A Hearty Backpacking Breakfast You Should Try: Fresh Sausage Gravy with Biscuits

I've found, through some anecdotal evidence, that a hearty breakfast is the fastest way to get sleepy friends out of their tents on a brisk morning. Especially when that morning is during the first cold backpacking trip of the season. It's cold, your body aches, and you are so cozy in your sleeping bag - why on earth would you want to get up for some mediocre instant oatmeal and pack up camp? Just fifteen more minutes...

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That is, until you smell the fresh sausage cooking. 

Teaching my brother how to make sausage gravy while backpacking on the Suwannee River (North Florida).

For short trips, or for the first morning on a longer trip, you can have fresh meat on a backpacking trip. We've discussed this before (see Bistec de Palomillo) and the same principle applies. 
You can take meat, uncooked, into the backcountry if you:

1. Are confident that you can keep the meat temperature out of the danger zone
2. Can secure the attractive foodstuffs from wildlife
3. Can sanitize or isolate items (and hands) which contact raw meat

For our short trips (two-day) we will plan to bring meat for the first dinner if it is a long first day and the first breakfast, to encourage people to wake up cheerfully. For fresh biscuits and gravy, we bring store-bought biscuits from the bakery or make our own the day before the trip. We bring one small log of publix lean breakfast sausage (any brand or tube will do) and freeze it solid in the coldest part of our freezer for at least a week to ensure it is absolutely frozen to the core. When you get on the trail, keep the sausage double zip-top bagged in an insulated soft-cooler. In our part of the world, Central Florida, it will still be slightly frozen by breakfast time! 

Note: You do not want the meat to warm up prior to cooking. It should still be slightly frozen when you start to cook it. Or in other words, enough of the meat needs to still be frozen enough to keep the meat's temperature out of the "danger zone". 

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Backpacking Biscuits and Gravy

Feeds six, I recommend trying this prior to getting on the trail and adjust the recipe accordingly to your group so as to avoid bringing too much food.
Ingredients:

• 1 tube of raw, lean, ground breakfast sausage.
  • Pre-freeze for at least a week in the coldest part of your freezer, or purchase commercially frozen breakfast sausage. 
• 1/3 cup flour, all-purpose or unbleached all purpose work fine
• 2/3 cup dry or instant-milk powder
• 16 oz of fresh potable water or treated, filtered water
  
• Pre-made biscuits. You can use your local bakery's southern-style biscuits if available or simply pre-cook some biscuits. Allow to cool fully, wrap lightly in paper towels and seal in a zip-top bag.
  
• salt and black pepper, or other spices, to taste. I recommend at least a heaping teaspoon of black pepper for this type of gravy.

Directions:

1. Using fresh, potable water or treated, filtered water, mix in the instant milk and shake well. We use a nalgene for this. Allow to sit in a cool place until the sausage is done.
2. Brown sausage in a large skillet over campfire or camp stove. If using a camp stove, I recommend whatever setting you would normally use for "medium high", turned down to "medium" after the sausage has warmed through.
3. While the sausage cooks through, you can pre-warm the biscuits by placing them near the campfire, if you have one or if you desire to. We usually just crumble the biscuits up and smother in hot gravy, so we do not go through the effort of prewarming the biscuits. 
   
4. After the sausage is thoroughly cooked (well done, only! Remember? It hasn't been properly refrigerated for some time)  add the flour to the sausage and rendered fat. Stir well. The flour should coat the sausage and start to cook slightly. 
5. Allow the flour coated sausage to cook for a few minutes over medium heat. You're just trying to cook the raw flavor out of the flour, no need for it to brown. 
6. After a couple of minutes, slowly add 2/3 of the reconstituted milk to the pan while stirring well. Having a friend pour the milk while you stir is helpful.
   
7. At this time, you can add the rest of the milk if you like a thinner gravy or allow it to thicken as is for a thicker paste-like gravy. Sometimes, depending on the flour, the humidity, and fat content of the sausage, you may need to add additional potable water to thin the gravy. This is fine and will not alter the flavor much. Add it a 1/4 cup at a time, stirring to incorporate prior to adding more. 
8. When the gravy is the consistency you like, add black pepper and taste. We never add salt, but tend to prefer low-sodium food. Taste it! If you think it needs some salt, go for it. :) Other popular spices to add are garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, etc. 
9. Scoop sausage gravy over the biscuits and enjoy! 

Did you enjoy this recipe? Please consider leaving a comment or sharing the image above on Pinterest or your social media of choice to spread the word. Thank you!

Please note: We are not trained chefs or medical professionals. We are not responsible for any illness or other unfortunate event that may occur if you choose to make this meal on a backpacking, or other camping, trip. We have made this meal several times with no ill effect and are sharing our recipe to enrich others' experiences. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. My blog post, comments, and responses are never intended as medical advice.