The fluffy interior of the split biscuit is coupled with the sturdy biscuit crust, while the smooth body of the flour gravy is complimented by the presence of small pieces of ground sausage.

Making sausage gravy always begins with crumbling ground sausage into a frying pan and slowly browning the sausage until all the crumbles are completely done. Depending on personal tastes, the gravy can be prepared using mild sausage or hot sausage. Traditionally, sausage and gravy is prepared using mild sausage.

Once the sausage is completely cooked, the heat under the pan is reduced. Plain flour and butter are added into the pan and mixed well with the ground sausage. This combination is allowed to simmer for a couple of minutes before adding milk to the mixture. The amount of milk depends on the thickness desired for the gravy. For the most part, sausage gravy recipes produce a gravy that is relatively thick.

After the milk blends in with the flour, butter, and sausage, the gravy will slowly begin to take on an off white color as the mixture begins to thicken. Salt and pepper are added as the gravy simmers. Within a few minutes, the gravy is finished and ready to serve.

The traditional presentation of sausage gravy is pouring the gravy over a biscuit that has been split and laid open face on a plate. In restaurants that serve sausage and gravy biscuits, the biscuit is usually split and the gravy poured over the biscuit halves before the plate is brought to the table. However, restaurants that offer a breakfast buffet tend to place the gravy in one container while the biscuits are placed nearby. This allows the diner to prepare his or her own sausage gravy and biscuits combination at the table, which tends to prevent the bread of the biscuit from becoming too saturated by the hot gravy.

Sausage gravy is a relatively common breakfast item in many parts of the Southern and Midwestern sections of the United States. However, in recent years sausage gravy has gained popularity in other parts of the country and is usually available in family style restaurants that are open for breakfast.