Types of Sausage

• The flavor of breakfast, or country, sausage is milder than that of other types such as Italian or Polish. Fewer flavorings, such as sage or marjoram, go into the preparation of breakfast sausage, and it is available as bulk shaped into rolls, patties such as those featured on fast-food breakfast menus, or as individual links. Sausage gravy is generally made from bulk sausage that is scrambled like ground beef and cooked through until no redness remains. You can control the darkness of the gravy by how you cook the meat.

Cooking the Sausage

• To make sausage gravy, fry the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. Fats and meat juices are released during cooking, and this is what you will use to make the gravy. Cook the sausage a little longer than the recipe suggests, letting the drippings caramelize and turn slightly brown in the bottom of the pan.

Making the Gravy

• To make gravy using 1 pound of cooked bulk pork sausage, you will need about 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour and 2 cups of whole or 2 percent milk. When the meat has browned completely, stir in the flour and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add the milk and cook until the gravy is thick and bubbly, stirring often with a whisk to eliminate lumps that form as the flour cooks. If the gravy is too thick, add a little more milk before serving. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve over hot biscuits.

Variations

• Darken sausage gravy by cooking the drippings a bit longer. After transferring the cooked sausage to paper towels to drain, stir the flour into the hot drippings and cook it about 2 to 3 minutes longer, or until it darkens to your taste, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn and scraping the browned bits up from the bottom of the pan. Add the milk and cook until very thick, return the meat to the gravy and season to taste. Vary the seasonings in the gravy with poultry seasoning, onion powder, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce.