Sausages (& sausage gravy)

[epicuric]

[Mod.Edit: this post and following posts have been moved from another thread to form a new topic]

I always add cream to sausage gravy.

This is getting even more complicated. Over here, sausages might be accompanied by an onion gravy. I've not heard of cream being added, but I can see that working. We also have onion sauce, which is basically a bechamel sauce made with lightly fried onions. We would eat that with roast lamb or pork, alongside the gravy .

 

[Morning Glory]

This is getting even more complicated. Over here, sausages might be accompanied by an onion gravy. I've not heard of cream being added, but I can see that working. We also have onion sauce, which is basically a bechamel sauce made with lightly fried onions. We would eat that with roast lamb or pork, alongside the gravy .

Its even more complicated & confusing than you think! 'Sausage Gravy' is a thing. Its an American white gravy (basically a thick bechamel, I think) with crumbled American Italian sausage in it. It has a rather unfortunate appearance, to my mind.

 

[CraigC]

Its even more complicated & confusing than you think! 'Sausage Gravy' is a thing. Its an American white gravy (basically a thick bechamel, I think) with crumbled American Italian sausage in it. It has a rather unfortunate appearance, to my mind.

View attachment 40096

View attachment 40097

Although once in a while I'll make it with andouille, It usually is a breakfast sausage from a tube or homemade. The sausage gets broken up while browning then flour gets added to make a roux with the fat/grease and milk/cream is added (some may make it with chicken stock, maybe adding milk/cream) then it is simmered until the right thickness is reached. Personally, I like fresh ground black pepper in mine, adding more at serving. Though I can't find it, we had a thread/discussion about sausage gravy.

 

[medtran49]

crumbled American Italian sausage in it.

No, breakfast sausage, there is quite a difference!

Biscuits and gravy (and sausage gravy) is made with buttermilk biscuits.

CD

Can be biscuits made with milk or cream as well, not just buttermilk. And also pancakes to complicate even more. There was a restaurant where Craig's brother used to live that only was open for breakfast. They were famous for their sausage gravy and their specialty was over pancakes. No syrup. Hurricane Charlie took that restaurant.

 

[TastyReuben]

Just to add to/complicate things:

Over here, sausages might be accompanied by an onion gravy. I've not heard of cream being added, but I can see that working.

The sausage here is bulk/loose pork sausage, browned and broken up in the skillet, like ground/minced beef might be browned and broken up for a dish.

So your biscuits and gravy would bechamel sauce and scones? I thought rascal ate weird breakfasts, but at least he dunks his biscuits in a mug of tea

I thought I was perfectly clear: Our biscuits are like scones, but definitely not scones, and our scones are very much like scones, but not exactly like scones. But they're scones.

Make sense?

with crumbled American Italian sausage in it.

No, no, no. Close, but no. American breakfast sausage isn't Italian sausage. Not by a long shot. There are probably people who like to change things up and be edgy with it, but that would be far out of the norm.

If you had to pick one flavor profile for American breakfast sausage, it would be sage. Sage and pepper. That's what I taste more than anything else.

It's sold in one pound tubes, and it's either browned and crumbled in a skillet, or rounds are sliced off and fried.

Popular brands where I live are Bob Evans, Jimmy Dean, Weber's, Purnell, and Tennessee Pride, as well as a ton of locally-made brands. As the world is a much smaller place now, you'll find the big national brands have expanded into other varieties, including Italian, but that wouldn't be used for breakfast gravy normally. That's more for red sauce, on a pizza, lasagna, that kind of thing.

Our mashed potatoes topic turned into a gravy topic, which is turning into a sausage topic!

 

[medtran49]

Just to add to/complicate things

The sausage here is bulk/loose pork sausage, browned and broken up in the skillet, like ground/minced beef might be browned and broken up for a dish.

Just to clarify a bit more, he's talking about sausage gravy when breaking up the sausage, or in a scramble/skillet dish. We do eat small sausage links or patties whole for breakfast as well, as a side, though not usually if sausage gravy is part of the meal.

 

[Morning Glory]

No, breakfast sausage, there is quite a difference!

My mistake.

 

[TastyReuben]

Ok, no gravy this morning, but I thought I'd share my breakfast sausage pics:

My Favorite Breakfast Sausage

• TastyReuben
• 25 Apr 2020

Ingredients

• TastyReuben
• 25 Apr 2020

Sausage Before Cooking

• TastyReuben
• 25 Apr 2020

Sausage After Cooking

• TastyReuben
• 25 Apr 2020

 

[ElizabethB]

Just to add to/complicate things:



The sausage here is bulk/loose pork sausage, browned and broken up in the skillet, like ground/minced beef might be browned and broken up for a dish.



I thought I was perfectly clear: Our biscuits are like scones, but definitely not scones, and our scones are very much like scones, but not exactly like scones. But they're scones.

Make sense?


No, no, no. Close, but no. American breakfast sausage isn't Italian sausage. Not by a long shot. There are probably people who like to change things up and be edgy with it, but that would be far out of the norm.

If you had to pick one flavor profile for American breakfast sausage, it would be sage. Sage and pepper. That's what I taste more than anything else.

It's sold in one pound tubes, and it's either browned and crumbled in a skillet, or rounds are sliced off and fried.

Popular brands where I live are Bob Evans, Jimmy Dean, Weber's, Purnell, and Tennessee Pride, as well as a ton of locally-made brands. As the world is a much smaller place now, you'll find the big national brands have expanded into other varieties, including Italian, but that wouldn't be used for breakfast gravy normally. That's more for red sauce, on a pizza, lasagna, that kind of thing.

Our mashed potatoes topic turned into a gravy topic, which is turning into a sausage topic!

Pork shoulder roast frequently goes on sale .99 per pound. G can not resist a sale on pork roast. We have two freezers in his shop. One is for larger items - venison roast, back strap and tenderloin, whole chickens, rib racks and pork roast. I don't go into that freezer very often. I have a pretty good idea of what is in there. I opened up that freezer to get a pork roast for G to cook in his Big Easy. I KNOW there were 3 pork roast in that freezer. When I opened the door there were SEVEN!!!! I should have known. Before this Covid thing started G mentioned that XYZ had pork roast on sale. No G we have 3 in the freezer. He bought two twin packs and snuck them into the freezer. What really set me off was that he did not divide the twin packs.
I lost my train of thought. With all of this pork we will make fresh pork sausage and a good bit of it will be breakfast sausage - heavy on the sage and black pepper.

 

[ElizabethB]

Thank you MG.
I would be very interested in recipes for homemade sausage. We have all of the equipment. I am particularly interested in recipes for Italian Sausage and Breakfast Sausage. We have made both before.
Our breakfast sausage is pretty good - ground pork shoulder roast, scallions, salt, a good bit of fresh ground black pepper and a lot of sage. I don't have a recipe. We always start with less. Test cook and taste. Add more as needed. We will be doing this soon and I will record weights and amounts.
We made Italian sausage once. It was OK but far from the best.

 

[medtran49]

Thank you MG.
I would be very interested in recipes for homemade sausage. We have all of the equipment. I am particularly interested in recipes for Italian Sausage and Breakfast Sausage. We have made both before.
Our breakfast sausage is pretty good - ground pork shoulder roast, scallions, salt, a good bit of fresh ground black pepper and a lot of sage. I don't have a recipe. We always start with less. Test cook and taste. Add more as needed. We will be doing this soon and I will record weights and amounts.
We made Italian sausage once. It was OK but far from the best.

Look for Michael Ruhlman's recipes and books. We have a coup!e of his books, Charcuterie and don't remember name of other and lazy right now. Can't remember if we've made his breakfast sausage, but did make his Italian sausage recently, which we both really liked.