Ingredients:

2 lb pan sausage*
all purpose flour
milk
salt
cayenne


     Pan sausage should be fresh, created by grinding premium grade pork with a coarse grind grate (used to make chili meat from beef). The seasoning should be relatively light without being bland, finding a balanced flavor. There are many seasoning combinations possible, but the red and green pepper variety seem to be the usual. As a last resort, buy some tube sausage, but it's not the same as I make.
     Cook the sausage in a large skillet over high heat, breaking roughly into 1/2" chunks as it cooks, until it looses the red color and turns gray. Avoid browning. (Trichinosis has been cured in America, so sausage no longer has to be browned.) Drain off the fat, then add the flour using a sifter, with the skillet still on the heat. Roll the sausage in the flour so that it clings to the chunks and starts making flour balls. Add flour until it quits accumulating, don't take too long or the skillet will overheat. Then begin adding milk a generous splash (~1/3 cup) at a time. Stir until the milk boils and then add more. At first, it begins making a paste, then it liquefies out with sufficient milk. Add about another cup of milk beyond the liquefy stage, since it will thicken further. This bit by bit adding of the milk and heating it fully keeps the gravy from forming lumps. Salt to taste (~ 1 - 2 tsp.), add a light sprinkling of cayenne, and stir fully to even. Remove from heat when it reaches a full boil.

     Sausage and gravy is a long time southern tradition at the breakfast table. It can be served on eggs, potato, toast, biscuit, grits, pancakes, and more for breakfast. It can also be used for dinner, serving atop asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, bread, corn bread, baked potato, a long list.