English image of Biscuits & Gravy

[Martin Milner]

Yum!

[Walden]

Well... if it's chocolate gravy, that's okay.

Biscuits and gravy are a standard breakfast with bacon or sausage here. The biscuits in question are a basically soft bread, made of a baking soda dough, either rolled and cut out with a round cutter, or made from a softer dough and dropped from a spoon into a baking pan. There are also angel bscuits, which combine baking powder and yeast.

These are either broken up into pieces or split in half before pouring gravy on them. They alternately are served without gravy, with butter, jellies, jams, preserves, or with hot cooked berries, and some cream.

The customary gravy is made by combining a small amount of grease from fried meat, and some flour, then adding water. The flour and grease are mixed first, to prevent lumpiness. It may be thickened with milk... but not always.

The same sort of gravy is used with chicken fried steak, and sometimes with mashed potatoes.

There is also (as alluded to above) chocolate gravy, which is not really gravy, but a sort of chocolate sauce, also served with biscuits.

The biscuits are related to scones, but different. They are not, generally, sweet (sweet stuff can be added when they are served), and they don't have raisins, or any thing in them besides the bread.

[dubhlinn]

This proves my long held theory that Sunday afternoons in England can be so boring once the weather has changed and the nights draw in.
Kris Kristofferson once wrote about "spending all day sunday wishing it was monday". He must have lived here too!!

Slan,
D.

[dubhlinn]

My last post was a work in progress at the time of Waldens posting.
I would not like for anybody to be thinking that I was commenting on Waldens erudition - far from it.

Slan,
D.

[Random notes]

You can take a legitimate shot at American food, but perhaps the labels tell a tale on you: Gravy Granules and Digestive (something-or-others)?

I would love to visit England someday, but I won't be going for the cuisine.

Roger

[burnsbyrne]

I have lived virtually all of my life in the North of the USA and I have to admit that I first heard of bacon gravy, which is a decidedly Southern thing, when I was already an adult. The thought of making gravy out of bacon grease was a bit repugnant to me at the time. It is less repugnant to me now but I still avoid eating it whenever I can. However, I love grits and we make biscuits the same way up here near the Great Lakes as they do in Dixie.

[kga26]

Blimey, Martin Milner knicked my tea!!! Have you been reading Nigella Lawson too?

[kga26]

Sorry, thats tea as in dinner or supper for anyone who isn't of the English persuasion, before Dubhlinn corrects me!

[chas]

Sausage gravy:

1 pound pork breakfast sausage
1/4 c flour
1.5-2 c milk

Don't skimp on the sausage -- it shouldn't be low fat, low sodium or anything. This isn't a health-food recipe. Break up the sausage and cook until it's not sizzling at all. There shouldn't be ANY water left, and the little pieces should be a really dark brown. Add the flour and stir till the flour-fat-sausage mixture is nice and smooth except for the little chunks of meat. If you like the gravy brown instead of white, let it cook for 10 minutes or so, making a rich brown roux. Remove it from the heat for a few minutes, then add the milk (you don't want it to be so hot that the milk spatters or immediately starts boiling). Put it back on the flame and heat, stirring constantly, till the gravy boils. If the sausage isn't spicy enough, add some black pepper or serve with hot sauce.

Baking powder biscuits

All-purpose flour
baking powder
salt
shortening
milk

Preheat the oven to 450F

mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. (I think it's like 1 cup flour to 1 tsp powder to 1 t salt, but I don't have a cookbook handy). Put the shortening (I think a couple of Tbsp) in, and blend it all with a pastry blender or a couple of forks, till there's no powder and the little bits are all about the size of grains of rice. Make a little dimple in the middle and add the milk, I think about 1/3 cup. Mix this all up with a wooden spoon, till it's a fairly thin dough, but much thicker than batter. Add more milk if necessary.

Roll em out to about 1/4"/6 mm, cut into rounds or rectangles, and put on a greased or nonstick cookie sheet. Bake at 450 till done, about 12 minutes.

Put a couple of biscuits on a plate or in a shallow bowl, and ladle the gravy over them.

I've never had this made with bacon. I have had it made with country ham, in which case it's redeye gravy.

If you have chest pains, call 911.

I do have lipid issues, so I only have this about twice a year. It's worth the wait, and since I just had my blood drawn, maybe I'll have it tomorrow.

[dubhlinn]

Well I would call my evening meal Tea but I am not of an English persuasion (not that there is anything wrong with being of such a persuasion).

Slan,
D.

[kga26]

Well, you know what I mean, you are Irish, but then neither of us are of the transatlantic persuasion, therefore we eat our tea and don't drink it....well, yes O.K., we drink it as well........ (not that there is anything wrong with that either) , well what I'm trying to say is...........someone put the kettle on! (for tea?).....
I still want to know how come Martin Milner knicked my best dinner party recipie!

[Jack]

Morningstar makes a delicious soy bacon that goes wonderfully with biscuits and gravy. It's good raw, too.

[Wanderer]

You know, now that I think about it, the "Real thing" isn't really all that more appealing looking..

[Walden]

You know, now that I think about it, the
"Real thing" isn't really all that more appealing looking..

You make an excellent point.

[mamakash]

Morningstar makes a delicious soy bacon that goes wonderfully with biscuits and gravy. It's good raw, too.

I've never had it, although I have seen it in the stores. Vegetarian sausage links didn't go over too well in the house . . . although Morningstar makes the best "hot dogs", better than any other's I've tried.

I love your avatar, Cranberry. It's twisted and weird and makes me go "Meow!"