Ben Hunter’s Biscuits and Gravy

Biscuits were one of the first things I learned how to make. It is such a fundamental recipe and I’ve been making biscuits for the past 20 years. It’s so simple—two cups of flour, a stick of butter, one tablespoon of baking powder, a cup of buttermilk, and one teaspoon of salt. And yet you have so much to play with within that. 

The range of styles of biscuits are plenty. I don’t remember where I got my base recipe but it was the first recipe that I made. I’ve made it so many times in so many ways, that I actually can tell why they mess up when they do now. That’s when you’ve made something yours, when you can take the blame and know why. I hope you make as many mistakes as I have and enjoy them all the same. They are just biscuits and gravy. 

Recipes aren’t rules. They are a guide to owning a dish. What I love about biscuits is that there are so many different styles; you can boil them, you can bake them, you can fry them. There are so many variations to make it your own.

For the gravy, I like to use the biscuits scraps as my rue. This creates a beautiful thickener. I use this as the base for whatever gravy I’m making. It’s all about learning the gravy and becoming familiar with it to the point where you understand it in a way that you understand the variables and what they actually do in the composition of the gravy. 

I’ve gone through a journey with biscuits and gravy in my life. It’s all about a thorough intimacy with the food you’re cooking.

Ben’s Biscuits

makes 5 - Ben usually doubles it

2 cups flour ( you should try them all - experiment and find your favorite)

4 oz or 8 tbsp  butter 

1 tbsp baking powder (is also equivalent to 2 teaspoons baking soda and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (so they say))

1 tsp salt

¾-1 cup buttermilk, milk, cream or half and half

The late summer Recipe: beef, Italian pepper, onion Gravy

This recipe is to help you move through both leftover meat and the prolific vegetables we have during the late summer - I change it up a little each time,

1/2# leftover steak, roast beef, or braised short ribs ( Ben loves oxtail and beef cheek)

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic

3 Italian frying peppers

8 cups or ½ gallon milk

Biscuit scraps

Salt and pepper

1 stick or 8 tbsp butter 

Fresh thyme or herb of choice

Clean and cut steak into 1/4 in to 1/2 in pieces and cover with water and simmer, skim surface to keep a clean broth and saute in the butter until softened and lightly browned – say 20-30 percent browning. Season with salt and pepper. Add the leftover scraps from the biscuits and if you need enough flour to make around a loose half cup and add it to the veggies. Stir stir stir, let that flour cook and stick to the bottom and scrape it up, stir it and have it coat all the veggies and then start to add the milk. Add half to a simmer whisk and keep the bottom clean. Once it comes to a simmer it will start to thicken. Now continue to add milk and let it simmer until you’ve reached your desired thickness. Garnish with any fresh vegetables you have on hand.

The Spring Recipe: Shiitake, Green Onion, and Ramp Gravy

There are loads of types of gravy, and most would be amazing with biscuits. This is a mushroom gravy but you could sub sausage for the mushrooms or in addition.

1 pound shiitakes 

1 bunch of green onions

Wild garlic, green garlic or garlic to taste

8 cups or ½ gallon milk

Biscuit scraps

Salt and pepper

1 stick or 8 tbsp butter 

Fresh thyme or herb of choice

Slice the mushrooms,the garlic and the white part of the onions, add sausage and saute in the butter until softened and lightly browned – say 20-30 percent browning. Season with salt and fresh thyme. Add the leftover scraps from the biscuits and if you need enough flour to make around a loose half cup and add it to the browned veggies. Stir stir stir, let that flour cook and stick to the bottom and scrape it up, stir it and have it coat all the veggies and then start to add the milk. Add half to a simmer whisk and keep the bottom clean. Once it comes to a simmer it will start to thicken. Now continue to add milk and let it simmer until you’ve reached your desired thickness. Garnish with the green parts of the onions.

Notes from Ben on seasonality:

Gravy is a great pallet to play with seasons. You have two main ingredients: an allium and something rich and savory that’s cooked in fat and taught to swim in a sauce. In February, I could see overwintered leeks and parsnips making a perfect gravy. Roast the parsnips and saute the leeks and bring them together in the pan. Pork sausage and sage and fresh yellow onions are great. If it’s August try some cherry tomatoes right at the end just so they pop and become part of the gravy.  I think it’s a fun landscape to play two flavors off of each other and to have another one harmonize.