5 Easy Steps to a Perfect, Grilled Breakfast Bake
After trying the breakfast bake recipe for the first time on my Saffire, I decided to try making the it using only one pan - completely on the grill. So on a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning, I set out to complete my mission.
Five easy steps is all it takes to bake restaurant quality breakfast in an hour and 15 minutes.
Ingredients
1 pound breakfast sausage (though you could use any meat you'd like)
1 cup frozen potatoes
Can of Pillsbury Grand rolls or whichever premade biscuit or scratch recipe you like best
Sausage Gravy
4 tbs butter
4 tbs flour
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream
Egg Mixture
4 eggs
1/6 cup heavy cream
1/6 cup 2% milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 and 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese or whichever cheese you prefer
1. Meat and Potatoes
Now, I've used mild breakfast sausage for both breakfast bakes, but honestly, I'll switch it up next time and use either ham, country sausage or even bacon.
After flipping my Cooking Grid Elevator upside down and using my pizza stone as a heat deflector, I smoked a pound of sausage on the Saffire at 200 degrees for 30 minutes over Saffire Lump Charcoal. I put in three handfuls of maple chips using my handy dandy Smokin' Chip Feeder and let my Saffire do the rest.
I decided I wanted to try frozen diced potatoes instead of hash browns this time. After 30 minutes on the grill the meat was almost completely cooked. I used a metal spatula to break it in the cast iron pan into small crumbles of pieces and pulled the pan from the grill, drained a lot of the grease and set it aside. Then I took off my grid so I could remove my heat deflector. After replacing the grid, I put the cast iron pan over the open fire, opened the bottom vent full and added the potatoes. Shutting the dome, I opened the top vent full and let the grill climb to 500 degrees.
After a few minutes I opened the dome to mix the sausage and potatoes. They weren't quite brown yet so I closed the dome and let it sit for a few more minutes before taking them off the grill and putting them in a ceramic bowl covered with aluminum foil.
2. Eggsperimentation
My last recipe called for 6 eggs and more milk. I wasn't sure how high my scratch biscuits would rise so I thought I'd use fewer eggs just in case. It turns out that 4 eggs and a 1/3 cup of milk and heavy cream was perfect.
I eyeballed the 1/6 cups of heavy cream and milk and beat the mixture frothy with a hand mixer while the sausage was smoking and set it aside.
3. Saffire Sausage Gravy
After taking the meat and potatoes from the fire and putting them in a bowl, I partially drain the skillet again, leaving about a quarter cup of sausage and potatoes. I add the butter and flour, salt and pepper to the cast iron skillet directly on the grill grate and mix it thoroughly. Then I add my milk and heavy cream and let it thicken and reduce. While it's thickening, I crack some black pepper over it. I take it off before it gets too thick and add it to the meat and potatoes in the ceramic bowl and re-cover with foil.
4. Biscuits
This time I made my own biscuit dough but it's far easier to use canned biscuits cut into eigths or sixths. Slice them up and you're ready to go.
5. Put it all together
Once I added the gravy to the meat and potatoes I lined the bottom of my skillet with small spoonfuls of biscuit dough. I topped the dough with the meat, gravy and potatoes, topped everything with half the shredded cheese, added the egg wash and topped all of that with even more cheese.
I adjusted the vents on my Saffire to bring the temperature to 350 degrees and put the skillet on the main grid without a heat deflector. I baked an extra biscuit on my secondary grid and added some bacon around my skillet. The bacon was finished after 10 minutes or so and made for some decent snacking.
After about 40 minutes, the bake was done and voila! I can't wait to try baked french toast next weekend!