Help with gravy

[niccig]

I'm not very good at making gravy. I'm roasting a chicken tomorrow to practice for the turkey on Thursday. Any advice or recipes?

Thanks.
Nicci

[mytwosons]

After the bird has cooked, pull the rack and bird out of the roasting pan. Put pan over element, add some stock and heat. In a small cup, whisk together cornstarch and cold water. I don't measure...small juice cup, 2-3 heaping tbsps of corn starch. Add the slurry to the hot drippings/stock, whisk and bring to a boil. You can add more slurry to make thicker or thin it with stock. Add salt and pepper to taste. IMO, you need a good amount of salt in gravy.

[SnuggleBuggles]

If you brine the turkey, don't season the gravy till you taste. Some bribes produce really salty gravies, some are just right, Somd need help. I delegate gravy but pp's method sounds like what I see my MIL do every year and she makes good gravy. :). Buy a box or 2 of extra gravy, just in case (or for leftovers!).

[dcmom2b3]

Joy of Cooking. I don't eat gravy, but make it for family holiday dinners. JOC recipies and techniques always please my gravy-lovin relatives. Addl tip: if your drippings are fatty, throw a bunch of ice cubes into the pan to congeal the fat, pull fat and unmelted cubes out, proceed as per pp with slurry.

[MamaInMarch]

My way sounds more complicated, but in action I don't think it is. I pour all my pan drippings into a ziploc bag and hold at an angle with corner pointing into a bowl. Use scissors to poke a hole and allow broth to drain then quickly move bag over pot and allow fat to run into pot. (I put pot on burner, bowl right next to pot.)

Heat fat in pot and add some flour to make a roux, cook a couple of minutes and pour in broth, whisking quickly. It will be as thick as it will get when it comes back up to temp and cooks a minute or so.

If you need more roux than your fat will allow, add butter to make up the difference. If you need more broth, I like the Kitchen Basics brand stock.

Here are pics of what I am talking about with the ziploc bag:
http://userealbutter.com/2008/10/20/thirteen-bean-soup-recipe/

Here is a video of making gravy with roux (he actually starts cooking at the 1:09 mark): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQumu_jhzKM&feature=related

[kijip]

If you have trouble with a flour roux, use cornstarch premixed with water. No lumps. I usually make a homemade brown sauce and then use the brown sauce to make a robert sauce with the pan drippings and Dijon mustard. It is more time upfront making the brown sauce but it is bullet proof when it comes time to make the final sauce with the drippings and mustard.

[niccig]

If you have trouble with a flour roux, use cornstarch premixed with water. No lumps. I usually make a homemade brown sauce and then use the brown sauce to make a robert sauce with the pan drippings and Dijon mustard. It is more time upfront making the brown sauce but it is bullet proof when it comes time to make the final sauce with the drippings and mustard.

Katie can you elaborate on the brown sauce and robert sauce.

And yes, I have issues with lumps...I like the cornstarch idea.

[dogmom]

I make my gravy base ahead of time. Here's how a do it.

1 Tbl spoons butter or fat drippings from previous bird
1 Tbl while flour
1/2 c of broth

So I usually do about 6 or 8 x this recipe so, 6 Tbl butter, 1 Tbl flour, 3 c broth.
Melt the butter/fat on low, don't let it brown, whisk in flour 1 Tbl at a time. Just keep whisking until blended with no lumps. Add the WARMED broth (I put it in a saucepan and warm, but no simmer.) Add the broth slowly, about 1/4 at a time, whisking the whole time. After it is all mixed together bring it to a boil for 5 minutes, whisking occasionally. You can make this a couple days ahead of time. I'm planning to make mine today.

Day of: Have you gravy in a saucepan ready to go. Cook you bird, when done take the bird out of roasting pan and let rest for the minimum of 1/2 hour. Pour the liquid in the pan into a glass container, let the fat layer out. Then I put the pan on the stove and deglaze with 1/2 c of red wine, you can use white or broth, scraping the bits. The same time you can put the premade gravy base on the stove and bring to medium heat, right below simmer.

After the fat from the liquid layers out scoop it off and you can put it in a container to save for next gravy batch (it freezes fine). You put your premade gravy base in the saucepan add the roasting juice with the fat skimmed off, the pan scrapings and you can also put it the juice from the resting turkey that will be on platter if you want. If it is thin, simmer it to thicken.

This sounds like a lot of work, but it takes less than 15 minutes of work on the day of and something you can easily hand off to someone else. I also have most of my sides ready the day before.

[kijip]

This is the recipe for long brown sauce. It's from Vol 1 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and Simone Beck.

Brown Sauce
1/3 cup each: finely diced carrots, onions, and celery
3 tablespoons dice boiled ham (or diced lean bacon simmered for 10 minutes in water, rinsed and drained)
6 tablespoons clarified butter
Rendered fresh pork fat or cooking oil
4 tablespoons flour
6 cups boiling fresh brown stock or canned beef bouillon
2 tablespoons tomato paste
A medium herb bouquet: 3 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, and 1/4 teaspoon thyme tied in cheesecloth.

Use a heavy bottomed, 2-quart saucepan. Cook the vegetables and ham or bacon slowly in the butter, fat or oil for 10 minutes.

Blend the flour into the vegetables and stir continually over moderately low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until the flour slowly turns a golden, nut brown. (This is called a Roux)

Remove from the heat. With a wire whip, immediately blend in all the boiling liquid (stock) at once. Beat in the tomato paste. Add the herb bouquet.

Simmer the sauce slowly, partially covered, for 2 hours or more, skimming off fat and scum as necessary. Add more liquid if the sauce thickens too much. You should end up with about 4 cups of sauce, thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.

Taste and correct the seasoning. Strain the sauce, pressing the juice out of the vegetables. Degrease it thoroughly. The sauce is ready to use. You can make several says ahead if you like. It is an ingredient for your final sauce.

Recipe for sauce robert

1/4 cup finely minced yellow onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vegetable oil or fat
1 cup dry white wine or 2/3 cup dry vermouth
2 cups brown sauce (see recipe below)
3 to 4 tablespoons Dijon-type prepared mustard creamed with 2 or 3 tablespoons butter and 1/8 teaspoon sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh minced parsley

Use a heavy bottomed, 6-cup saucepan or your meat cooking pan with its degreased juices. Cook the onions slowly with butter and oil, or fat, for 10 to 15 minutes until they are tender and lightly browned.

Add the wine and boil it down rapidly until it has reduced to 3 to 4 tablespoons.

Add the brown sauce and simmer 10 minutes. Correct seasoning. Remove the sauce from the heat until just before serving, then continue with the recipe.

Beat the mustard mixture into the sauce. Beat in the parsley and serve.

----

I have simplified the final sauce a bit (just mix the drippings with the premade sauce, wine and mustard and maybe some vinegar and a minced onion) and I don't use the exact amounts because I have been making it for a long time but I figured copying the recipe would be more helpful than me just listing off stuff to toss in a pan. It is incredible sauce however and people go crazy over it.

[urquie]

A spring whisk is great, for getting rid of lumps.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=Spring+whisk

[tropicalmom]

So I usually do about 6 or 8 x this recipe so, 6 Tbl butter, 1 Tbl flour, 3 c broth.


Should this be 6 Tbl butter, 6 Tbl Flour, 3 c broth??

[Tondi G]

Here is a really easy solution. You take your pan drippings and put them aside.

Boil up some chicken broth. add these gravy granules to the broth and stir stir stir.... then add your dripping to it! DELICIOUS!

http://www.britishdelights.com/bisto.asp

we prefer the brown gravy granules/powder over the chicken or turkey flavor stuff! My Dad was English and we've been eating Bisto gravy since I was a kid. Our local grocery store seems to carry the powder in small boxes. I found the Granules at Cost Plus world market. Every time a friend or family comes over from the UK they bring us Bisto!

[niccig]

I make my gravy base ahead of time. Here's how a do it.

1 Tbl spoons butter or fat drippings from previous bird
1 Tbl while flour
1/2 c of broth

So I usually do about 6 or 8 x this recipe so, 6 Tbl butter, 1 Tbl flour, 3 c broth.
Melt the butter/fat on low, don't let it brown, whisk in flour 1 Tbl at a time. Just keep whisking until blended with no lumps. Add the WARMED broth (I put it in a saucepan and warm, but no simmer.) Add the broth slowly, about 1/4 at a time, whisking the whole time. After it is all mixed together bring it to a boil for 5 minutes, whisking occasionally. You can make this a couple days ahead of time. I'm planning to make mine today.

Day of: Have you gravy in a saucepan ready to go. Cook you bird, when done take the bird out of roasting pan and let rest for the minimum of 1/2 hour. Pour the liquid in the pan into a glass container, let the fat layer out. Then I put the pan on the stove and deglaze with 1/2 c of red wine, you can use white or broth, scraping the bits. The same time you can put the premade gravy base on the stove and bring to medium heat, right below simmer.

After the fat from the liquid layers out scoop it off and you can put it in a container to save for next gravy batch (it freezes fine). You put your premade gravy base in the saucepan add the roasting juice with the fat skimmed off, the pan scrapings and you can also put it the juice from the resting turkey that will be on platter if you want. If it is thin, simmer it to thicken.

This sounds like a lot of work, but it takes less than 15 minutes of work on the day of and something you can easily hand off to someone else. I also have most of my sides ready the day before.

We have a winner. I did this with roast chicken tonight. It needed some flavor as I did a basic roast. I put in chopped rosemary, dijon mustard and some worcestershire sauce.

It was a little to thin, even after simmering. I may though have made too much gravy base for 1 small bird. (I did 3 Tbs butter, 3 Tbs flour and 1.5 cups of broth)

If it's too thin on Thursday, can I put in a small amt of slurry of cornstarch and water to help thicken it up?

Thanks for posting how you did it. I'm not so afraid now that I've had one successful run through.

[kijip]

Yes, you can add a small amount of cornstarch slurry to thicken day of. Don't overdo it or you get gravy jelly. Just a tiny bit.

[niccig]

Yes, you can add a small amount of cornstarch slurry to thicken day of. Don't overdo it or you get gravy jelly. Just a tiny bit.

Thanks Katie. I missed this as it was moved. Next time if I have more time, I'll try your bullet proof gravy.