BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING

   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #1  

crash325

Elite Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
4,121
Location
Tucson AZ
Tractor
New Holland TC-45
One of my favorite foods is BISCUITS & GRAVY. Most of the time things come out pretty good. But i would like to improve both.
Have Figured out I was using too much flower in the gravy. It tasted good, but most always got too thick.
never used a recipe, just guess & by gosh.
Pound of sausage well browned a little extra oil at times, 2 / 3 scoops of flower (should be 1 scoop or 1/4 cup.) Then stir in milk until it looks right.

Same for biscuits or if in a hurry use a pre mix with a little extra baking powder & 2 table spoons of sugar.
Now I think they would improve if I added some grated in butter.

Recently found this recipe on the net. What you think? How do you do it??

Yields: 6 biscuits

2 cups spooned and leveled SELF-RISING flour, preferably White Lily
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup very cold shortening
2 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup plain ALL-PURPOSE flour, for shaping
Melted butter, for brushing

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a cast iron biscuit pan (or use a cake pan according to Corriher痴 original recipe).

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the SELF RISING flour, sugar, and salt. Using the large holes on a box grater, grate the shortening and butter into the dry ingredients. Toss gently to evenly distribute the fats. Stir in heavy cream and buttermilk until the mixture becomes a very thick, wet batter (cottage-cheese texture, according to Shirley.)

Spread the ALL-PURPOSE flour into a shallow pan. Roughly divide the batter into 6 dough balls. Turn each ball around in the flour, dust off excess, and pat into the biscuit slots (there will be one empty one). (I roll the dough into a ball then just mash it flat on cookie sheet,)

Bake the biscuits until they are light golden brown, about 17 20 minutes. Generously brush the hot biscuits with melted butter. Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove with a small offset spatula or knife. Get 粗m while you can!
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #2  
Seems like a lot of sugar to me, but I'm no expert.
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #3  
3 cups of flour total and 2 tbsp of sugar seems okay although I wouldn't have guessed sugar is needed. If it is anything like pie dough, and it is except for the cream and buttermilk, the less you work it and the colder the butter and shortening are, the fluffier the biscuits will be.

My problem with these recipes that call for buttermilk is I never have it on-hand. I have tried the powdered instant buttermilk stuff, but I am not sure that is really the same. I rarely have any fresh cream around either.

Hard to beat a good, fresh biscuit!
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #4  
Here is a recipe similar to the way I make them. I have a wooden hand roller-about 70 years old- that belong to my Father's Mother. I use a cut out carnation cream can to cut them. I use a lot of chunks of sausage in my gravy. Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy Recipe | Simply Recipes BTW, I also use a tad of sugar in my cornbread mix.
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Thanks for the tips.

Anyone know about self rising flour?? Never used it.

Here is what I am going to try.
instead of cream, canned milk. Some of the best biscuits I ever ate were made with it. May or may not use butter milk. If memory is correct in the old days we would use sour milk. Ever try it???
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #6  
Wow, I'm getting hungry right about now! I'm always called upon to make the gravy at my house. I have no idea of quantities I just do it by eye. so here's the recipe for RALPH'S FINE BISCUIT LOTION:
Leave enough bacon or sausage grease in pan so that when the pan is tipped up 45 deg. there's a 3-4" long pond of grease in the edge of the pan. Get the grease real hot. Start putting in flour by the tablespoon and stir. Usually about 3 tablespoons will get it to the right consistency. Just to where you can stir it and it not clump up. Salt and pepper it. Now here's the secret...let it brown the flour mixture a little, just until you can smell a little scorching. Then slowly add the milk while stirring; whole milk that is...about 2 cups. Stir continuously until it "ploops" or boils. "Ploop" is the sound good gravy makes when it's about done. Take off stove and pour it up BEFORE you think it's thick enough...it'll thicken some more in the serving bowl. Pour it over some big ole cat-head biscuits and you've reached the promise land!
One variation of this recipe is to use corn meal instead of flour. Meal gravy is wonderful on fried taters.
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #7  
crash325, I'm no expert either but I'm pretty sure self rising flour is simply baking powder already added to the flour at something like 2 teaspoons per cup of flour. You're better off adding the baking powder yourself and using fresh baking powder. It looses it punch over time, I think. I think the aluminum free powder tastes better too. I don't know, it's just seems like a bad idea to put any ingredient into your biscuits that contain the word aluminum sulfate.
Heat (and moisture) really kick baking powder into gear. My biscuit recipe calls for 450F. for 8 to 10 minutes.
Here is the recipe I use.
2C flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening cold

then add:
1 egg
2/3 C milk

Mix dry ingredients cut in shorting then add wet ingredients. May have to add more flour. Roll out to 3/4" thick.
bake 450 for 8-10 minutes

Sausage gravy:
1 pound Sausage
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
Salt and black pepper to taste
8 prepared biscuits
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #8  
Never heard of putting sugar in biscuits. Otherwise, that recipe sounds pretty good. My mother always used sweet milk only because we never had buttermilk on hand; it all went to the hogs and chickens as soon as the butter was made. And now . . . we buy the packages of frozen biscuits at the grocery store, so we can bake as many, or as few, at a time as we wish.:laughing: For the gravy, we usually don't measure ingredients either, but if amounts to one heaping tablespoonful of flour per cup of milk, plus salt & pepper to taste.

And as much as I love either bacon or sausage with a couple of scrambled eggs and a couple of biscuits and gravy, I almost never do that anymore because of my weight.
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #9  
On biscuit making , I was always taught to not kneed the biscuit dough...rather just mix it around gently with your fingers until just mixed and coming together and NEVER...EVER use a roller...just lightly pat out the dough to a 3/4 inch thick or so and then use a can or drinking glass to cut out the biscuits....

Be gentle is the guiding word and you will have light and fluffy biscuits...also try brushing melted butter on the tops before putting them in the oven....they come out golden !
 
   / BISQUITES & GRAVY -- COOKING #10  
 
Top