Someone once described me as “He’s a British guy, but…” And I kind of like that USP! So today we’ve got, he’s a British guy, but he’s never tried American biscuits and gravy. As opposed to British biscuits and gravy, which is just a digestive topped with Bisto, and honestly, I won’t be rushing to have that one again!
When I made the Starbucks Blueberry Scones last week which are only available in the US, I was a bit confused about what the difference is between an American scone and an American biscuit. It was only then that I realised I’ve never actually tried the classic American biscuits and gravy!
There are a few different names for American gravy, including sausage gravy, white gravy and country gravy. But I can tell you that whatever version I made, it was absolutely incredible!
Apparently biscuits and gravy is a breakfast food over the pond. Mrs B and I thought this was a bit bizarre as they seem somewhere between a savoury scone and a dumpling which isn’t really something we’d have for breakfast, but either way, they were so good!
If you want to give proper biscuits and gravy a go, here’s the recipe I used. Now I need to go hide them so I don’t accidentally eat them all!
American Biscuits and Gravy Recipe
The first step is to make the scones…I mean biscuits! Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl – that’s the flour, baking powder and bicarb – with the buttermilk, that slightly acidic creamy stuff. Knead in the butter gently.
Now this is similar to an English scone recipe, you just simply need to stamp out circles to make your biscuits. I used a large water glass to get that nice round shape. The only difference really is that we don’t have any sugar in here!
Bake for 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 200C. While they’re baking you can start on the sausage gravy!
Fry or grill your bacon until it’s nice and crispy, then cut into little pieces.
In a big bowl, mix together the pork mince with the herbs and spices: salt, black pepper, sage, ginger, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, thyme and paprika. Brown the mince mixture in a hot pan with 30g of the butter. Once this is browned, remove it from the pan.
Now it’s time to make a roux, which is absolutely not something we’d do in a traditional British gravy so it feels a bit strange! Melt the rest of your butter and whisk in the flour until it’s smooth. Finally pour in the milk and whisk until it comes together for about 3 to 4 minutes.
Now dump in the flavoured pork and the bacon, then stir through to coat it.
The final step is to halve your biscuits, pour over the sausage gravy, and enjoy! If you’re like me though, you’ll want to hide the rest of them!