Skillet Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Pan biscuits cooked in a covered skillet, with gravy built from powdered milk and a sausage packet.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 19 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 600 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Self-rising flour | 1 1/4 cups | or plain flour with 2 tsp baking powder |
|---|---|---|
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | for the biscuits |
| Powdered shortening or ghee | 2 tbsp | shelf-stable stand-in for cold butter |
| Powdered whole milk | 1/2 cup | split between biscuits and gravy |
| Shelf-stable cooked sausage crumbles | 4 oz | vacuum pouch, no cooler needed |
| Ghee | 2 tbsp | for the roux |
| All-purpose flour | 1/4 cup | for the gravy |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp each | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/4 tsp | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tbsp | |
| Oil | 1 tbsp | to grease the pan |
Method
- Whisk 3 tbsp of the powdered milk into 1/2 cup cold water. Keep the rest of the powder for the gravy.
- Stir the self-rising flour, salt, and powdered shortening together in a bag. Pour in the milk and squeeze the bag until it just comes together. Do not work it further.
- Turn the dough onto a clean bag dusted with flour, press it flat, fold it once, and press to about half an inch. Cut or tear eight rounds.
- Oil the skillet, set it over low heat, lay in the biscuits, and put a lid on. Eight to ten minutes a side. Low heat and a lid, or you get burnt bottoms and raw middles.
- Pull the biscuits out. Melt the ghee in the same pan, stir in the flour, and cook it a minute until it smells like toast.
- Whisk the remaining powdered milk into 2 cups cold water and pour it in slowly, stirring the whole time. It will thicken as it comes up to a simmer.
- Add the sausage crumbles, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and parsley. Simmer two minutes, then split the biscuits and pour it over.
The original wants cold butter, cold buttermilk, and two cups of fresh milk. None of that survives a weekend in a pack, so the fat becomes powdered shortening and the milk becomes powder plus cold water. Powdered whole milk has enough fat to make a gravy that coats a spoon, which skim powder will not.
Biscuits in a skillet are a heat-control problem, not a baking problem. A lid traps enough steam to cook the middle while the bottom crisps, and low heat is the only way both finish at once. Cook the biscuits first and build the gravy in the same fat-slicked pan: one pot, and the browned bits go into the roux.
Packing
Biscuit dry mix in one bag, gravy dry mix (flour, powdered milk, seasonings) in another. Sausage pouch and ghee ride separately. Label the two flour bags or you will confuse them at dawn.
Variations
- Skip the biscuits and pour the gravy over instant potato flakes or a bagel.
- Bacon crumbles or a pouch of chicken instead of sausage.
- A dutch oven with coals on the lid bakes the biscuits instead of pan-frying them.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/stovetop-biscuits-and-gravy