Gravy tips -- How do you make gravy?

[GreatGazoo]

For me, I make a roux first. For turkey I like to go a little darker which means more flour in the mix (because the darker the roux the lower the thickening power). I make a roux early in the day or even a day ahead because it really benefits from a little extra time and patience. I cook it until it smells like nuts and has color about like coffee or a paper bag for poultry, darker for beef. I have seen some people put their pre-made roux into an ice cube tray so that they can add it in segments or just have some handy to thicken a pan sauce.

I love stocks that have been chilled and skimmed, getting absolutely all the fat off the top.

Then I combine them, starting with some roux in a sauce pan and adding the stock. I hold back some roux in case the gravy seems thin at the end.

For Thanksgiving I like to use the turkey drippings to make the roux but it can be a total distraction when you have 6 side dishes going and a house full of hungry people waiting. Similarly a "stock" made from the juices in the roasting pan is a real treat but I have had trouble using those fat-separater-pour-from-the-bottom things; they usually hold less than a cup of liquid when you need more like a quart, and they don't get all the fat off the stock. I could make some kind of turkey stock ahead of time but it seems like adding a whole other task to an already overwhelming day of cooking a feast.

What works for you? Any additions -- black/white pepper, an herb, etc?

[Warpy]

1. Back in the good old days when I could eat wheat

I used to keep a little plastic container of buerre manié in the fridge, equal amounts of butter and flour creamed together to make a sort of weird dough. I'd eyeball the pan drippings and scoop out what I needed to thicken them, gravy done, and that's for all gravies, not just turkey. It's one of those Julia Child things that saves a lot of time and trouble on days there are a lot of people to feed and you don't want to dirty any more pots and pans than you absolutely have to. Buerre manié is sort of an instant roux, just cook the gravy for 5 minutes or so to eliminate any raw taste.

These days of nasty wheat allergy and feeding only myself, I just sprinkle rice flour over the pan and whisk it in. Since it has no gluten, it doesn't tend to collect in lumps even if I ignore it for a while. It isn't nice when it toasts, so I have to make sure it's cooked, not burnt, but that's about it. Seasonings were on the meat and have slid into the pan so I don't fuss about those, just pepper and maybe a little salt, very little.

The giblet stock was something I did, made in a small saucepan while the roast beast roasted. That's also where the wine went when I wanted the flavor in the gravy.

The last thing I needed to do when I had a houseful of people is fuss with a roux, my cooking was KISS method all the way so that I could be with guests.

(Keep It Simple, Stupid)

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

9. I make my turkey gravy the way you used to

I take the pan with the drippings, remove all but two tablespoons of the fat, put the pan on the stove, add a cup or two of chicken stock and bring it to the boil, whisking like mad. As it heats, I throw in some beurre manié (French for "kneaded butter&quot to thicken it. Add salt and pepper to taste and voilà (French for "bowed instrument somewhat larger than a violin&quot , turkey gravy. I do the same thing with roasted chicken.

When I roast a chicken, the next day I will take any remaining meat off the bones (but I'm not fanatical about it) and put the bones, skin (lots of flavor in the skin) and any giblets (except for the liver, which is bitter when boiled) into a pot with an onion cut into quarters and a couple of bay leaves (Cooks Illustrated did a test on making stock, and found that the only ones of the standard additives that actually affect the taste are onions and bay leaves), into my 5 liter pot, fill it with water and simmer it for four hours.

After the four hours, I let the broth cool, and strain it into a large bowl. This will give me about 3 quarts of stock. I give the bones and scraps of meat and skin to the dogs, who love it -- I do not give them the onions or bay leaves, because I don't want them to be sick.

[Warpy]

10. Actually, six years of French

taught me that voila means "see, there!" A viola is a violin on 'roids, different spelling and pronunciation.

There is no English equivalent for buerre manié or I'd have used it.

Also, giving cooked poultry bones to dogs is asking for trouble. Cooked poultry bones tend to get brittle and shatter, causing problems all through an animal's digestive system.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

12. First, as a child, I lived in Quebec, so my French is good

Second, my bit about violas was what we Earthlings call "a joke" (or blague in French). Perhaps a feeble one, but a joke notwithstanding.

Third, boiling the bones for four hours ensures that they are no longer brittle.

[Galileo126]

2. What Warpy said ^^^^

KISS it!

When it comes to gravy - that usually means you are making 10 other things as well. Keep it simple, and you'll never piss anyone off. (I'm sorry, but Alton Brown's recipe for gravy has 14 items, not including a 10 item "stock" to start with.)

For my tastes, the only thing I'll add to the drippings and roux is white pepper, and (maybe) a dash Worcestershire. Dat's it.

[Freddie]

3. Do-ahead gravy base

The worst part of thanksgiving dinner is trying to make gravy at the last minute when everything else needs attention too. Found this in the local paper years ago and it really works:
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup butter
3 bouillon cubes
1.5 cup canned chicken broth or stock
5 cups (more or less) juices from your turkey

In saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter and whisk in flour, stirring constantly until light brown. Add buillion cubes and slowly add broth, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Cook on medium 10 min stirring often. Refrigerate in pan, covered, until needed. Can be made a day ahead.
When your turkey is done, ladle off 5-6 cups of pan juices. Set aside until fat rises to top and remove as much as possible with baster. Slowly add juices to gravy base, stirring constantly, until hot and desired thickness. Recipe easily doubled.

[dem in texas]

4. Giblet Gravy

There used to an old cooking rule, that you could tell how long it would take to roast the turkey by timing how long it took to cook the giblets. I think it was 1 hour for the turkey for every 20 minutes for giblets. Giblets are the neck, heart, liver and gizzard (usually found in a bag in the neck skin of the whole turkey).

Anyway, I always simmer the giblets in water with celery and onion and set aside to cook. Then chop up the meat in fine chop. To make the giblet gravy, melt butter, add flour, cook on low until light brown, add stock and turkey drippings, salt and pepper to taste and stir in the giblets. Let cook on low a few minutes.

After 35 years, I have turned the turkey cooking over to my son and granddaughter, who are both excellent cooks. My son always as the giblets cooked and ready for me to make the giblet gravy. Wouldn't be turkey and dressing without the giblet gravy.

[Snobblevitch]

5. The best way to make gravy for Thanksgiving

is it start soon. I buy several turkey thighs a few weeks before Thanksging. I roast them and make a stock. This is the base for the turkey gravy.

[MrMickeysMom]

6. These are all really good tips, you guys...

This year, it'll be my DIL making the turkey for Thanksgiving, but husband and I will return home and I'll end up smoking a 12 lb turkey a few days later.

I find a smoked turkey (probably because of the brine I use first) drippings, added to the roux is the only thing I need for excellent gravy. I agree... save it in fridge and layer the fat off so you get the true drippings.

[grasswire]

7. depends

If my roasting pan has beaucoup brown bits and drippings but not much actual liquid, I have been known to make the gravy right in the pan. Remove the turkey and any aromatics you have put in the pan, use that turkey baster to siphon off most of the fat, make your roux right in the pan with the drippings, add some broth, scraping scraping scraping all the goodness off. Thicken with a slurry of flour/water or thin with more broth according to how it's looking.

I don't always make it that way, though. The above method works best for a turkey that does not have solution pumped into it.

I don't do giblets, and I don't strain the brown bits out.

[SheilaT]

8. Oh, heck. I keep it simple.

I bake the turkey in a nice baking pan and rack. I put some of the stuffing that won't fit in the turkey itself in the bottom of the pan, because I LOVE the burned stuffing that results. I smear a bunch of butter on the turkey, and bake at 350 degrees. When the thermometer in the turkey pops up, it comes out of the oven.

After a while I make a roux in the pan: equal parts butter and flour. Then add as much chicken broth as needed. Oh, I've already scraped as much of the lovely burned dressing as I can, but a lot stays in the pan and definitely adds flavor to the gravy. Salt and pepper, absolutely.

Nothing complicated here. This year I wound up making Thanksgiving dinner because the sister who was planning to fix it wound up in the hospital, heart problems. So I started baking. I'd just checked on the turkey, the thermometer had popped up, I'd taken the turkey out of the oven when I got the phone call from her that she was being set loose. Hallelujah! Everything was wonderful.

Anyway, there's nothing complicated about gravy. Or dressing. Or baking a turkey. People make far too much of a big deal. Heck, fixing a turkey dinner is much easier than people think, and in the years that I had kids at home, I made a turkey dinner five or six times a year, and there were times when my kids came home from school in the middle of the week to a nice turkey dinner.

I love turkey.

[msanthrope]

11. Oh. I generally start with fresh tomatoes, but you mean Brown Gravy. nt