A more true statement has never been made. Everything the Kid said in his post is excellent.
Pay particular attention to the flour taste and why a lengthy cook is best. And the boiling part, too.
GREAT REPLY!
You are making sausage gravy, not thickened milk. You want the essence of the fat and spices to carry into
your gravy, and it it tastes like flour, you have failed, lol. This is why 95% of restaurants fail. Very few hire
actual chefs, they hire cooks. Cooks get it done, they don't create flavor experiences. That's what mama knew.:-)
-------------
OOH, something mama also knows.....NEVER waste anything in burnt roux. Not shrimp, not milk. If you ever burn
a roux, you have to thoroughly clean your pan and start over. And if you did not save your grease, haha, you can't
even do that. Not burning it is especially important on a milk gravy. In a gumbo, you just have oil and flour in a pan.
In a milk gravy, hopefully you have many, many chunks of sausage, bacon, carmelized protiens, etc. They are the
nuggets of joy in your gravy. If you burn that roux, you lose ALL the gratin'. Starting from scratch in that instance
is costly.
[Reply]

Sorry, the boss came by, lol. Like I said, in a gumbo, you start your roux with oil and flour. If you burn it,
you have to start over, BUT you started with an empty pot, no big loss. If you burn your pan of sausage
leftovers, you LOSE ALL OF IT. All the little chunks of salty, greasy goodness. So work slowly on milk gravy.
In a gumbo, if you burn a roux, you haven't yet added anything of value (if you're smart), no shrimp,
no crabmeat, no onions. You can't SAVE a burnt roux. You can't cover it up with seafood, lol.
So keep that in mind, lol.
[Reply]

One day, Brad and I will meet up, and there will be goodness in the form of milk gravy and gumbo roux flying all over the place!!!! Good point about NOT wasting any efforts or ingredients on a burned roux!! I forgot about that one, mainly because it's been too long since I made gumbo! hmmmmmm...... That gives me an idea :-)
[Reply]

Lactose intolerant? If so, I would guess that soy milk might work, though I've never tried it. The fat in the roux should be enough without the fat in the moo juice, I'd think? Just make sure it's not some flavored substitute that will get in the way of the sausage taste.

When I make gravy for my country fried steak-CFS (venison, actually), I use about equal portions of water and milk, so water would also work, though it will be a much less creamy, and a much darker gravy. I think I'd try alternative milk types before I'd go all water. The main reason I use half water in the CFS is because I let the steak simmer in the gravy for 30 minutes or so, and part water gravy doesn't tend to stick as bad as all milk gravy on a longer simmer. On a non-simmer application like sausage gravy, all or half water isn't necessary or desirable (for my tastes).

If not lactose intolerant, is it a problem with access to milk, like on a hike or camping? If so, consider powdered milk. I've successfully made good sausage gravy while camping using powdered milk many times.
[Reply]