Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/23/2004 | Where gravy comes from: It’s not a vat: “The truth is that roasting a turkey is a pretty straightforward exercise. Lots of people without advanced culinary skills pull it off every year. Making gravy, however, which everyone craves and which some consider the most delectable element of these great familial meals, can be intimidating.
“Lumpy. Pasty. Too thin. Too thick. Too salty. Too bland. Who wants any of those verdicts proclaimed at the table? (For that matter, who wants to eat that kind of gravy?)
“One thing that ratchets up the angst is the fact that gravy is one of the last tasks to be done before dinner is served, just as the kitchen is getting more hectic and too many people are chiming in with inane questions, wacko demands, and multiple choruses of ‘Well, my mother always… ’ (If you’ve missed this stage of the chaos, rent Diary of a Mad Housewife.) No wonder some people get the willies over making gravy.
“So here’s a how-to, derived from the quite intense need at this time of year to sustain certain sensory elements of my rearing and based on determined experience to get it right. And, when it is right, it is inutterably right.
“Are you salivating? Let me show you how to succeed.
“There are two essential matters for cream gravy to be a success: The turkey must give up ample cooking juices, and the gravy must not be prepared in the roasting pan. Browning the flour in the roasting pan will produce a tasty gravy, but cream gravy, I’ve come to realize, is more like a richly flavored bechamel, which of course starts with butter and flour in a saucepan.”
Bull crap.
Boy, some people are so unimaginative.
In the last year I’ve turned gravy in to an art form slash love.
Heat up yer bits from the turkey leavenings, add a minced shallot or two (brightens up things). Sautee until the shallot has released some yummers. Add yer flour and get that browning. Don’t add so much it becomes a stiff paste. Then add your broth to a somewhat liquidy state.
STRAIN THE ‘GRAVY’ IN TO A SAUCE PAN REMOVING THE BITS !!!!
This leaves you a wonderful smooth liquid.
Reduce a bit and either add a lump of butter or my favorite 2 TB of Creme fraiche.
Soft creamy EASY turkey gravy. Sheesh.
Strain it, add creme fraiche. Done diddly done.
Biggles / http://www.meathenge.com/
Hey Biggles. Good to hear from you.
Actually… I don’t do it that way, either.
Once I get the bird out of the roaster to the board to rest, I take all the liquids left in the roaster and pour them into my grease separator and let it sit for a bit. Assuming any “bits” that may remain are not *too* discusting, I leave them in — I pick them out of the separator because they’ll plug up the spout later.
I put the roaster on the stove top and turn the burner to medium. I take a gravy dipper and put a good several tablespoons back into it. Then I sprinkle in about a quarter cup of flour over the bottom and make a roux. I let it brown up a bit while I scrape it around the roaster. Then I add some sherry — maybe a quarter to a half cup — and whisk it until it is smooth. Finally, I take the now separated bird juices and pour them back into the roaster and whisk them in, as well — sans fat.
A little kosher salt and a few twists of black pepper to finish it off and then I’m ready to eat.
That is disgusting, not discusting…
and…
I take a gravy dipper and put a good several tablespoons **of the separated grease** back into it.
Well sure, I was just making a point about that author’s comment about not getting creamy gravy without doing a bechemel sauce and NOT using the tasty bits. That made me mad.
Yeah, there are so many wonderful ways of making pan sauce and/or gravy. The sherry is nice, balsamic vinegar sometimes works for beefs. In those cases minced fresh rosemary does the trick.
I don’t separate the fat from the leavenings, unless it’s hamburger fat. I want MAX gravy. The turkey fat or pork fat really gives the sauces a luxurious texture. And if there isn’t enough fat, it does happen sometimes, I’ll add a dollup of home-rendered lard. You bet. However, if I do add the lard OR butter, I won’t add the creme fraiche. That there would be too darned much, don’t you think.
Do try the creme fraiche next time though, with any pan sauce or gravy. It’ll be so good you’ll want to put your face in it.
Biggles / http://www.meathenge.com/
I see. Actually, I usually do not equate “creamy” with “dairy products,” though I see what you mean about the bechamel comment. I don’t know about the creme fraiche, either. I’ll give it a try, but it isn’t normally an item in my pantry.
I would have liked to use all of the drippings as well, but Gretchen has this “thing” about too much fat. She gives me the evil eye just using what I do.
Funny you should mention balsamic vinegar for beef. We had a dry-aged rib roast for Christmas dinner and I made a balsamic reduction to go with it. It was pretty tasty.
OooooOOOooo, please go get the creme fraiche. Just once and put a dollup or two in to one of your gravys. Just once, do it do it do it do it.
I’ve made creme fraiche before, but the process eludes me at the moment. It isn’t tough, at all.
Do it, now.
Biggles
All right already. I’ll try some creme fraiche. I have no experience in the area, so tell me, “Do any of these seem like a good place to start?”
+ Real Good Food | Creme Fraiche+ How to Make Homemade Creme Fraiche Recipe+ Cooking.com – Ingredients Glossary: Creme Fraiche+ Creme Fraiche – joyofbaking.com
Ungh, I read through all of those and I feel all woozy. Yum.
They all sound great, just pick one. I think sitting out for 12 hours in a warm place should reall do it, 36 sounds a bit much. I have an old stove with pilot lights all through the damned thing so I was easy for me. Oh yeah baby.
Biggles