After a long night of eating, drinking and enjoying good company around the fire, you’ll need something to take the edge off your headache the next morning – biscuits and gravy to the rescue! Make sure to pack a box grater for the butter and a biscuit cutter for the biscuits. serves | 6 to 8 |
BISCUItS 5 cups all-purpose flour, more for flouring surface 2 Tbsp baking powder 1 Tbsp salt 2 sticks frozen butter ½ cup cream 1½ cups buttermilk Gravy 1 ½ 1 to 2 1
lb breakfast sausage cup flour cups milk Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
| preparation - biscuits | Prepare a campfire, and set up cast-iron tripod with chain attachment. Heat a cast-iron skillet. (If making biscuits in a convection oven, preheat to 350°F.) In a large bowl, sift all dry ingredients together. Using a box grater, grate butter into flour. Add cream and buttermilk, and gently combine using a fork. Once dough has come together in a loose, shaggy mass, turn it onto a floured work surface. Gently pat it down into a rectangle shape, and fold as if folding a letter. repeat 3 times, but do not knead. Pat dough out again to about a 2-inch thickness, and cut into squares. If you prefer rounds, make sure biscuit cutter has a fine edge. Transfer biscuits to hot cast-iron skillet, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Keep warm.
| preparation - gravy | Prepare a campfire, and set up tripod with chain attachment. Heat a cast-iron skillet over prepared campfire. Crumble sausage, and cook in hot skillet until some fat has rendered out and sausage is getting crispy in spots. Dust with flour, and stir with a wooden spoon to soak up grease. You want grease to be absorbed by flour, so if grease remains, add just a bit more flour as necessary. (Don’t go overboard, though, or gravy will be too thick.) Once all grease is soaked up, continue stirring coated sausage to cook out raw-flour flavor, 1 to 2 minutes. Add milk, 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly. (Gravy will quickly seize up, so constant stirring is key.) Add more milk until desired consistency is reached. season with pepper, and serve over biscuits with hot coffee.
Visit feastmagazine.com for more camping recipes by chef John Perkins, including angel biscuit cinnamon rolls.