Thought it was about time I put some pictures on here from my recent trip to the States, I started eating healthily today AND I needed to put a new category on here for food and cuisine (Alex is quite the chef); So it occurred to me that I should celebrate quite possibly my favourite American dish by putting a quick thread on it, thus giving a nostalgic nod to the delicious dishes that have made me go a bit stocky of late.

My favourite American dish has got to be biscuits and gravy, it’s a breakfast effort which s far more appetising than it looks (at least to the average person, the very sight makes my mouth water!).  It’s a fairly rustic and honest dish, it’s pretty much the equivalent of the full English that my Dad would often knock up on a Sunday or drag me down the cafe before going to see a game of footy.  Speaking of which, I made it for my Dad once and it was one of the few dishes he really liked; always a critic father’s aren’t they?

The biscuits aren’t really biscuits (all you non-Americans out there stop pulling faces), they are in fact very flakey tasty butter rolls that you use to tear off and eat the sausage gravy with.

I do make it for myself, especially now that I get supplies sent in the mail, but there’s really nothing quite like going out to a store, getting the stuff and sitting salivating whilst Amy breaks out the grub.  And what fantastic grub it is!

How to make biscuits and gravy:

First off, get a decent make of sausagemeat, my preferred brand is Jimmy Dean, the ‘hot’ is nice as it’s slightly warming with the peppers in it, the extra hot is amazing!  At home we’re spoiled for choice (especially if like me you have access to a Farmers market once a fortnight) and I have used Cumberland sausage which goes nicely!

Next up you need to get some biscuits, now you can either make them from scratch (Amy can, I’ve never had the patience to wait), buy a tube of ready-to-go Pillsbury Doughboy Biscuit Dough from a grocery store or you can get a Bisquick mix and make that up (what I usually do). For the sake of prosperity (and the sake of my stomach) we grabbed some ready made throw-in-the-oven dough (Pillsbury). Stick the oven on, stick the dough on a tray and oh Mamma!

Get the sausagemeat, put it all in a hot pan (no oil, there’s enough in the sausage fat!) and break it up into pea sized amounts using a wooden spoon, stir it round until cooked through and then reduce the heat.  I’m going to start adding chilli peppers to mine when I make it again!  that obviously might be quite some time yet thought.  Here’s hoping they invent very cheap liposuction on the NHS.  Oh wait, they have?!

Check on the biscuits as they’re made with butter and are likely to burn if you don’t! Nothing worse than burnt biscuits (fnar fnar) which can be used as a frisby or a North Korean conscripts helmet.  Although obviously if they got shot in the head wearing one then it’s not going to save their life.  That’d be stupid.  Well, it might with a pellet gun?

With the sausage cooking slowly and the biscuits doing their thing it’s time to get the gravy ready. Again, I love Jimmy Dean country gravy mix, Amy adds a little ranch seasoning into it to give it a little flavour. Again she can make it from scratch but I’m impatient and you don’t want to mess with the Anti-Hulk when he’s hungry trust me. With the Jimmy Dean you add milk to the mixture and stir until you get a nice thick consistency (use more milk if you like it creamy, hyuk hyuk).

Right, time to get shakin’. Get the sausage and stick it in the gravy, mix it up good momma. Mix it up good, oh yeah!  This is my favourite part, when you mix up the sausage I get something of an obscure satisfaction watching it all come together. “Here come old flattop, he come grooving up slowly, he got biscuits n gravy, he got festered up arteries”.

So, get the rolls out, stick em on a plate, traditionally you either pour the mix over the biscuits or you can have them on the side. I prefer the latter. And that’s it. A taste of Midwestern goodness!

“GALLERY – Click an image for a larger size.