If you don’t know how to make sawmill gravy it can be a little intimidating. Let me take your through the recipe step by step so you understand exactly what to do and why!
There isn’t a recipe I make that gives me the warm fuzzies more than homemade sawmill gravy. When I think about it, I guess I equate this recipe with love and family. Why? Because in today’s day and age we have all these premade gravy mixes and ready-made jars of gray goo we can purchase so the only people who care how to make sawmill gravy from scratch is someone looking to make something special for their loved ones. And nothing brings a family together like a hearty home-cooked breakfast!
As a matter of fact, if I were President I would replace family court with sawmill gravy cooking lessons. It could be revolutionary. Fox Valley Foodie 2016! Though instead of slinging mud, my campaign would sling gravy. It'd be delicious.
If you don’t know how to make sawmill gravy it can be a little intimidating. It is not as simple as dumping ingredients together and making magic happen! To make a good gravy you need to make a good roux.
How to Make a Roux
What is a roux? A roux is a mixture of flour and fat that is heated together and used as a thickening agent in soups and sauces. It is the base of any decent sawmill gravy recipe. It is also where most people screw up their sawmill gravy.
You want to create a light brown roux. Basically, the longer you cook the roux, the darker it gets. If you don’t cook the roux long enough your gravy will taste like flour (a lesson it seems I enjoyed learning over and over in the past), if you cook it too long it will get really dark and take on an overly nutty taste, or worse, burn. If you scorch/burn your roux, throw it out and start over. This is why it is recommended to use a heavy bottomed pan like cast iron (affiliate link) when making a roux. The cast iron is more resistant to temperature fluctuations so you can keep a more even heat that won’t burn the flour.
Then finally, I want to mention that it is important to incorporate the milk slowly into the roux. This will help it combine evenly without lumps. After adding a splash of milk wisk briskly to combine, once there are no lumps add more milk and continue wisking. Repeat until all the milk has been added. If you add all the milk at once the roux may be lumpy and never fully blend with the milk.
Sawmill Gravy with Sausage
The other key component to sawmill gravy is the required breakfast sausage. I have made it with bacon, but it tastes better with sausage. If I had to offer an explanation why, I would surmise that the better flavor is due to the additional seasonings found in breakfast sausage. Browning the sausage in heavy bottomed pan creates fond, which is the little burnt on brown bits that are stuck on the bottom of the pan. These are essential to flavoring your gravy. After your sausage is cooked and you start your roux with the drippings (similarly to making a brown gravy recipe) these delicious bits of concentrated flavor are going to incorporate themselves into your gravy, bringing with them a ton of flavor. For this reason it is not recommended to make your gravy in a non stick pan.
So now that you understand the key components that are needed to make a great sawmill gravy, let me show you how to make sawmill gravy! You can use these same techniques to make my Cheesy Chorizo Gravy too!
How to make Sawmill Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 lb of breakfast sausage
- ¼ cup fat drippings
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 cups milk
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Cook sausage in cast iron pan until well done.
- Remove from pan and pour off all but ¼ cup of fat.
- Turn off heat to prevent scorching and add the flour to the drippings.
- Cook and stir over medium heat 5 to 10 minutes or until mixture starts to turn golden. (This burns away the raw flour flavor which must be done before liquid is introduced)
- Slowly add milk, stirring constantly.
- Cook gravy until it boils and thickens.
- Sausage may be added back to gravy. Add salt and pepper when gravy is nearing the desired consistency.
Notes
If you enjoyed reading How to Make Sawmill Gravy then you should probably like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest too. That’s what I would do at least, and if you are willing to take my advice on the food you put into your body you should probably follow my advice on that too.
Lisa
I use all the drippings and double all the ingredients (except sausage) and it's the perfect proportions of everything combined. I prefer not using the sausage overpower the gravy.
Nathan Huber
Brilliant and simple recipe creates incredible meal! Huge winner!
lehmansterms
Perhaps it's only a semantic issue as to what you call any kind of gravy, but in my experience, "sawmill" gravy is made with cold black coffee in place of some or all of the other liquids.
In the only "restaurant" (Swope's breakfast & lunch counter) I have ever known to have sawmill gravy on the menu (Delaware, Ohio 1960's) made a sawmill gravy which was basically just pan drippings (or grill scrapings) mixed with cold black coffee and a little sprinkle of flour for thickener, plus lots of salt and pepper, and cooked down until more of a gravy texture than a liquid resulted.
The idea was that folks working in a sawmill - amidst all that whirling sharp steel (particularly in a time before OSHA regs.) - needed to be WIDE AWAKE to retain all their fingers, etc, hence the coffee/caffeine jolt. I suppose this could also be done as a version of the roux recipes here substituting coffee for some or all of the milk.
Kathy Grimes
That is red eye gravy, not sawmill gravy!
Kathy Grimes
I have lived in the South all my life, cooked for years, write a southern food blog and have never heard of sawmill gravy being made with cornmeal. Sounds terrible to me!
Phyllis
I have lived in south too. I am 77 My mother made sawmill gravy with cornmeal
Gerald Tramel
In my family we call this Red Eye gravy..
-S-
Ok, die hard Yankee here, so I was unfamiliar with the term Sawmill gravy. As I researched it, I learned that Sawmill gravy is made with coarsely ground cornmeal rather than flour. This recipe has no cornmeal in it, but is still being referred to as Sawmill gravy, so I’m confused. Is there really a difference, or is it more of a cultural term by which certain areas refer to it?
Bryan W
My grandmother taught me her version of saw Mill gravy and it doesn't have cornmeal either. She was Native American and taught me everything about home cooking. She always started her roux by slightly browning grits(uncooked)in her drippings and this true SAW MILL gravy her recipe she told us was over 200 years old . Then just add your flour and milk slowly while whisking to get your consistency then serve with cat heads biscuits.
SandyJ
Pretty sure grits are gound corn aka cornmeal.
Jason
Gravy made with coffee is called redeye gravy
Gerald Tramel
That's what my family calls too.. ok, now I'm hungry. Guess I'll get up and make breakfast.. 😆
Cherylanne
This recipe is how I make regular milk gravy.. My version of Sawmill gravy is get the flour/fat as dark as possible (almost burned to burnt is perfect for my family) I also add the salt/pepper to the roux. The roux will look almost coarse when it is ready for the milk. The darker the flour gets, the more intense the flavor is. Do NOT stress if your roux looks burned/almost black. The flavor is amazing. I have won every gravy contest I have ever entered. Most people refuse to let the roux get dark enough... many people think it is burned but I am telling you this is the true secret to authentic Sawmill gravy.
Samantha
Simple and Delicious!!
Samantha
Come on y'all. Big waste of time to remove the sausage after cooking. Just sprinkle flour on the cooked sausage untill it looks like sausage crumbles and classroom paste. Then slowly add milk and wisk as it thickens. Easy southern goodness. I've been making this since I was 7.
DarrCity Annie
That is how I make it, too. No lumps in the gravy, and much simpler than removing then returning the sausage to the pan.
Becky
I agree 100% that’s how I make it too no need to remove the sausage from the pan. My daddy taught me how to make sausage gravy. Sawmill gravy is totally different than sausage gravy.. hands down.
Dora Gable
I agree, this is not sawmill gravy. It is SAUSAGE gravy...
Sher
I think you missed the logic of removing the sausage. You need to darken up the roux to get that deep taste & you can't do that w/ meat in the pan. I too make my sausage gravy like you w/o removing the sausage. This is sawmill gravy.
Alan Teague
The floor never gets "toasted" of you add it to the sausage and usually more grease is left that needed. Definitely difference in flavor.
Karen
I think the only reason to take out sausage is to Mae sure flour gets cooked.nothing worse than raw flour taste in gravy. I leave mine in, but I make sure no dry flour on sausage.
Fox Valley Foodie
Yes, you are correct about that. You can leave it in, but if people aren't as careful as you they may end up with that raw flour taste.
Bobby
I like your way. I think this is the way we made it when I wasn’t growing up 50 to 70 years ago. I haven’t made any since 1995. I haven’t really found a Restaurant that makes it really good. Mama Spoiled Us With the way She made it ado Good. Thanks for Your post 😜🤪🤠❤️🦖.
Marta
Can I use all purpose flour for this recipe
sharon
not any different than a regular white Breakfast gravy with sausage, thought maybe a bit different with the name Sawmill
Fox Valley Foodie
That's what sawmill gravy is. Some people call it breakfast gravy. If no sausage is added it is called milk gravy.
Lisa Myrick
Authentic sawmill gravy is made with coarse ground cornmeal and NOT flour. It's simply sausage gravy when made with flour and sausage drippings. The name sawmill comes from when gravy was made for the men who worked in the old sawmills. Sometimes the gravy would be very thick from the whole grain cornmeal and the lumberjacks would accuse the cooks of replacing cornmeal with sawdust. Despite what many people think, sawmill gravy and sausage gravy are NOT the same thing.
Carolyn
Thank you, thank you. I've had arguments with people about what sawmill gravy really is and it is not sausage gravy. If anyone has ever had sawmill gravy, then they would know there is a big difference. I was raised in the south and have had sawmill gravy many times. However, I haven't had it in about 50 years. I love sawmeal gravy. I would make it myself, but I'm not a cook. My husband is the cook in my house and he is the one I argue with the most about sawmill gravy.
Joyce
Do you still use the same amount of cornmeal as flour
Christopher Barnes
So whats it mean after slowly whisking in all the milk and it looks like brown playdough?
Fox Valley Foodie
Hmm, sounds like you may need more milk.
Alice
Wow, tasting this brought back so many memories of my grandma. Thanks so much!