Grandma'S Country Breakfast Gravy - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup sausage drippings (maybe more) or 3/4 cup bacon grease, MELTED (maybe more)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (maybe more)
3 (12 ounce) cans Carnation Evaporated Milk (Cream)
1 cup water (or none, see below)
3 cups whole milk, divided (if using 2% milk omit the 1 cup water above)
1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon pepper (to taste)

Preparation

Pour the Evaporated Milk, water and 2 cups of the whole milk into a large bowl; set aside.
Heat meat drippings/grease until hot, but not smoking. Slowly stir in the flour a small amount at at time until thoroughly incorporated and no lumps remain - (use a large, long-handled stainless steel cooking SPOON to stir the mixture with). Cook over medium-heat for a few minutes, stirring as needed to keep from burning on bottom. The texture should be a medium-thin paste in thickness; add a bit more flour, or melted grease, if needed, until proper thickness is attained. Cook and stir a few minutes until the rue begins to turn a LIGHT tan color.
Pour the cream mixture into the rue, and, using a large WHISK, quickly stir until all the ingredients are blended and no lumps remain. Stir in the salt and pepper.
Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often with the stainless steel SPOON, until desired thickness is reached. You may need to add the remaining 1 cup of whole milk it it gets too thick. (Rembember, the gravy will continue to thicken a slight bit as it cools.) Remove from heat; place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the gravy surface to keep a skin from forming if not serving immediately.
Note: You may stir in some breakfast sausage, (I use Jimmy Dean Original), that has been cooked and crumbled if desired. Just add this at the very end right before you remove the pan from the heat.