Black pepper sauce is a thick, creamy sauce that can be thickened more for use as a gravy or thinned as desired. At first it seems like a basic white sauce with pepper added, but the creaminess and zest sets it apart. The thicker version is used in homestyle cooking in the American South over classic Southern dishes while the thinner version can be poured over steaks and pork.
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2 pan drippings, butter, or lard , sausage, bacon, or steak drippings can be used
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2 flour
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2 cups (1 pint) whole milk or cream
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¼ cups water
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½ pepper , to taste
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1 whisk
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- Serves:
- 1
- Preparation Time:
- 1 minutes
- Cooking Time:
- 7 minutes
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Step 1: Cook Meat
This step is not required to make this black pepper sauce, but if you want to incorporate pan drippings in your recipe and serve your sauce over meat, you will want to broil or fry your meat first.
Step 2: Add Flour to Drippings
In a medium pot or large skillet over medium heat, using a whisk, add two tablespoons of flour to two tablespoons of pan drippings, butter, or lard. Whisk well, removing lumps. No one likes lumpy sauces. A fork can be used if you do not have a whisk readily available.
Step 3: Brown Base
Cook base until bubbly over medium heat, stirring constantly. You may not want your sauce to be very brown, so use your own judgment with the cooking time. I suggest one minute for this step, but you may want to adjust the time depending on the color you want your sauce to be.
 | While a deep brown sauce can be pleasing to the eye, if you cook your flour and drippings for too long, it will burn! Two minutes is plenty of time for this step; any longer and you'll end up with burnt gravy. If you absolutely must have a darker sauce, reduce heat to medium low and cook until desired, watching and stirring constantly. |
Step 4: Add Other Ingredients
Slowly add milk or cream, water, and pepper, stirring constantly with your whisk or fork. Cook for about a minute over medium heat, still stirring constantly with a whisk or fork. Depending on how thick you want your black pepper sauce, you may add more or less water, or forgo water completely if you want a rich, thick gravy.
Step 5: Remove From Heat
Remove your black pepper sauce from heat to cool and thicken for about five minutes.
Step 6: Serve
Serve immediately over steak, noodles, biscuits, or other dish.
This sauce is very versatile and is used in many dishes in the American South: over biscuits with crumbled sausage, over fried steak, chicken, or pork, and with chipped beef served over toast. Some cultures use oyster sauce in the recipe.The thinner version, when served over broiled steak with mushrooms or green peppers, is popular the world over.
Soon you'll see just how versatile this is.
