Biscuits and Gravy

Ahhhh….biscuits and gravy, doesn’t the name just subtly screams out comfort? I came across biscuits and gravy a lot watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the intrigue got deeper. I don’t know if they serve this anywhere in KL/PJ area. If you happen to know, give me a holler!

I made the batch of hot Italian sausage mix just for this recipe and it did not disappoint at all. You might think, oh Southern food, everything’s smothered in gravy and greasy….again, my principal when it comes to eating, balance and portion control. Too much of a good thing is bad, too much of anything is bad even if it was good for you in the first place. But totally eliminating something from your diet is not my personal belief either.

The gravy part was quite easy but the thing that got me really excited? These Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits, they’re AWESOMELICIOUS!!! I’m not one for ditching out superlatives on my own cooking but they are seriously good. I can’t believe I waited so long to make them. You might be wondering, they don’t look like biscuits at all, you’re right. They’re not cracker biscuits or cookie biscuits, they’e scones biscuits. Savoury scones. You can totally make this, eat it on its own without the gravy and it would taste just as good.

I’d like to say that I probably got these recipes, compiled together from several sources but for the life of me I can’t recall where, I wrote them down on my notebook and forgot to cite the source. *DUH…. 😛

BUTTERMILK CHEDDAR BISCUITS RECIPE

Ingredients;

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon onion powder (optional, alternatively you can use chopped chives)
1/2 teaspoon salt (actually you might not even need if you’re using a rather strong cheddar)
Black pepper
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 cup mild to medium cheddar, grated finely
2/3 cup buttermilk (might not need all of it)
1 beaten egg
Dried parsley to sprinkle (optional)

Steps;

1. Pre-heat your oven at 180C. Mix the dry ingredients together. The flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper and baking soda.
2. I use my food processor to mix everything. You can use manual labour if you’re skilled. Pour in the dry ingredients and the grated cheddar. Close the lid and pulse it twice to mix.
3. Add your cubed, cold butter. Let it run till you have the consistency of damp sand.
3. Slowly through the funnel with the processor still running, pour in the buttermilk till the dough pulls away from the sides and forms one big dough. You might not even need the entire 2/3 cup. Be cautious that the dough is not too wet or sticky.
4. Take it out and plonk it on a floured surface. Don’t knead too much, just form it into a ball and then roll it out to about a cm and a half thick.
5. Use a cutter with about 6cm in diametre. I got 11 decent-sized biscuits out of this cutter. Cut and gather the excess dough. Form it together and roll it out again. Again, don’t knead.
6. Cut until you have used up all the dough.
7. Brush tops with beaten egg and sprinkle parsley, just to instil that it’s a savoury scone.
8. Bake for 30 mins or more till the biscuits have fluffed up and browned on top.

SAUSAGE GRAVY RECIPE

Ingredients;

A handful of hot Italian sausage mix (or use sweet, or use even plain minced meat)
1 teaspoon plain flour
2 tablespoons butter
125 ml milk
200 ml cream
Black pepper
Salt (be sparing, you might not even need it)
Olive oil

Steps;

1. Melt the butter in some olive oil in a pan. Sear your meat till it’s lost its colour.
2. Add the flour. Swirl around the pan. Lower the heat and pour your cream slowly.
3. It would get thick rather quickly so you can thin it out with the milk, but if you prefer it rather thick then lessen the milk.
4. Add black pepper. Taste and see if it needs salt but be sparing because the biscuits are salty with the cheese and the sausages would’ve had salt in it.
5. To eat, just combine the two and eat while it’s warm.

Enjoy!