American
Buttermilk Biscuits & Gravy
Sky-high flaky biscuits smothered in peppery pork cream gravy.
Recipe by Cyman Huang
Cooked, styled and photographed in his kitchen.
Biscuits and Gravy is the ultimate Southern morning comfort — and one of the most technically instructive dishes in the book.
The biscuit teaches gluten development, the role of cold fat, and lamination. The gravy is a classic roux-based cream sauce enriched with spiced pork sausage.
Watch it come together
Ingredients
For the buttermilk biscuits
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, FROZEN
- 1 cup cold buttermilk
- 2 tbsp melted butter for brushing
For the sausage gravy
- 1 lb bulk pork breakfast sausage (spicy or mild)
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole milk, warmed
- 1 tsp black pepper (and more to taste — gravy needs pepper)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp cayenne
- ¼ tsp dried sage
- Pinch of nutmeg
Method
- 1
MAKE THE BISCUITS: Preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and baking soda. Grate the frozen butter directly into the flour on the large holes of a box grater and toss to coat.
- 2
Add cold buttermilk and stir gently with a fork until just combined into a shaggy dough. Do not overmix.
- 3
Turn out onto a floured surface. Pat into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Fold in thirds like a letter, rotate 90° and pat out again. Repeat twice more — this lamination creates the flaky layers.
- 4
Pat to ¾-inch thick. Cut with a sharp 2½-inch round cutter, pressing straight down with no twisting. Place on a parchment-lined sheet touching each other so they support each other's rise.
- 5
Brush tops with melted butter. Bake 14–16 minutes until tall and golden brown.
- 6
MAKE THE GRAVY: In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the sausage, breaking into crumbles, until deeply browned, 8–10 minutes. Do not drain the fat.
- 7
Sprinkle flour over the sausage. Stir to coat and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add warm milk about ½ cup at a time, stirring smooth after each addition.
- 8
Simmer, stirring, until the gravy heavily coats a spoon, 8–10 minutes. Season aggressively with black pepper, salt, cayenne, sage and nutmeg.
- 9
Split biscuits and ladle hot gravy over the top. More black pepper. Always more black pepper.
Substitutions
- Chef's Tip: The two cardinal sins of biscuit-making are warm butter and overworked dough. Keep everything cold and touch the dough as little as possible.
Cook this next
American
Southern Fried Chicken
Buttermilk-brined, seasoned-flour-dredged, cast-iron-fried — the pinnacle of comfort cooking.
American
Johnnycakes
America's oldest griddle bread — crispy-edged cornmeal cakes with a pre-colonial soul.