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Little Boy Biscuits & Gravy

February 7, 2017 by Carine Clary 4 Comments

Biscuits & GravyThe origin of Little Boy Biscuits and Gravy goes back to a story my west Texas grandmother used to tell about the little poor boy who knocked on her family’s back door every morning on his way to school. Sporting a three inch cow lick and a perpetually empty lunch pail he could always count on Miss Eugenie to hand over a couple of hot ones. Upon receipt he’d deploy his thumb to hollow out a hole in the middle which she’d fill with sorghum syrup. He’d then plop down on the steps to eat, dripping sorghum while Sunshine the cat handled the cleanup. (My recreation of the thumbprint biscuit below):

Biscuits & SyrupThe little boy is long gone but the biscuits are still going strong. When she wasn’t cheating by making ‘whomp’ biscuits – the kind that come in cans that you whomp on the kitchen counter to open – my grandmother made them with lard and I’ve altered the recipe to add a little butter for flavor.

The main trick to mastering flaky biscuits is to make them repeatedly. Sorry, but that’s just the truth. All the ‘tricks’ to follow only work if you do that. The usual biscuit mantra stresses cold everything, fast everything then into a hot hot oven. To this I will add the advice to roll out the dough, then fold over in thirds like a letter, turn sideways, fold in thirds again and cut into rounds. If this looks familiar it’s because it’s a primitive version of the puff pastry routine but it only takes an extra minute and makes the biscuits flakier. If you want to speed it up even more don’t bother with the biscuit cutter. Just use a knife and cut into squares and you will have no left over strips of dough to reform and recut.

To start you whisk the dry ingredients together then cut in the cold fat, in this case lard and butter. Works the same if using all butter.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhen the fat is pea sized stir in the buttermilk. You’ll note that I’ve specified three quarters to one cup milk. That’s because different flours have different absorption rates. Add the milk until the dough just starts to stick together. You don’t want to end up with anything that could qualify as batter.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERANext dump the dough onto a flat surface and form into a rectangular slab. It will be what’s called ‘shaggy’ which means that there may not be enough moisture to incorporate all the flour. Once you’ve formed the slab brush that extra flour to the side.

Biscuits & GravyAnd behold the slab! Which unfortunately is round because I took the picture before pressing in the sides but you get the idea.

Biscuits & GravyHere it is folded over. Do that twice, cut whichever way you prefer, and put into a preheated oven until brown about 10 to 12 minutes. Resist the urge to open the door and check on them.

Biscuits & GravyBaked and done. This recipe made these round ones and four two inch by two inch square biscuits.

Biscuits & GravyHere’s a close up so you can see the nice layers achieved by the fold over routine. Now on to the gravy.

Biscuits & GravyThe whole point of the gravy recipe is simplicity. Don’t make it something it’s not. It’s not a complex sauce requiring weird spices or garlic. The most important thing is to find a loose or patty style “breakfast” type sausage that’s seasoned the way you like. Fry it in a pan until slightly brown, add the onion, then butter and flour. Add the milk gradually and stop when it reaches the preferred consistency. This may end up being a little more or less than I call for here. So play it by ear. If too thick add more milk or even some chicken broth. But in the end it rises or falls on the quality of the sausage so choose carefully. If you do you won’t be bothered with adding spices.

And note. The gravy thickens quickly if left on the stove or if you make it the night before and store it in the fridge. To thin it you can use more milk, water, or chicken broth.

Here’s the gravy hanging with an egg and some sourdough toast in case you decided to skip making the biscuits.

Sausage GravyThis a long post with lots of pictures for what’s a simple thing but perfecting the basics defines a good cook and makes the cook’s family very happy!

Little Boy Biscuits
 
Print
Author: Carine Clary
Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients
  • For the biscuits:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ⅓ cup lard plus
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ¾ to 1 cup buttermilk
  • For the gravy:
  • ½ lb loose sausage
  • ⅓ cup diced onion
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ⅓ cup flour
  • 1¾ cups milk (or a combination of milk & broth)
  • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
  • Salt, Pepper, & cayenne to taste
  • optional parsley
Instructions
  1. For the biscuits:
  2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  3. Sift together dry ingredients.
  4. Cut in lard & butter to pea size.
  5. Stir in buttermilk & put dough onto counter. Form into a mound with your hands.
  6. Roll out into rectangle, fold into thirds, roll again, then turn 45 degrees & roll again. The dough should be about ½ to ¾ inch thick.
  7. Cut into rounds or squares and bake until brown about 10 to 12 minutes.
  8. For the gravy:
  9. Fry the sausage in a pan until it starts to brown.
  10. Add onion then flour and cook for a minute.
  11. Slowly stir in milk & vinegar and let cook on low for several minutes.
  12. Season to taste.
Notes
I specify all purpose flour but if you use soft winter wheat you'll get an even flakier result.
When it comes to sausage I use a loose breakfast style sausage made by my local grocery store. If you don't have this option Jones & Jimmy Dean have good patty sausages that will serve well. If you don't eat pork there are some good turkey sausage options out there.
3.4.3177

 

 

Filed Under: Breakfast, Sauces, Southern Tagged With: biscuits, biscuits and gravy, little boy biscuits

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Hello, I'm Carine Clary and I'm the FrangloSaxon.

And is that a word? In a word - Yes! It reflects my French connections in the south part of the state and the Anglo Saxon ones on the Arkansas state line. I grew up eating & loving all the foods of Louisiana and the idea is to collect lots of them right here on this website.

What you'll find here is food that reflects everybody's cooking. Creole we know. Cajun we know. But how about Croatian or Vietnamese....or Italian or German....or the underestimated plain Southern food they do so well in the upstate parishes?

They're all part of who we are so pull up your chair and join me for some good eats!

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