The Thanksgiving Gravy Review

Thanksgiving is coming -- and everybody knows the gravy can make or break that meal. If you're like me -- you make gravy two or three times a year. So this is a GOOD TIME TO REVIEW...

Last September, when I had about 4 regular readers of this blog, I posted my mother-in-law's Gravy tips. (Helen's secrets are in red.)

This GRAVY technique works for chicken, beef or pork roasts...

• Roast your meat then remove it from the pan to "rest".


• Pour drippings into THIS MAGICAL INVENTION. It's amazing. The fat will all rise, and you can pour the tasty drippings back into the pan. You want ALL the drippings -- but only 2-4 TBL of the fat.


• On the top of the stove, reheat the drippings in the roasting pan to brown them -- and get up all the tasty bits, (add water or broth now for a bigger batch of gravy).


• Vigorously shake up 1/2 c. flour with 1 cup of water. (I use an old pickle jar -- you do NOT WANT LUMPS)


• Stirring constantly (with a whisk) -- slowly add the flour slurry to the pan drippings until you reach the desired consistency. (you may not use it all -- or you might have to make more. Be flexible...) Flour gravy needs to cook for 5 minutes or so to come together...(tip: if the drippings are already boiling when you add the slurry -- you could still get lumps. Make sure it's NOT YET boiling. Add water or broth to cool it down if necessary...)
  


• If the color is not pleasing -- add THIS MAGICAL INVENTION. Just a few drops adds a rich brown color. Helen always used it for turkey gravy (nobody likes gray turkey gravy).

GOOD LUCK! Like most good cooking, making an exceptional gravy is more about technique than recipe. Believe me -- being known as the woman who makes the "best" gravy is a very good thing....

And you can make a MUCH BIGGER BATCH of flavorful gravy if you use chicken stock instead of water. You can never have too much gravy for Thanksgiving!!

Eileen Roche writes:

I make my gravy ALMOST the same way you do. The exception is making the slurry. I make my slurry with cornstarch not flour, mix well – no lumps. Then, take a clean tablespoon and add 2 tablespoons of HOT drippings into the slurry. Mix well. Add the now warm slurry to the pan drippings. No lumps – geesh – I want to say guaranteed but it being Thanksgiving and all, I won’t make that promise. But to my memory, it is a flawless. Give it a try Rita. And it works with cornstarch or flour.

Thanks for making my day enjoyable!

HEY -- good idea! Why didn't I think of that!! THANKS for reading my blog, Eileen...