There’s nothing quite as satisfying as hot, buttery biscuits topped with creamy, sausage gravy to start the morning. It’s one of those old-fashioned comfort foods that leaves you satisfied and ready to tackle the day. Sure, it’s a not something a health-conscious person would want to eat all the time, and it does take time to prepare, but for a special treat, it’s hard to beat. That’s why biscuits and gravy is one of the favorite breakfasts served at Museum Hill Bed and Breakfast in St. Joseph. Chef and owner John Courter makes the buttermilk biscuits from scratch and has developed a recipe for gravy that’s rich and flavorful. And the best part? He agreed to show us how.

Let’s start with the gravy. (See full recipes below.)

“What it all comes down to, in a nutshell, is sausage and gravy is traditionally just a white sauce with sausage in it and people don’t think to season it,” Mr. Courter says. “The seasoning and how you add the milk is the secret.”

You can use any kind of ground sausage. For this batch, he used Farmland Pork and Bacon. But he’s even used Italian sausage for a more zesty gravy. For the skillet, he likes to use a large stainless steel pan with high sides. Don’t preheat it, just put a little oil in the bottom to keep the sausage from sticking. The oil also becomes part of the roux for the gravy. After the sausage cooks about 10 minutes, Mr. Courter adds one of his secret ingredients: chopped onions.

“It takes the blandness out of the white sauce and adds a nice flavor.”

As the onions cook, they shrink and become transparent and blend in with the gravy, just leaving the flavor. Soak the onions in cold water if they start to make your eyes tear, he says. After the sausage and onions cook down, it’s time to make the roux. This is what thickens the gravy and is another secret to good flavor. Mr. Courter adds flour, garlic powder and Canadian steak seasoning. Then he cooks the mixture slowly, about three to five minutes, until it’s nice and brown.

The next step is adding the liquid. He uses whole milk, but you can use other types to make a lighter gravy.

“To make it exemplary, use fresh goat or cow’s milk from a farm,” he says.

He starts by adding only two cups of milk because you don’t want it to be runny, he says. If the mixture gets too thick, you can always add more milk. It’s important to keep the heat low and stir frequently. When you start to see it bubble, it’s done. It will take two to three minutes.

Mr. Courter has preheated the oven and has all the biscuit ingredients measured out and ready to go. He puts the dry ingredients together in a bowl and cuts in a stick of butter with a fork. “Knead it until the mixture looks crumbly like a coffee cake mix,” he says. Then he adds a cup of buttermilk to the dry mixture and stirs it until it becomes a dough-like ball.

“Take your hands and knead it together like bread,” he says. “It should feel fluffy as you knead it together.” It takes about five minutes. Then he puts a little flour on the counter and flattens the dough out to about a 1/2-inch thickness. He doesn’t use a rolling pin because the dough is easy to flatten out with his hands.

After letting it sit for a couple of minutes, he dips a biscuit cutter into flour and cuts out the biscuits. He says when all you have left is some leftover pieces, just knead them together and cut some more biscuits. Next, Mr. Courter puts the biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet and brushes them with melted butter using a pastry brush. They are ready to bake.

For a big country breakfast, Mr. Courter will serve the biscuits and gravy with some fluffy scrambled eggs. Then to give the plate that extra pizazz, he garnishes it with a twisted orange slice and a maraschino cherry. Add cups of hot coffee, some homemade jam and you’re ready for a feast.

Lifestyles reporter Sylvia Anderson may be reached at sylviaanderson@npgco.com

Biscuits

3 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda in a large bowl until blended. Cut in shortening, mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms. Place on a lightly floured work surface. Knead dough until smooth. Roll out or flatten dough to one-half inch thickness. Using a biscuit or 2-inch floured cookie cutter, cut into circle. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Brush with butter. Bake 15 minutes or until gold brown. Brush with remaining butter after baking. Makes approximately 20 biscuits.

­— John Courter,

Museum Hill Bed and Breakfast

Sausage gravy

3 tablespoons salad oil

2 pounds pork sausage (chubs)

2 small white onions, finely diced

1/3 cup flour

1 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoons Canadian Steak Seasoning

2 cups whole milk

In a large stainless steel skillet, add oil and sausage using medium heat. Stir sausage occasionally as it browns for even cooking. When sausage is half done, add onions. Cook and continue to stir until sausage is done and a little brown. Add flour, garlic powder and steak seasoning and mix in with sausage. Cook for two minutes while stirring. Lower heat and add milk, continually stirring. Gravy will begin to thicken as it simmers on low heat. When gravy starts to bubble, turn off heat. Note: If gravy appears a little thick, add a little more milk while continuing to stir. Enjoy over warm homemade buttermilk style biscuits.

—-John Courter,

Museum Hill Bed and Breakfast