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Recipe: How to Cook White Gravy
By
Nessa |
May 25th, 2009 |
Category:
Recipes |
10 comments
Welcome to the first edition of our new column, In the Kitchen with Nessa, where she teaches you everything from how to cook basic recipes to kitchen tips of the pros!
Nessa is a full time wife and mother of two, living the small town life in rural Texas. She loves cooking everything from tried and true recipes to her own wonderful creations. Catch her blogging at Ramblings of a Texas Housewife and on Twitter @Nessa_TX.
How to Cook White Gravy
One of my husband’s favorite foods is gravy. He loves biscuits and 
gravy, chicken fried steak and gravy, gravy and french fries, this list could go on forever. Unfortunately, gravy was one of the hardest foods for me to learn to cook. It was either too runny, too thick, or frequently lumpy. If I did manage to get the consistency right, it seemed to always taste like paste. So, I set out to create a simple, no fail white gravy recipe.
I finally found something that works every time. It’s frugal, filling, and tastes wonderful. Plus, it can be used over biscuits, potatoes, or in dishes like chicken gravy and rice. I’ve found all sorts of dishes to make with this very basic recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. breakfast sausage
- 4 Tablespoons flour
- 3/12 cups milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
1. Crumble sausage and brown like you would hamburger meat.
2. Once done, remove sausage from pan, leaving the grease behind.
3. Reduce the heat on your pan to low, and add the flour to the grease, using a whisk to mix it in. You will have a thick, paste like mixture in the pan. This is your roux.
4. Cook this roux for three or four minutes, until it starts to brown slightly. This really helps flavor your gravy.
5. Add the milk, pepper, and salt, whisking constantly.
6. Turn the heat back up to a medium temperature and get the mixture to a boil. Whisk constantly while you do this.
7. When the gravy reaches the desired temperature add the sausage back in, mix well, and remove from heat.
Uses For White Gravy
This is a great sausage gravy over biscuits. It is also a very versatile recipe. You can also make plain white gravy with this recipe, just use about three tablespoons of butter in place of the meat and meat fat.
For a chicken or chicken fried steak gravy, prepare gravy as directed, just use three tablespoons of meat drippings instead of the sausage.
This gravy is wonderful with the addition of onions, sautéed when you brown your meat. You can also add garlic and other spices. It is a great, easy starter recipe for beginners. Feel free to experiment with seasonings and other additions to make it your own.
Liked this recipe from Nessa? Stay tuned next for Nessa’s Frugal Cooking with Fresh Produce. Find more cooking articles at Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays, and Homemaker Mondays.
do with bacon for chicken fried bacon & gravy
or fried green tomatoes & gravy
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I make a real mean sausage gravy too! Oh yummy! Looks great!!
Nessa (and Barbie) – what a great new addition to the blog. Thanks for joining us at Tasty Tuesday. Making white sauce/gravy is something that lots of people just have no idea how to do. They don’t realize how easy it is, and you have explained it well. Thanks.
This was one of my favorites growing up but I have not made it in a long time!
Great job, Nessa! I think a young cook would benefit from looking at this post. This is exactly the way I make gravy, too, and it took me years to perfect my technique. One thing that I do differently is that I make my gravy in an electric skillet because I find it easier to control the temperature that way.
@Jen: You know, we skipped the carnival for a few weeks, and when we went back it was gone. I thought it had been discontinued until I started doing some digging in the archives and found out that it only moved to your site! I’m so glad to have found it again, and we’ll be seeing a lot of eachother!
Barbi
@Jen Thanks for your kind words! White gravy is something I was terrified of making! Now I make a mean pan of gravy! It is so easy, not sure why it freaked me out so bad years ago!
[...] How to Cook White Gravy – Homemaker Barbi [...]
For anyone new at making gravy: try using a spatula with holes in it instead of stirring. If you press the flour mixture and stir and press and stir (with the end of the spatula) you will always get a good creamy gravy with no lumps! I just thought I’d throw this idea out there! Happy eating!