National Biscuits and Gravy Day

Buttery, soft biscuits covered with sausage gravy are native to the South, but can be found almost anywhere in the United States, in all types of restaurants, as a breakfast and brunch food, and are celebrated today with National Biscuits and Gravy Day!

Variations of biscuits and gravy date to the Revolutionary War, when many food staples were scarce, but took shape in its current form in southern Appalachia in the late nineteenth century. Cheap and rich in calories, it became an ideal food for sawmill workers, with the gravy even being called sawmill gravy. Also known as country or white gravy, it was made of affordable supplies like pork sausage, pan drippings, flour, and milk. Today, sausage gravy is still made with the drippings of cooked pork sausage, and often with the pork sausage itself, along with flour and milk (or cream or buttermilk), and is seasoned with a generous amount of black pepper. Bacon, ground beef, or other meat may also be used.

The gravy of nineteenth-century Appalachia also made the biscuits of the time more palatable. These early American biscuits, known as beaten biscuits—because they were made by being beaten and folded—were much sturdier than the biscuits of today. Besides being great sustenance for sawmill workers, these biscuits and gravy were an ideal fuel for those working in Southern plantations, where a big meal at the front end of the day was a necessity. During this time, making beaten biscuits was time-intensive and was the job of domestic servants or slaves.

In 1877, just over a decade after the outlawing of slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment, a biscuit-cutting machine debuted, which "not only saved beaten biscuits from extinction but actually made them smoother, prettier, and more popular than before." Baking powder and soda became commercially available around the same time, ushering in a new, fluffier version of the biscuit. Flour also became more widely available, increasing the availability of biscuits. Once biscuit making became more affordable, what had started in the southern Appalachia area became a food for the working class and poor across the South.

Biscuits and gravy continued to spread because of human migration, and when refrigerated tube biscuits debuted in 1930, it made it even easier to make biscuits at home. Biscuits and gravy are now found in homes and restaurants throughout the United States, and we celebrate and enjoy them today on National Biscuits and Gravy Day!

How to Observe National Biscuits and Gravy Day

• Make homemade biscuits and gravy.
• Make a vegetarian version of biscuits and gravy.
• Check for restaurants with specials, deals, or giveaways in honor of the day.
• Have biscuits and gravy at a regional restaurant that specializes in them, such as The Big Biscuit, Tudor's Biscuit World, Biscuitville, or Biscuit Belly.
• Have biscuits and gravy at a breakfast chain such as Cracker Barrel or Waffle House.
• Have biscuits and gravy at a place known for being one of the best places to get them in the United States.
• While pork gravy is the most common, biscuits and gravy have been served with other types of gravy. You could try making biscuits with Roan Mountain corn gravy, chocolate gravy, oyster gravy, or Charleston's shrimp gravy.

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