Classic Southern Sausage Gravy

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Allow it to preheat for 2 minutes. Add the sausage to the pan, using a wooden spoon to break it up into small pieces, as you would ground beef for tacos or spaghetti sauce. Once the sausage is broken up, spread it out into an even layer and let it fry, tossing and stirring every few minutes until no more pink is visible.
Make sure the browned sausage is spread back out into an even layer and reduce the heat to medium. Lightly sprinkle about a third of the flour over the top of the sausage, then use the wooden spoon to stir the flour into the sausage. The grease in the pan will begin to congeal with the flour, and it should only take a minute or so of stirring for there to be no more dry bits of flour in the pan. Once this happens, go ahead and add about half of the remaining flour to the pan and stir that in. Once that has been worked in sprinkle in the last bit of flour. This time after there are no more dry bits of flour, keep stirring and cooking the flour and sausage together for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the milk to the pan one cup at a time, switching to a whisk if that’s easier for you. Make sure the milk is completely incorporated before adding the next cup. When you’ve added the first four cups of milk you’ll need to make a decision.
Let it simmer for one minute, give it a stir and consider the consistency. The gravy will thicken as it sits and even more as it cools. If you want the gravy to appear in the bowl as it does in the pan at this point, go ahead and add the remaining half cup. If you’d like a thicker gravy that more ‘plops’ than ‘pours’ you can put that half cup of milk back in the fridge.
After you’ve made your decision, give the sausage gravy a taste. Add half of the black pepper and all the seasoned salt too if you’re using it. Stir them in well, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the gravy for 3 minutes or so.
Turn off the heat, stir in the remaining black pepper, and serve immediately. Dassit!