Homemade Country Style Gravy

Want to know how to make simple country style gravy?  Listen up!

Ofcourse the best gravy is made with grease from bacon or sausage... but that comes later.  The basic know how to make country gravy comes first and then when you get the hang of it there will be no need to measure your ingredients anymore and you'll be able to make your gravy from your bacon or sausage grease.

Here's what you will need:

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil (I prefer canola for the saturated fat content)
1 cup self rising flour (bleached or unbleached, doesn't matter)
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste
A wire or teflon coated whisk
Frying Pan

Do these steps BEFORE (very important) you place your pan on the hot stove eye....
First pour oil into pan and then the flour, whisk ingredients together until you get a smooth batter.  If it's lumpy, keep whisking.  If it's very pasty, add a little more oil, careful not to add too much!

NOW you can place your pan on the hot stove eye, I usually make my gravy on medium-high heat and normally already have the stove top on and hot.  Don't put the whisk away yet.  Wait just a second and then add the milk, whisk the ingredients as your pouring the milk in.  The gravy needs to be constantly stirred so the bottom doesn't get scorched and trust me scorched gravy is pretty gross... you have to pour it down the drain and start over.  As you are stirring you will notice your gravy starting to boil, excellent!  Your almost done!  As it boils the gravy thickens.  Now here's the point at which you can make the gravy any way you would like.  If you like thick gravy you can remove it from the stove now.  If you like thinner gravy add a little more milk and keep stirring until you reach your desired consistency.  After it's removed from the stove you can add your salt and pepper to taste.  I rarely season my gravy if I'm using grease from bacon.

Eat up!

Tips on making gravy:

• Always add the milk last to have smooth and creamy gravy
• If your gravy is too thin, you can't fix it... adding flour at the end well, it just won't work
• Remember if it's too thick you can add more milk while cooking
• To reheat leftover in the microwave... use a bowl with a covered lid and add a small amount of milk and stir.  Loosely cover with lid and heat at one minute intervals stirring inbetween