Southern Style Biscuits and Gravy

Biscuit Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup all vegetable shortening, butter or lard
• 1 cup buttermilk, or whole milk

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. In mixing bowl, cut the shortening into the self-rising flour with a pastry blender or fork or your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Blend in buttermilk with fork just until the dough comes together. The dough will be sticky.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently by folding the dough 8 to 10 times.
Press into circle that's 1 inch thick.
Cut out biscuits with 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Do not twist the cutter until the dough has been cut all the way through.
Place the biscuits on baking sheet so that they barely touch. Gather up the scrap dough, press it into a circle, working it as little as possible and continue cutting until all dough has been used.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Sausage Gravy Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh sausage
• 3 TBS shortening, or bacon drippings
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Preparation:
In a large heavy skillet, brown the sausage breaking it up with a spatula over medium high heat. Do NOT drain.
Add the shortening, flour, salt and pepper.
Cook stirring constantly until flour begins to brown.
Slowly add milk while continuing to stir.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for one minute sitrring occasionally. As the gravy cools it will thicken so if you want thinner gravy, add a little more milk.
Cut the biscuits in half and pur the gravy over the biscuits.
If you want just a plain milk gravy recipe, form the sausage into patties and brown. Remove them from the skillet to use to make sausage biscuits and continue the recipe the same way.