Yeah, I'd follow Lady Kat's recipe in a second with zero doubt...if I didn't have my own. :)
But seriously, Kat's looks like a basis for really good white gravy.
Here's how I do it.
Take a pound of good breakfast sausage and dump it into your heaviest 12" skillet over medium heat. Cast iron is really the only way here, but for the less fortunate, any heavy bottomed skillet will do. Break up the sausage with a wooden spoon and continue stirring and breaking up the lumps until it's about 2/3-3/4 done. It should be mostly browned, but with some pink bits remaining. Then, and trust me on this one, dump in a cup of water. It will sizzle and make all manner of unholy noises, but then it will settle down to a simmer. Then, with the same wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the browned goodies off and continue stirring for 5 minutes until the sausage is in uniform small pieces and is done. What we're doing here is coaxing ALL the fat out of the sausage and providing some room for it to break down completely. Now, drain your sausage in a mesh strainer over a bowl large enough to catch ALL the liquid. Let it drain for a minute or 2 to make sure all the liquid comes out. Set the strainer containing the meat aside.
Next, return your skillet to HIGH heat and pour in the liquid you strained off the sausage. This will be a little unpleasant. It'll pop and sizzle and act like it's going to explode. It won't. This is just the water evaporating. After 2 or 3 minutes, it should calm down. At this point pull it off the heat and let it cool for 2 or 3 minutes. What you'll have is the most perfect, golden pork fat you've ever seen. You should have about 4 Tablespoons. If you have less, add cooking oil to make up the difference. At this point, mix 3 cups of skim milk (WHAT?!?!) and one cup of chicken stock (WHAT?!?!) and have ready by the stove.(You want a savory gravy, not wallpaper paste) Return the oil in the skillet to medium low heat and sift in 3 tablespoons of flour. With a whisk, keep this moving around the pan for 3 or 4 minutes until it just starts to brown and smell nutty.
Now whisk in about a cup of the milk/stock mixture and form a paste. this is important as you're avoiding lumps here. Once you have a smooth paste, whisk in the rest of the liquid. It will look WAY too thin, but it's ok. Crank the heat to medium high and continue whisking. It should thicken up in 3 or 4 minutes, When it coats the back of a spoon, taste for seasoning. Add black pepper and cayenne to taste. Then, add the sausage you cooked earlier. The mixture should be on the thin side, as it will thicken as it cools at the table. Serve over
Lady Kat's Buttermilk Biscuits and prepare to be called upon to provide breakfast often.
