Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Modern Wild Man ~ Pronghorn Sausage Gravy on Biscuits



~Pronghorn Sausage Gravy and Biscuits~

Antelope Recipe that is SO SO Good! 


A heaping plate of biscuit and gravy goodness!

Antelope Hunting is an Awesome Experience!

The American Pronghorn Antelope is an amazing big game animal of the west.  These tough as nails survivors of the Western Plains are surprisingly easy to kill, but notoriously hard to hunt.  I thoroughly love hunting pronghorn, hunts for these truly American animals generally take place during early fall when the weather is fantastic, pronghorn are plentiful in many states, and they are first-rate table fare.

Lewis and Clark wrote of the American Pronghorn Antelope: " Of all the animals we have seen the Antelope seems to possess the most wonderful fleetness. Shy and timorous they generally repose only on the ridges, which command a view of all the approaches of an enemy ... When they first see the hunters they run with great velocity." Pronghorn are found only in North America and epitomize the vast spirit and temperament of the West.

Serve Up a Great Antelope Recipe

At the Modern Wild Man house, few things are as high ranking and treasured than a weekend brunch. A warm plate of Pronghorn sausage gravy covering homemade biscuits might as well be the picture of "Comfort Food". A cheerful meal in any season, try this simple recipe for your family and add it to the brunch tradition at your home.





A great non-typical pronghorn under a Western sky!


Modern Wild Man Pronghorn Sausage Gravy and Biscuits


Ingredients~

Sausage Gravy Ingredients:

1 pound antelope sausage (I prefer a sage sausage seasoning)

1/2 C All Purpose Flour

4 1/2 C Whole Milk

3 T butter

Salt and Pepper to Taste


Blissful Buttermilk Biscuit Ingredients:

2 C Unbleached Flour + 1/2 C + or - for dusting

1/4 t Baking Powder

1 t Salt

6 T Very Cold Butter

1 C Buttermilk



Sausage Gravy Recipe:


Pronghorn sausage ready to brown in a skillet.

In a heavy black iron skillet over medium heat melt 1T of butter and add in the 1 pound of Pronghorn sausage.  Cook the sausage until just browned, be careful not to overcook it.  Once the ground meat is browned through use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan, and transfer it into a bowl for later.

Next, add in the remaining 2T of butter to the skillet with the browned sausage drippings.  Heat the butter till it is just bubbling, being careful not to burn it.  Slowly begin to shake in the 1/2 C flour into the hot butter and stir with a wooden spoon.  Take your time adding the flour to the butter to avoid lumps.  As the flour browns into a rue it will take on a light brown, getting darker as you continue to cook it.  I like my rue to be a golden brown, about the color of a oak tree acorn and with a beautiful fragrance.  Be careful when browning the flour so that you don't scorch or burn it.

Once your rue is to your liking for color and browning, turn the heat down to low or medium / low and begin to slowly whisk in the milk.  Take your time and mix the milk in slowly so the milk doesn't scorch and you don't get lumpy gravy.  Pour in the milk reserving 1/2 C.  Once the gravy thickens, use the last 1/2 C to adjust the thickness to your liking.

Finally, add back in the browned pronghorn sausage to the warm gravy and heat everything back up over low heat.  Continue to stir being careful not to let the bottom of the pan burn.  In short order you will have a bubbling pan of gravy goodness.



Warm sausage gravy just waiting for a biscuit.


Blissful Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe:


A couple of secrets to perfect biscuits are keeping the butter cold, and handling the dough as little as possible.  I like to put the butter in the freezer about 20 minutes before I'm ready to make biscuits, and I like to use a heavy glass or ceramic bowl from the fridge to mix in.

Combine all the dry ingredients into a large chilled bowl.  Cut the chilled butter into smaller chunks and cut into the dry ingredients using a pastry or biscuit cutter until it resembles coarse meal.

Pour in the chilled buttermilk mixing it in as little as possible but thoroughly combine.  If the dough seems a bit dry, add in a little more buttermilk.  The dough should be sticky, not dry and not runny.

Turn the ball of dough out onto a floured board or countertop.  Pat the ball out flat, do not roll with a rolling pin.  Once you have the dough patted out to about 1/2" fold it onto itself three or four times.  Finally pat the dough down to about 1" thick.  Use a knife to cut square biscuits or a biscuit cutter or overturned glass to cut out round biscuits.

Place the biscuits onto a very lightly floured cookie sheet, touching one another for soft sided biscuits or an inch apart on the sheet for crusty sided biscuits.  Bake them in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven.  Be careful not to overbake.

Once you have this process figured out you will be whipping up Blissful Buttermilk Biscuits in minutes for an amazing weekend brunch!



A pan of biscuits just out of the oven.

A Perfect Hunt to Start With

Pronghorn Antelope hunting in the west is a ton of fun!  If anyone asks me what is the best way to get started hunting in western states, the answer is always the same - put in for an antelope tag.  Most of the west has ample public access and healthy populations of pronghorn.  

I hope you are able to get out sometime an put your tag on a western pronghorn and serve up a sausage gravy and biscuit brunch for your family!



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