Chorizo sausage gravy is a change of pace from the usual. Doesn't that just look yummy?
I make my sausage gravy with Jimmy Dean bulk sausage - the kind that comes in the chubby roll. It's the best bulk sausage in the South, in my little ole humble Southern opinion. That pretty orangish-red color in that picture up there is a result of the Mexican chorizo I used this time. You won't have that color with the regular Jimmy Dean sausage.
Today, however, I had some Mexican chorizo sausages in the freezer, so thought I would use those instead. Now I really love my Jimmy Dean, but I gotta say, with some hot from the oven biscuits, whether homemade, from a mix, or even from the freezer (yes! biscuits freeze wonderfully!), this shore 'nuf was delicious!
Now, before we start ... Mexican chorizo sausage is a raw sausage that is stuffed in casings. Spanish chorizo and Portugese chorizo are cured sausages - more like the smoked sausages we are all familiar with. So if you want to try this version with the chorizo, be sure to look for the Mexican variety.
So let's get started!
First, you want to remove the casings from the sausage. I shoulda took a pic of that, but I didn't. I know... I know... I need to do better at gathering the Cast of Characters at the beginning for a photo shoot, but honestly, sometimes I don't know I'm gonna do a tutorial when I first start out with cookin' somethin', but I promise I'll start trying to do better with that on down the line when I do a tutorial.
What I do is just run a knife along the backside of the sausage and peel the casing away so that you just have the bulk sausage left like this.
Now while I'm browning that sausage instead of trying to break the meat up with a spoon which I find to be inefficient and way too clumsy, I like to use this nifty little old fashioned potato masher because it makes an easy job of crumbling up the meat.
See what a terrific job it does? (By the way this works great when you need to mash up tomatoes in a skillet or pot too ... but I digress...)
Now, remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and set it aside. Add either bacon fat or canola oil to the pan drippings so that you have 1/2 cup of fat in the pan. What you are doing is making a blond roux. Heat the oil to medium and start working in the flour. 
Stir the flour into the oil, scraping up the sausage bits in the bottom of the skillet. Cook this, stirring continuously, until the flour is well incorporated into the oil. Cook and stir for 5 minutes to cook the flour.
Slowly incorporate the milk and let it come to a boil. Start with about 2 cups and add more later as needed to get the consistency you prefer.
Add freshly ground pepper.
Return the sausage to the pan and stir together. Taste and add salt if needed. When you use the bulk pork sausage, you will retain the blond color of the gravy. 
Since I used the Mexican chorizo sausage, it created the same lovely red tint to the gravy.Serve over split homemade buttermilk, sour cream, or canned biscuits.
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Chorizo Sausage Gravy
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
1 pound of chorizo Italian sausage
1/2 cup of butter or bacon fat
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
3 to 5 cups of milk
Freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste
Brown the sausage in a pan, breaking up and crumbling. Follow this tip to make the job much easier!
Once the meat is fully browned, scoop it out with a slotted spoon, reserving any drippings. Now you are going to make a blond roux. Add the butter or bacon fat to the skillet and bring the pan up to medium heat. Slowly whisk in the flour, stirring constantly until smooth, cooking at least 5 minutes in order to cook the flour.
Slowly begin whisking in the first twp cups of milk until fully incorporated and mixture begins to bubble. This will provide a fairly thick gravy. Continue whisking in additional milk a little bit at a time, until the gravy reaches the desired consistency.
Grind some pepper directly into the gravy, salt to taste, return the sausage to the pan and stir to mix. Serve over hot, split biscuits.
Source: http://deepsouthdish.com
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