Dutch Oven Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Drop biscuits baked under coals, then gravy built in the same pot from powdered milk and shelf-stable sausage.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- 700 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | for the biscuits |
|---|---|---|
| Baking powder | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | split between biscuits and gravy |
| Shortening or powdered butter | 1/3 cup | shortening keeps for months without a cooler |
| Powdered whole milk | 1 cup | 1/3 cup for the dough, 2/3 cup for the gravy |
| Shelf-stable pork sausage | 8 oz | summer sausage or a vacuum-packed cooked chub, diced |
| Flour for the roux | 3 tbsp | |
| Oil | 2 tbsp | if the sausage renders nothing |
| Black pepper | 1 tsp | more than feels right |
Method
- Build a fire down to coals, or light a chimney of briquettes. You want about 20 for a 10-inch oven.
- Stir 1/3 cup of the powdered milk into the biscuit dry mix, then work in the shortening with your fingers until it looks like gravel.
- Add cold water a few tablespoons at a time until the dough just holds together. Do not knead it.
- Drop eight lumps into the greased oven. Lid on, roughly 7 coals underneath and 13 on the lid, 20 minutes. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn every 5 minutes so nothing scorches.
- Pull the biscuits out and set them on a plate. Move most of the coals to under the oven.
- Fry the diced sausage in the same pot until the edges brown. Add oil if it is dry, then stir in the 3 tbsp flour and cook it for a minute.
- Whisk the remaining powdered milk into 500 ml of water and pour it in slowly, stirring the whole time. It will thicken as it comes up to a simmer.
- Pepper it hard, split the biscuits, pour the gravy over.
This is a two-part breakfast run through one pot, which is the whole reason it works in camp. The biscuits bake first while the coals are at their hottest, and the gravy gets made in the fond they leave behind. Nothing extra to wash.
The fresh-dairy problem is solved with powdered whole milk on both sides: a third of a cup in the dough for tenderness, the rest reconstituted for the gravy. Shortening replaces cold butter because it holds its shape at 80 degrees and does not need a cooler. Coal placement is the part that actually decides the outcome — most of the heat belongs on the lid, or you get burnt bottoms and raw middles.
Packing
Biscuit dry mix, baking powder, salt, and milk powder go in one bag at home. Roux flour and pepper in a second small bag. Shortening in a screw-top jar, sausage in its vacuum pack until the morning you cook.
Variations
- Steel-cut oats with dried apple in the same oven the night before covers the next breakfast.
- Swap the sausage for a can of mushrooms and a spoon of bouillon to make it meatless.
https://www.canoetripping.net/threads/dutch-oven-recipes.127981