“Ysilla was turning the biscuits. She laid an iron pan atop the brazier and put the bacon in. Some days she cooked biscuits and bacon; some days bacon and biscuits. Once every fortnight there might be a fish, but not today… They were best when eaten hot, dripping with honey and butter.” (Dance with Dragons)
Modern Biscuits and Bacon (Gravy!)
Our Thoughts:
Omdanom.
We hate to admit it, but some dishes really are just better now than they ever were. We struggled and struggled to find a cool, interesting old recipe for biscuits and bacon, and failed to find anything the least bit appetizing. The closest historical equivalent would probably be hardtack and salt pork, both of which were available on ships.
However, our modern biscuit and bacon gravy is a simply decadent and delicious way to start the day. The recipe is straightforward, but results in a thick, salty gravy filled with bits of crunchy bacon. Served over biscuits, or in them, as Tyrion does, it’s delicious, and even vaguely feasible for a shipboard breakfast!
Modern Biscuits and Bacon (Gravy!) Recipe
Like many of our modern recipe interpretations, this one is a bit loose. I doubt that Ysilla would have the means to make this particular pairing on the deck of a ship, but it was too delicious to pass up.
Biscuit Ingredients: DOUBLE
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoon butter or margarine, melted
Gravy Ingredients:
- 6 slices bacon
- 2 tablespoons bacon grease
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- generous salt and pepper
Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place 6 slices of bacon in the skillet and cook until just under crispy. Remove bacon and set aside to drain. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Add flour to grease, and whisk together. Cook for about a minute without burning the flour. Add milk; whisk together. Heat until bubbling. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, until sauce starts to thicken. Meanwhile, crumble bacon. Add salt and pepper (to taste), and bacon to gravy. Allow to simmer until desired consistency, then serve over biscuits.
You needed a biscuit recipe and you didn’t ask for mine? (although these do look good…)
I’d LOVE your biscuit recipe, of course! I did wonder if you might be a tad bit busy these days, though… ;)
I had to reply to your post as I found your username intriguing. I have a bottle of cranberry mead that I have yet to crack open. Maybe this year with an appropriate meal to accompany it. Suggestions? :)
Hmm, it’s true things have changed a little just since I posted that comment… ;-) Nevertheless, we’ll talk biscuits sometime :-)
A very hearty (though probably not heart-smart) meal. Although I’d probably be too seasick to eat it if I were on the ship. :)
Well, I mean, it’s more of a riverboat, to be fair… ;)
I’d still be upchucking, regardless. ;)
I’m on a low cholesterol diet myself, so most of the recipes I can only drool over.
Wonder if you can make this with turkey bacon?
You could certainly replace the bacon grease/fat with a healthier oil to make your roux base and then add the turkey bacon for flavour alone. :)
YUM!! I love buscuits and sausage gravy, but I need to try this very soon! A New Year breakfast, I think!
Er, that’s biscuits*!!
On Easter, mom would dice up the hard boiled Easter eggs and stir them into this white sauce/gravy and serve it over cpisry toast. Yum! It is still our Easter tradition. Years later my brother added a little curry seasoning to this mix and it was a whole other layer of deliciousness.
Oh wow! That looks wonderful.
Man, made the bacon gravy and ladled it over chicken and biscuits, and it fantastic! All the chicken needed was some salt and pepper, and with the biscuits and gravy, it was delicious. Thanks!
A couple of suggestions from a country boy on making gravy.
If you brown the flour in the oil, you get a much better flavored gravy, as you will have cooked out the starchy flavor from the flour. Whisk the flour and oil over medium heat, as you would a roux, until it is browned, and has a nutty smell. Then add your cold milk. It takes a few minutes to brown the flour, but the flavor of the gravy is much better.
Also, if you use the formula of 1 oz of oil (or butter or fat), 1 oz of flour, and one cup of liquid (1-1-1), you will make a very good gravy. You can always add a little more liquid of it thickens up too much or you like a thinner gravy. That formula works for every gravy. For roast chicken or turkey, use cold chicken stock, for a beef dish, you could use beef stock or a mix of beef stock and red wine.
For a real eye opener for roast beef, or with grits, make a coffee gravy. I like to fry some sausage hot breakfast sausage in a little oil so I get some good browned bits (fond) in the bottom of the pan, drain the pan, leaving 2-3 tbsp of the grease, brown the flour, and then add a little more than a cup of cold, strong black coffee. Add a fair amount of salt and black pepper. Serve over grits, or toss a few slices of roast beef in the gravy to heat through. Add that to a roll, and you will have a sandwich fit for a king.
The 1 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp butter/oil/bacon grease, 1 cup liquid is a common and easily remembered ratio for sauces/gravies that everyone should learn. :)
I’ve never tried the red-eye (coffee) gravy you describe but have run across raves for it over breakfast ham steaks, grits etc It sounds like a very hearty breakfast or brunch dish.
Too true! Roux seems to make everything better and the flavor is lovely and rich.
This is an utterly decadent dinner and I am currently considering licking my plate clean. Thank you again!
I did end up making the biscuit recipe today, though not the gravy. Had pot roast, and realized I had everything to make this biscuits, when my usual go-to recipe calls for buttermilk and I didn’t have any of that on hand.
Made five huge bicuits, very light and fluffy. Thumbs up!
If you find yourself in that situation again, not having buttermilk but you do have sweet milk, put 1 Tbsp lemon juice in a 1 cup measure and then pour enough sweet milk into the measure to make 1 cup, then let it sit for about 5 minutes or so. That makes a pretty decent substitute for buttermilk.
Well, I never have lemons around either. I think you can make fake buttermilk with vinegar as well, but not sure how well that would work with the fat free milk I’m restricted to these days, since I think it has something to do with curdling it?
Tach, I’ll grant you that it isn’t the best buttermilk you will ever have using fat-free milk, but it works ok as far as cooking goes. I have even tried it with powdered milk and it is acceptable. But you can also use vinegar, you are right; I had forgotten that one ;-)
I made this for dinner tonight, it is fantastic! The biscuits, I think I used too much flour by accident, and on top of that I slightly burned them, so I can’t actually vouch for those until round 2, but the gravy is absolutely amazing.
This was great, and not nearly as greasy as I was afraid it might be!
I shall be trying this one as posted this weekend, along with White Beans and Bacon….I figure I can get both meals out of one pack of bacon and get a chance to try two of the recipes that I have been looking forward to. I am quite looking forward to it ;-)
Finally got a chance to cook this over the past weekend and it was fabulous! I used a bit more bacon than was called for, as well as a bit more flour and since I had only evaporated milk that was what I used there, which worked well and really helped it thicken up. Cooked in a cast iron skillet, it only took about 5 minutes, if that, to thicken properly. I served them over biscuits with some eggs and it made a marvelous meal. You would not want to eat this one often, but it will definitely be a keeper in my kitchen. Thanks, ladies! Will be doing the White Beans and Bacon tonight with the other half of the bacon I cooked for this one and I’ll post a follow-up to that as well.
I did the biscuits and gravy with 100% whole wheat flour, I reduced the amount of bacon to two slices, and the flour and milk accordingly. I also made it in my cast iron skillet-and it was quite easy to clean up. I’ve made the gravy three times total-and its been different, but still delicious everytime.
This was my first attempt at biscuits and gravy both, and they turned out very well, thank you for the recipie!