Please don't threaten to take my country boy card, I know how to make the real thing.

But, for a quickie, some of the instants aren't half bad. I've had 2 brands of the packet stuff, I prefer one, & naturally, wife prefers the other. I usually add a spoon of sausage grease, that helps. A buddy buys it in a can, I haven't tried any of those.

If........ you've tried any of these & will admit it, do you have a favorite?

We lean toward the packaged gravy mixes.

I'm sure I'll go to hell for this but.......Pioneer brand package gravy on Pillsbury biscuits purchased at Walmart.

We have used McCormick on occasion.

Seems fine.

I buy a white peppered bag mix from time to time. Can't think of the brand, Good stuff.

I like the Pioneer black pepper gravy, then I'll add sausage to it. I found their sausage flavor gravy way too salty for my taste. Homemade biscuits only, the Alton Brown recipe.

We keep a couple cans of the Campbells Turkey gravy in the cupboard for emergencies.

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+1

1/2 pound of Jimmy Dean.........hold the maple.

I admit to using the packets time to time. Quick, easy and fills a void. I also keep a couple bags of Jimmy Dean sausage crumbles in the freezer to add to it or scrambled eggs. Some days quick and easy takes precedence.

I was going to bust on bought gravy.
Wouldn't have it in my house, tried some at father in law's, sucks.

That said, i can eat some sausage gravy in a resturant, have had some that
was good. Most likely, bought, not made there.

+1

Often add Jimmy Dean sausage to the mix or some of my pork/elk breakfast sausage mix.

Also admit to using Pillsbury biscuits, but sometimes homemade using pork lard.

Pioneer brand packaged gravy mix. Serve this with biscuits made with either Pioneer brand biscuit mix or true scratch biscuits. Add crumbled cooked pan sausage of your choice to the gravy, good eats! Add a serving of grits, excellent eats!

For cream (sausage) gravy I don't see the point. Instant might save you 30 seconds. Don't have a country boy card, Dad was a mess Sgt. in WWII and taught me how to make SOS.

The packaged crap is crap. Sausage gravy is simple and quick. There is no excuse for not making it from scratch.

Im with you on this.

What is as good as homemade was not the question, because nothing is.

But what is the best other crap, if you've had it ? If you haven't ??

Homemade as fast as instant ?? No wonder some call it SOS.

So you add flour to make a roux, maybe a minute, season, and you're where you would be at with the packet stuff. Except you're controlling proportion and seasoning. Or if making a roux is too big a bother use Wondra as you would an instant and season. Somebody even made a recipe though I think a proper roux tastes better.

For something different try using a couple ounces of coffee as part of the liquid. Coffee is a good seasoning.

Our 7 y/o grand daughter makes a mean sausage gravy and the biscuits - from scratch. If she can do it at that age grownups ought to be able to as well. I have never used packaged or canned versions, too easy to do the real thing. YMMV

This is just sad. Make the real thing. Our cooks at work use pioneer mix . They should be fired for it.

How many of you gravy snobs eat at fast food restaurants?

Be honest.

Hell....I bet they grind their own flour.


Mill their own grits even.....raise their own pigs and milk their own cows even.....

I must say that I am pleasantly amazed that there has been so much gentleness and kindness displayed in most of the responses. I am completely at a loss that it has not been stated with due fervor that even if such sacrilege is perpetrated, it must still be committed in a cast iron skillet.

Well, thats just a given.

I only use imported Grits......RRconductor sends me a care package from MO every now and then.

You bastid!

Rebel bastid, that's me!

I burn everything I cook in stainless or aluminum now.

I usually just make homemade, although I have used a packet once or twice. The other day I saw some canned in the store and tried it. Was not very good. So a few days later, I see a can of Campbell's in the store and bought one. Too chicken to try it due the bad experience with the last can.

This is what my mother made for me when I wanted a hot breakfast before school.

Instead of sausage gravy, it was EGG gravy. This is a batch I made for myself a while back,
Poured over the top of 3-4 slices of broken up toast. Properly seasoned with fresh cracked
black pepper.

ive used the walmart brand canned sausage gravy at deer camp, it's ok

I made an Egg Gravy/Creamed Eggs post recently.

My mom served it on toast too but now that I'm growed up and rich I use biscuits.

Never heard of such a thing.

Big James, I love your honesty.

Oh it's definitely a thing.


And BTW......for those that don't believe that I'm all growed up and rich

Here's proof that I only cook my organically produced Biscuits and Gravy on Vintage Cast Iron.

That's some good eating right there, cast iron or not.

I ain’t gonna turn my nose up to a package mix, but homemade is pretty quick and simple. And I enjoy making it.

Can’t say for sure I’ve had canned?

Made chicken fried steak over the weekend and some bacon gravy to go on top. T’was fabulous.

I make homemade gravy and I make homemade biscuits, but sometimes quick is good enough. Especially if your camp cooking.
And in that case I do use cast iron.

Quick is what mystifies me. Brown your sausage which you have to do anyway. Add enough flour to soak up the grease, give it a couple stirs to brown it. Add milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder, a very little hot pepper flakes. Bring to a boil while stirring and eat. How much quicker can instant be?

I can make the Pioneer package mix in 2-1/2 minutes, Haven't made a batch from scratch anywhere near that fast ever.
Boil 1-1/2 cups water in microwave, mix package with 1/2 cup cool water, combine, enjoy.
No one said it was as good as scratch, but it is surprisingly good for package gravy.

Yep.....Like you said "nobody's saying it's better than home brewed cause it ain't" but sometimes I have better things to do or just don't have the gumption so it's an easy alternative.


PS......the skillet and griddle are made by lodge and hardly vintage which the purists also turn their noses up at.

Yup quicker, might take me 4 or 5 minutes once the meat is browned. Can't say the extra few minutes ever worried me. Not to say I'm against the stuff, my cousin uses some brand that he gets cheap and it's not bad if you add pepper.

I have been offered package gravy, tried it, and realized it was crap. The powder kind is literally no faster than scratch. The canned stuff is inedible.

the reason i use the canned or package is, i precook my bacon, sausage, ham, biscuits, and potatoes at home for several days of breakfasts at the farm during deer season, keeps the smell of the clothes and gives my a little more sleep time

Thats a good reason!

That's actually a pretty good idea.

Otherwise, I've never made it any other way, but from scratch.

What Dad used to do sometimes is brown the meat, add flour and seasoning, let it toast and freeze half of that for another day.

So from a cast iron roasted tri-tip last night...



To the left over all beef fat and seasonings pan gravy this morning. I think leaving the drippings and seasoning in the skillet all night in the cold oven did something magical.