Sawmill Gravy

Sawmill gravy came out of logging camps and the story goes that the cornmeal in it looked like sawdust, hence the name. It is thinner than a modern sausage gravy and there is a faint grain to it from the cornmeal, which is the whole point rather than a fault. Made properly it is peppery enough to make you sit up.

Ingredients

Makes about 800ml, enough for six plates

• 250g (9oz) pork sausage meat skinned plain pork sausages are the closest British match
• 2 tbsp bacon dripping only if the sausage runs lean
• 25g (1oz) plain flour
• 25g (1oz) coarse cornmeal polenta works, use the coarse sort rather than instant
• 800ml (1⅖ pints) whole milk warmed
• 1½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper this is not a typo
• ¼ tsp ground white pepper
• salt to taste

Kit

• Heavy frying pan
• Wooden spoon
• Balloon whisk

Method

1. Put the sausage meat in a cold heavy frying pan, set it over a medium heat and break it up as it warms. Fry for eight minutes until well browned with plenty of rendered fat, then check you have about three tablespoons of fat in the pan and top up with dripping if not.

2. Mix the flour and cornmeal together in a cup first. They absorb liquid at different rates and combining them dry stops the cornmeal sitting in clumps.

3. Scatter the mixture over the meat and stir it through the fat. Cook for two to three minutes over a medium heat. The cornmeal will smell toasty and the whole thing will look like coarse wet sand.

4. Pour in about 200ml of the warm milk and stir hard. It will thicken sharply. Work out any clumps against the base of the pan with the back of the spoon.

5. Add the rest of the milk in two goes, whisking. It will look far too thin at this stage compared to a modern sausage gravy, which is exactly right, because cornmeal keeps swelling as it cooks.

6. Bring to a bare simmer and cook for eight to ten minutes, stirring every minute or so. The cornmeal needs this time to soften properly, and it will thicken the gravy noticeably in the last three minutes.

7. Add both peppers and taste for salt. Sawmill gravy is meant to be aggressively peppery, so if it tastes polite you have not put enough in. Serve loose and hot over split scones or fried potatoes.

Tips worth knowing

• Do not use instant or fine polenta. The coarse grind is what gives sawmill gravy its slight texture, and the fine sort just turns it pasty.
• Cornmeal thickens slowly and then all at once. Judge the consistency at the eight minute mark rather than at two minutes, or you will add milk you do not need.
• Keep it thinner than a modern sausage gravy. It is supposed to run across a plate, not sit on it in a mound.
• Grind the black pepper coarse. Fine pepper disappears into the milk and gives you heat without the flecks and the bite that define this gravy.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days in the fridge and sets very firm because of the cornmeal. Reheat with a generous splash of milk over a low heat, stirring until it loosens. Freezing makes the cornmeal grainy, so it is best avoided.

Questions people ask