A Brief History of Biscuits and Gravy

Here in the South, biscuits and gravy is a popular choice by anyone craving a hearty home-cooked breakfast. Just imagine flaky, buttery goodness topped with rich, sausage stuffed whole-milk gravy. This is exactly how we present biscuits and gravy to you here, at Elvira’s Cafe! 

Today, biscuits and gravy are celebrated by millions across the country. This indulgent dish can be found in many diners, cafes, food trucks, upscale restaurants and even grocery stores. What makes Elvira’s biscuits and gravy unique is the preparation process and carefully thought out ingredients.

First, we take premium quality local Swaggerty's Farm sausage and fry it in the pan with spices and flour to make the roux. We then add whole milk to make the gravy more flavorful and rich.

You may think biscuits and gravy have always been around, but have you ever thought about their origins and history? Here’s the scoop!

According to many food writers and culinary historians, biscuits and gravy originated right here in the Southern Appalachia in the late 1800s. During the lumber industry era, biscuits with “sawmill gravy” were considered a cheap and high-calorie fuel for workers who had to lift and carry lumber all day long. 

Called “beaten biscuits”, the original biscuits were very tough. They got their sturdy texture from vigorous beating and folding - often a task for the enslaved workers and home servants who would spend hours at a time beating on the dough.

Once involuntary servitude was abolished via The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution of 1865 and with the boom of the industrial revolution, a mechanical machine was invented that “not only saved beaten biscuits from extinction but actually made them smoother, prettier and more popular than before”, according to the culinary historian, Egerton. In the following years, with the invention of baking soda and increased availability of flour, biscuits became a refined work of art for many Southern cooks.

After the American Revolutionary war, many people relied on the cheap and readily available ingredients to make their daily meals. Back then, the simplest of dishes were emphasized the most. Since milk, flour, salt and pepper could be found anywhere, biscuits and gravy became a simple go-to dish for many Americans.

Years later, the dish made it as far as the Pacific Northwest. “As a staple of the poor, biscuits and gravy would never have appeared on fancy restaurant or hotel menus in Portland’s past,” Arndt Anderson wrote in an article for PDX Monthly. “By the early 1980s, though, seemingly out of nowhere, spots around town began casually advertising the B&G, as though it had always held the same breakfast menu real estate as bacon and eggs.”

Today, we are happy to serve our signature biscuits and gravy right here at Elvira’s Cafe. Our customers love our famous Tennessee Haystack: open biscuit stacked with delicious smoked bacon, topped with sausage gravy to deliver all of the wonderful flavors of the South straight to your table. You, too, should give it a try!