one step forward, one step back

i’ve said it before, and i’ll likely say it again: i like to make biscuits.

i like them so much that sometimes i make them for dinner, and when i do this i often consider and sometimes act upon the idea that i should also make gravy. an interesting thing that i have learned over the years is that i somehow did not end up with a mental model of biscuits and gravy that requires said gravy to be a white gravy with chunks of pork in it, which seems to make me an anomaly. i don’t really care what kind of stuff you put on biscuits as long as it tastes nice, but when i talk with people about the matter (and yes, i do talk with people about the matter), they seem to have a very specific craving.

this has intrigued me for a while because, actually, it’s not just that i don’t think about biscuits and gravy requiring white gravy. it’s that i don’t really think much about white gravy at all. i mean, i know it exists and everything, but… that’s about the extent of my interest: “oh look. people make that. it usually has sausage in it. i don’t eat much sausage. meh.”

recently, though, christy started talking about how her mom nailed a vegetarian biscuits and gravy, and i started thinking about it more. the trouble with vegetarian brown gravy in general is the same trouble with vegetarian broth in general – it’s hard to give it umami. white gravy, on the other hand, has the whole “milk as substance” thing going for it, and the chunks of matter that add flavor of their own. so i had some veggie sausage that i wasn’t eating and i figured i should try to make biscuits and gravy with it.

and i did!

Biscuits and veggie sausage gravy

erik says the picture looks gross, but i beg to differ. or actually, i just think all biscuits and gravy look gross. it’s lumpy dairy matter, folks, whaddya want? ;)

and actually, to move on to the second subject of this post, the lumpy dairy matter in this case has only confirmed a suspicion about which i have lately become more and more convinced – i think i’ve developed a dairy allergy. so these biscuits and gravy were damn good, but i rather quickly lost the stomach to enjoy them fully, so it’s a somewhat dampened, fleeting sense of success. now it seems i will have to move immediately on to Vegan biscuits and gravy to feel that i have captured this particular grail, and that’s harder, even without thinking about the butter problem.

i have an idea for the gravy though, involving ground walnuts and tempeh, so we’ll see how long my resistance holds out.

One Response to “one step forward, one step back”

  1. sharon Says:

    that looks really, really tasty. and i don’t like biscuits & gravy. can i come over just for biscuits?

Leave a Reply