Biscuits and Gravy

I both need to work on my photography skills and it is also not the most photogenic dish in the world.

I came late to the wonder of biscuits and gravy.  It was not something that I grew up with.  I know that my mother made pancakes on occasion.  She probably made french toast.  Our family tradition was pfannkuchen.  But that is definitely a different post.

The first time I tasted biscuits and gravy was on vacation.  We had escaped from LA and headed north, to the redwood forests.  It was the weekend that my youngest son turned one.  We went all the way up to Eureka, in Humboldt County.  Eureka is... not exactly a vacation spot.  I picked it because I vaguely remembered it being pretty when I had driven through there with my father years before.  It was.  It was also not very developed, the timber trade had wound down decades before.  There was an old cookhouse on Samoa Island.  We went there for breakfast with our two little boys.  Meals were served family style and it was there, on a foggy morning in August that I first tried biscuits and gravy.

It was a revelation to me.  The fluffy biscuits and the creamy, salty, sausage studded gravy.  I am not a big fan of sweet for breakfast and biscuits and gravy was perfect.  If I saw it on the menu, I would get it.  Biscuits are not a huge love of mine, so this was significant.  Sometimes it was horrible - dry, heavy biscuit with gluey gravy with no sausage in site.  Sometimes it was transcendent.  Yet for all of the things that I cook, I never made it at home.  I don't really know why.  I may have been hung up on the biscuits.  I never even thought to attempt them.  I saw and interesting recipe on pinterest and the rest is history.  I use refrigerator biscuits.  Maybe one day I will try my own, but for now these work fine.  I also use maple sausage.  I think this started because one time it was all I had.  It gives the gravy a little sweetness that balances out the salty.  I also cut up my biscuits before pouring the gravy on top and serve it in a bowl.  It isn't pretty or healthy but it is delicious.  And an ultimate comfort food.

Sausage Gravy:

16 ounces bulk maple sausage

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk (more if the gravy is too thick)

salt and pepper to taste

Brown the bulk sausage in butter and break up.  Sprinkle flour on top and stir until incorporated.  Cook until browned.  Add milk until desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper.

Pour over biscuits.