The Secret To Great Biscuits

[DaGip]

[AndyDufresne]

I love some biscuits and gravy.


--Andy

[DaGip]

I love some biscuits and gravy.


--Andy

I know...right???

I've never made homemade biscuits, always Pillsbury Grands:



But I love making the gravy!

DaGip's Super Secret Sausage Gravy Recipe

1 lb Country Sausage
4 tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
2 1/2 cups Warm Milk
1/4 cup flour
1 Cast Iron Skillet
1 Metal Fork
Tabasco Sauce

Brown your Sausage with 4 TBSP of Butter. When Sausage is browned stir in 1/2 cup of flour. Keep stirring the flour and sausage mixture with a metal fork for about 5 minutes or until flour is slightly browned (not burnt). After the flour and sausage has cooked together, mix in your salt and pepper; then slowly stir in the Warm Milk with your fork. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan with the tines of your fork to pick up all that good Cast Iron flavor! When gravy has thickened to the desired consistency, add more salt and pepper to taste!

Put one heaping scoop of DaGip's Super Secret Sausage Gravy on top of each biscuit served, add a splash of Tabasco sauce (or two or three...), and serve HOT!

[tkr4lf]

4 tablespoons of butter? That seems like a lot...

[KoolBak]

Gip...is that a pic of your own pan? Looks like a wok...

I've been cooking exclusively with cast for 20 years now and have a hell of a collection AND love gravy AND loved the blues brothers ;o) Good thread....but whattya want fer nuthin??

[DaGip]

4 tablespoons of butter? That seems like a lot...

You can cut down on the butter if you want. If your sausage has enough fat, you can get away without the extra added fat; but the sausage I buy locally is very lean and I need the extra butter for a proper roux and it helps brown the gravy a bit and adds that small bit of nuttiness to the dish.

[DaGip]

Gip...is that a pic of your own pan? Looks like a wok...

I've been cooking exclusively with cast for 20 years now and have a hell of a collection AND love gravy AND loved the blues brothers ;o) Good thread....but whattya want fer nuthin??

That is not, it was really the closest looking picture on the internet that truly looked like my gravy...and it does appear to be in a cast iron pan of some sort. Whether it is a actual pan or a wok...that is uncertain.

Cast Iron is an imperative element to good country style gravy. Also, I do recommend using a metal fork to do the mixing from the bottom. In addition, as an added note: A wooden spoon is best for doing serving and any other stirring of the gravy, but it must never be washed with soap and it must only be used for sausage gravy. This is an old secret from the grandmother. Keep sausage spoon separate from Chili wooden spoon and never ever wash them with soap! Just very hot water and wipe clean and dry. This is called "seasoning" the spoon.

[Lootifer]

Lol i do love american food (like genuine american food like proper bbq etc.) but biscuits is something ive always found odd.

Mostly because this is what the Great Britain and Oceanic countries think of when you say biscuits (not sure where the euros sit on this):



We call these scones:

[waauw]

Lol i do love american food (like genuine american food like proper bbq etc.) but biscuits is something ive always found odd.

Mostly because this is what the Great Britain and Oceanic countries think of when you say biscuits (not sure where the euros sit on this):



We call these scones:

The euro's are with ya!
You got our full backing, go at them Kiwi!

[KoolBak]

Agreed gip.... identical to seasoning of the cast, which is an art in itself..... won't let my bride touch my cast.... she did once and trashed the seasoning on a 100 year old beauty

[tkr4lf]

Lol i do love american food (like genuine american food like proper bbq etc.) but biscuits is something ive always found odd.

Mostly because this is what the Great Britain and Oceanic countries think of when you say biscuits (not sure where the euros sit on this):



We call these scones:

That's weird. This is what we call a scone:




It's sort of a mix between a biscuit and a cake. Freaking awesome dipped into some milk first.

[DoomYoshi]

[DaGip]

Agreed gip.... identical to seasoning of the cast, which is an art in itself..... won't let my bride touch my cast.... she did once and trashed the seasoning on a 100 year old beauty

If anyone puts soap on my cast, I will kill them!

[nietzsche]

I'm gonna come in your cast.

[DaGip]

I'm gonna come in your cast.

That would be nietzche's super secret gravy recipe.

[KoolBak]

And far better than dishsoap for crapsakes

[notyou2]

And far better than dishsoap for crapsakes

Sshhh, he will show up.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

Gip...is that a pic of your own pan? Looks like a wok...

I've been cooking exclusively with cast for 20 years now and have a hell of a collection AND love gravy AND loved the blues brothers ;o) Good thread....but whattya want fer nuthin??

That is not, it was really the closest looking picture on the internet that truly looked like my gravy...and it does appear to be in a cast iron pan of some sort. Whether it is a actual pan or a wok...that is uncertain.

Cast Iron is an imperative element to good country style gravy. Also, I do recommend using a metal fork to do the mixing from the bottom. In addition, as an added note: A wooden spoon is best for doing serving and any other stirring of the gravy, but it must never be washed with soap and it must only be used for sausage gravy. This is an old secret from the grandmother. Keep sausage spoon separate from Chili wooden spoon and never ever wash them with soap! Just very hot water and wipe clean and dry. This is called "seasoning" the spoon.

You don't clean your cast with soap but you'll scrape it with a fork? That's dumb. First of all, the whole soap thing is a myth. Soap is a surfactant which acts on oils, however the seasoning on pans is polymerized due to heat and is not affected by soap. Scraping with a metal utensil, however, will f*ck up the seasoning. Your grandma can go suck an egg. I grew up on cast iron and use one every day, and washing it with soap and a scrubbie works just fine.

-TG

[DaGip]

Gip...is that a pic of your own pan? Looks like a wok...

I've been cooking exclusively with cast for 20 years now and have a hell of a collection AND love gravy AND loved the blues brothers ;o) Good thread....but whattya want fer nuthin??

That is not, it was really the closest looking picture on the internet that truly looked like my gravy...and it does appear to be in a cast iron pan of some sort. Whether it is a actual pan or a wok...that is uncertain.

Cast Iron is an imperative element to good country style gravy. Also, I do recommend using a metal fork to do the mixing from the bottom. In addition, as an added note: A wooden spoon is best for doing serving and any other stirring of the gravy, but it must never be washed with soap and it must only be used for sausage gravy. This is an old secret from the grandmother. Keep sausage spoon separate from Chili wooden spoon and never ever wash them with soap! Just very hot water and wipe clean and dry. This is called "seasoning" the spoon.

You don't clean your cast with soap but you'll scrape it with a fork? That's dumb. First of all, the whole soap thing is a myth. Soap is a surfactant which acts on oils, however the seasoning on pans is polymerized due to heat and is not affected by soap. Scraping with a metal utensil, however, will f*ck up the seasoning. Your grandma can go suck an egg. I grew up on cast iron and use one every day, and washing it with soap and a scrubbie works just fine.

-TG

Troll...you be trollin'.

[KoolBak]

Using your same logic, the correctly seasoned cast is resilient enought that metal utensils are fine unless you're actively gouging at it. Fact. 100 years of collective experience....lol. Of my 30 pieces, the only one ever damaged by metalware was my giant dutch oven that my brother in law fooked up and he REALLY had to try.....he's not invited camping any more This is also a good read (and uses the same wording you did....)

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the- ... -iron.html

[TA1LGUNN3R]

Using your same logic, the correctly seasoned cast is resilient enought that metal utensils are fine unless you're actively gouging at it. Fact. 100 years of collective experience....lol. Of my 30 pieces, the only one ever damaged by metalware was my giant dutch oven that my brother in law fooked up and he REALLY had to try.....he's not invited camping any more This is also a good read (and uses the same wording you did....)

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the- ... -iron.html

My house mate a few years ago never used cast iron before and used my pan, ended up burning something to the bottom, and used a fork to scrape it out. I had to reseason it.

-TG

[DaGip]

TG, let's be clear...metal utensils are perfectly fine for cast iron; and to each their own on whether you want soap to touch your cast. The problem you had was that there was burnt crud on the bottom of the cast and it was forcefully scraped off to clean. The pan wasn't ruined, you still had seasoning in the pores. Just reseason the pan, it's really not that big a deal. Next time you want to clean some burnt gunk from your pan, try using some course kosher salt and some oil. Use a paper towel and scour the inside of the pan until clean (add some water if needed). The worst food to try to make in a cast iron skillet...caramel or really sugary dishes that have a tendency to burn at the bottom of the pan. That for sure will be a reseasoning adventure.

Some people say a little dishsoap is okay, but I am from the "f*ck the Soap" crowd. Most definitely you should never put your cast iron into the dishwasher! Detergent is different from soap. The new style silicone cookware should never be washed with detergent either, because the residue clings to it. Then you get a soapy taste in your cooking! If you do wash your silicone cookware in the dishwasher, you should rinse it with regular water and wipe it clean with a cloth to get off any detergent residue.

Wooden utensils; however, is a different story. The wood will absorb soap and detergent both and compromise any seasoning you had accomplished on your spoon.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

TG, let's be clear...metal utensils are perfectly fine for cast iron; and to each their own on whether you want soap to touch your cast. The problem you had was that there was burnt crud on the bottom of the cast and it was forcefully scraped off to clean. The pan wasn't ruined, you still had seasoning in the pores. Just reseason the pan, it's really not that big a deal. Next time you want to clean some burnt gunk from your pan, try using some course kosher salt and some oil. Use a paper towel and scour the inside of the pan until clean (add some water if needed). The worst food to try to make in a cast iron skillet...caramel or really sugary dishes that have a tendency to burn at the bottom of the pan. That for sure will be a reseasoning adventure.

Some people say a little dishsoap is okay, but I am from the "f*ck the Soap" crowd. Most definitely you should never put your cast iron into the dishwasher! Detergent is different from soap. The new style silicone cookware should never be washed with detergent either, because the residue clings to it. Then you get a soapy taste in your cooking! If you do wash your silicone cookware in the dishwasher, you should rinse it with regular water and wipe it clean with a cloth to get off any detergent residue.

Wooden utensils; however, is a different story. The wood will absorb soap and detergent both and compromise any seasoning you had accomplished on your spoon.

Acids are the worst for seasoned cast iron. Soap is fine. If you wish to argue the chemistry behind it, I wouldn't advise it.

-TG

[DaGip]

TG, let's be clear...metal utensils are perfectly fine for cast iron; and to each their own on whether you want soap to touch your cast. The problem you had was that there was burnt crud on the bottom of the cast and it was forcefully scraped off to clean. The pan wasn't ruined, you still had seasoning in the pores. Just reseason the pan, it's really not that big a deal. Next time you want to clean some burnt gunk from your pan, try using some course kosher salt and some oil. Use a paper towel and scour the inside of the pan until clean (add some water if needed). The worst food to try to make in a cast iron skillet...caramel or really sugary dishes that have a tendency to burn at the bottom of the pan. That for sure will be a reseasoning adventure.

Some people say a little dishsoap is okay, but I am from the "f*ck the Soap" crowd. Most definitely you should never put your cast iron into the dishwasher! Detergent is different from soap. The new style silicone cookware should never be washed with detergent either, because the residue clings to it. Then you get a soapy taste in your cooking! If you do wash your silicone cookware in the dishwasher, you should rinse it with regular water and wipe it clean with a cloth to get off any detergent residue.

Wooden utensils; however, is a different story. The wood will absorb soap and detergent both and compromise any seasoning you had accomplished on your spoon.

Acids are the worst for seasoned cast iron. Soap is fine. If you wish to argue the chemistry behind it, I wouldn't advise it.

-TG

Keep soap away from cast iron, unless you are TG who has all the chemical equations of why it is okay.

[nietzsche]

Every time you scrap your cast to give food an extra flavour you'll be thinking of my semen.