Biscuits and Gravy
Fluffy, buttery Southern-style biscuits smothered in a thick, creamy white country gravy studded with crumbled pork sausage — the quintessential hearty Southern and Appalachian breakfast that has spread throughout the American South and West.
foodDetail.ingredients
foodDetail.mainIngredients
- all-purpose flour biscuits
- butter
- buttermilk
- pork breakfast sausage
- flour
- whole milk
- black pepper
- salt
foodDetail.whereToEat
Loveless Cafe, Nashville
Cracker Barrel (chain, throughout the South)
Biscuit Love, Nashville
Pine State Biscuits, Portland, Oregon
Any Southern diner
foodDetail.priceRange
foodDetail.restaurant
$8-14
foodDetail.tips
- Real Southern biscuits are made with soft wheat flour (White Lily brand) and have a lighter, more tender crumb than Northern biscuits
- The gravy should be white (cream-based) with visible crumbled sausage — not to be confused with brown gravy
- Biscuits and gravy is a legitimate full breakfast — one plate is typically sufficient for the average appetite
foodDetail.culturalNotes
Biscuits and gravy emerged from the Appalachian Mountains and Deep South in the 18th-19th centuries as a way to feed large families cheaply — pork was cheap, flour was cheap, and the combination was caloric enough to sustain a day of farm labor. Frontier American food culture adopted it enthusiastically, which is why biscuits and gravy became particularly popular in the Pacific Northwest and West, brought by settlers on the Oregon Trail. The dish remains a morning staple throughout the South and West, served at every diner and truck stop from Georgia to Washington State.