I've lived a bunch of places, but will always associate my childhood with Athens, GA. Never a football fan, I can't attest to my Bulldawginess, but I do have a strong love of Southern food and the indie rock scene that I grew up sneaking into. REM has a special place in my heart - you'd see the guys wandering Athens from time to time and the lead singer, Michael Stipe, owns a vegetarian/vegan restaurant there called The Grit. Admittedly, I've never been mistaken for a vegetarian, much less a vegan, but we'd go for breakfast from time to time because carnivores and veggies share a love of carbs! The biscuits with apple butter and breakfast potatoes were pretty amazing (though, The Bluebird (RIP), was always my fave).
Here, to meld The Grit with my lack of vegetarian/vegan friendly ingredients (because, who are we kidding, I'm never going to buy nutritional yeast or vegan margarine), I've made Chrissy Teigen's (real) sausage gravy as an accompaniment. Let's be honest, yeast gravy was never going to happen in this house!
Ingredients:
Biscuits:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. plus 2 TB whole wheat flour [It turned out that I had two types of bread flour and 00 flour, but no whole wheat, so I did 3:1 all purpose flour and wheat germ]
1 TB baking powder
1 3/4 tsp sugar
3 TB vegetable shortening
2 TB butter, chilled and chopped into small pieces
3/4 c. plus 1 TB buttermilk
2 TB cider vinegar
EXTREMELY small pinch of dry mustard
Gravy:
3/4 lb pork breakfast sausage, casing removed, crumbled
4 TB butter
1/4 c. flour
3 c. whole milk, plus more, if necessary [I didn't buy enough so it was 12oz regular whole milk, 8oz Lactaid 1%, and the rest whipping cream to add a bit of fat to balance the 1%]
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp fresh sage, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Preheat oven to 450F. Grease a 10x16inch baking sheet with butter or shortening. [NB: I greased a silicone mat in case the butter was there for more than just non-stick purposes]
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut shortening and butter into flour with a pastry blender until particles are extremely fine and well distributed through the mixture. [NB: I am a fan of the Cuisinart version of "cutting" the fats into both biscuits and pie crust dough - pulse until super fine]
Stir together the buttermilk, vinegar, and dry mustard (it is important to note that the pinch of dry mustard should be extremely small). Form a well in the flour mixture and pour in the liquid all at once. Gently fold in the liquid until just combined.
With floured hands, consolidate dough into a ball and transfer to a floured surface. Sprinkle lightly with flour, and pat/flatten dough gently with hands [or, a rolling pin] into a slab 1/2 - 2/3 inch thick. Cut into 13 two inch wide pieces with a floured knife, cookie cutter, or lip of a water glass [I used a bench scraper]. Place biscuits on the prepared baking sheet with sides just touching. [NB: I doubled the recipe so there are more biscuits here and I cut them bigger. Sally's Baking Addiction (my favorite baking blog) says that the uncut edges drag down the rise on biscuits (as does twisting the cutting implement) so I cut all the edges - thus my weird shaped biscuits!]
Bake on middle oven rack 12 minutes, or until bottom of biscuits just begin to brown. Remove from oven and brown tops briefly under broiler. [NB: I brushed them with buttermilk to encourage browning, but that didn't work so I broiled on low for 2 minutes from the middle rack]
While the biscuits bake, cook the sausage in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until browned and the fat is rendered, 4-5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low, add the butter, stir to melt, then gradually sprinkle in the flour. Cook until the sausage is coated and the flour is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add the milk, return the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring until thick, about 10 minutes. [This requires patience, but stirring is sort of like meditation so this is essentially self care that earns you a beautiful biscuit! Mine thickened up quickly!] Add the black pepper, sage, salt, and pepper flakes and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes more.
The biscuits came out a bit flat - not sure if it's because that's just how they are or maybe they were cut too big? I haven't had Grit biscuits in over 20 years! They definitely have a sour taste that works well with the savory gravy and/or sweet raspberry jam. The gravy was well balanced and had good flavor (unlike some I've had) - it made a TON, so I will have leftovers! I'd definitely make the gravy again, but will probably stick with my tried and true flaky biscuits in future. Now to book a trip to Athens!
Biscuits: OK
Gravy: Great
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