Good Gravy

Chicken gravy.  Photo by Rob Robitaille

I have watched others make lots and lots of gravy over the years, and it always seemed to be a controlled accident.  But really good gravy is no accident.  It is just takes a few things to happen in order for it to be really good gravy.  But let's back up a moment and discuss what gravy really is.  To be honest, I don't think most people understand it very well.  Basically, gravy is made from the pan juices of meat and/or vegetables and sometimes fish.  Probably the most notable application of this, is from the Thanksgiving turkey, although the same principle applies to anything that has been roasted in a pan like chicken or a beef roast.  In this post, it is all about turkey gravy. 

A nice cast iron, or other heavy pan is best because the gravy can be make right in the pan.  However, you can coax gravy from one of those disposable aluminum pans, which I will touch on in a bit.  The first step in making gravy, once the turkey has vacated the pan, of course, is to pour off all the liquid from the pan into a fat separator, or whatever your favorite method is of separating the fat from the stock, because we will need the stock for the rest of the process.  Following that, you need to deglaze the pan.  To do that, you need to add some stock, water, or an appropriate wine to the pan and put it on some heat.  Gently heat the pan while stirring with a flat spoon or whisk.  The goal is to dissolve all the caramelized bits, or fond, from the bottom of the pan and get them into the liquid.  Often times there is some skin stuck to the pan as well.  Not a problem, loosen that up and get it into the liquid, too because it has a lot of flavor.

Now, if you are using one of those flimsy disposable pans, you can do the same thing, but you will not put it on the burner.  Instead, add hot stock to the pan and loosen all the goodness from the bottom.

Next, you can transfer the liquid to a smaller saucepan.  This makes it easier to work with, and as an added bonus, your roasting pan is half way cleaned up. Which brings me back to the disposable roasting pan, because it's been bugging me since I first mentioned it.  I know that lots of people use them because they think they make things easier.  I hate the damn things and I will argue that they do not make things easier because of a few simple reasons: 1)  You now have to dispose of the thing, so you have to fiddle with folding it up and throwing it out, usually making a mess in the process, 2) a regular roasting pan is half way clean by the process of making gravy, so it will only take a few minutes to finish the job, which is small compared to how much time the whole meal takes anyway, and finally, 3)  the flimsy pans seem to always end up with a hole in them from either a knife or meat fork during the turkey removal process, typically resulting in a mess on the stove or counter and a small chicken panic from the cooking crew.  My recommendation is use a regular roasting pan and don't worry that you can't get all the small stains scrubbed out afterwards as long as it is clean.  I have seen people spend fifteen minutes working on one small spot.  It doesn't have to look like it just came from the store.  It's a roasting pan.  No one is going to be admiring its beauty, anyway.  There, I got that off my chest.

Now that all the goodness from the roasting pan is in a smaller pan, you can add the remaining stock.  Depending on how much stock you gleaned from the pan, you may want to add more.  Most people love gravy, and the only thing worse than bad gravy, is running out of good gravy.  This is your time to adjust the seasoning.  Typically all that is needed is salt and white pepper (unless you don't mind the black specs, then by all means, use black pepper).  You can also haul out a secret weapon, if you need to.  See my previous post.

Finally, it is time to thicken the gravy.  There are several ways to do this, but I prefer a corn starch slurry, which is just some corn starch mixed with enough water to make a liquid.  I will be the first to tell you that this is more of an art than a science since it is hard to know exactly how much gravy you have, as well as people like different thickness of gravy, so you will need to play with it a bit.  I usually start with a couple heaping tablespoons of corn starch and take it from there.  So, to thicken it, just add the slurry to the warm, but not boiling gravy.  Then start whisking and turn on some heat.  You will need to be very attentive at this point to avoid any lumps from forming.  Once it comes up to a low boil, you can turn the heat off and let it cool.  Keep in mind that this will continue to thicken once it cools.  If you think it needs to be thicker, you can repeat the process, but I have always found that no one is really too picky as long is it is not thin like water, speaking strictly from an American standpoint.

The only thing left is to serve the gravy, unless you would like to strain it to remove any lumps.  I personally don't bother with that step because I don't mind a few lumps and so forth in my gravy.  As you have seen, I take a bit of a relaxed approach to cooking because sometimes the little steps to make things look perfect can be a pain in the ass, which just takes away from the enjoyment of cooking.  But, if you don't mind doing those things, I encourage you to do them, and have fun in the process.  After all, this kind of cooking is about having fun and sharing.