As breakfast comfort foods go, there is no more a ubiquitous dish than biscuits and sausage gravy.

My mother makes the best biscuits and gravy I've ever had - to this day. Our house was kindof like a halfway-house when I was growing up - there was always a few extra mouths to feed at the dinner, or breakfast, table. She would make dozens of biscuits and gallons of sausage gravy and we'd plow through it all.

In one sitting.

We were hungry teenagers.

As we got older and each of us kids started spending the holidays at the houses of our respective significant others, my mother started a new Thanksgiving Day tradition. Since we were never around for the big turkey dinner, Mom would make a big breakfast for everyone before we scampered off to spend the rest of the day with whatever flavor-of-the-week had caught our attention. It never failed that biscuits and gravy were the focal point of that breakfast.

The sausage gravy I made this morning is delicious, but it pales in comparison to what my mother used to dish up. I'm sure that's the case for many people when they try to recreate dishes lovingly pulled from a childhood memory though.

I've included a hearty pinch of red pepper flakes, because TA and I like to keep things spicy. If you're not a fan of spice, omit the red pepper flakes but keep the black pepper. The black pepper is more for the flavor than the spice.

I'm not including a recipe for biscuits - just use whichever one you like. I typically use the Jiffy baking mix, as I've mentioned before. I've made both from-scratch and Jiffy biscuits and served them side by side and no one could tell the difference - and on a lazy Sunday morning it's just easier to combine a mix and some milk and be done with it.

Whatever biscuit recipe you do end up using though, make sure to "laminate" the dough at least once - that's the trick to tall, fluffy biscuits.

The trick is to roll out the biscuit dough, place some slivers of butter down the center, fold over one third (like a business letter) on top of the butter. Place some more slivers of butter on top of that piece, and then fold the last side on top of that. Roll it out again, then cut out your biscuits - making sure to cut out the biscuits with one swift movement, straight down into the dough - don't twist the cutter back and forth or it seals off the sides of the dough and won't allow your biscuits to rise. That's how you get hockey puck biscuits instead of tall, fluffy beautiful biscuits.

Sausage Gravy

Yields approximately 4 large servings

1 lb. ground sausage (I used Jimmy Dean reduced-fat pork sausage)

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

pinch red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup cream

2 1/2 cups milk

kosher salt to taste

In a heavy skillet brown the sausage. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Melt the butter and add the red peppers flakes and black pepper, scraping the bottom of the pan to lift all the browned sausage bits. Add the flour, and stirring constantly, cook until the roux is a golden brown. Slowly whisk in the cream and milk a half cup at a time. Cook over medium to medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until gravy is thickened. Season to taste with salt - you'll probably use more than you think you need to, I used a good 1 1/2 teaspoons. Add the sausage back in, cook long enough to heat through, and serve with biscuits.

Also delicious with scrambled eggs served under the gravy.

Nutritional Estimate

This is a nutritional estimate, regard it as such.

1 serving = 1/4 of sausage gravy recipe

541 calories

16 g carbohydrates

42 g fat

25 g protein

*Note: I tried this exact recipe gain using a vegetarian sausage subsitute and it was equally delicious. TA didn't even notice it was vegetarian and it halved the calories. Halved. If you're into meat substitutes I highly recommend the switch.