SewingSew

Several years ago I had Thanksgiving dinner with my daughter and her fiance's family. I was in charge of making gravy and someone else made the stuffing. My gravy had no flavor that day because the other person's stuffing lacked the ingredients I put in my stuffing normally. It also occurred to me why the gravy I had as a child tasted different than what I make as an adult. I was raised in the south and we always had cornbread dressing baked in the oven. As an adult, I stuff my turkey which helps flavor my gravy. To make my stuffing, I saute' onions and celery in butter, then add that to bread crumbs along with chicken broth and seasonings. I use poultry seasoning or Bell' s seasoning. While my turkey cooks, I simmer the neck and giblets (minus the liver because it's bitter). The meat from the neck goes in my gravy and the dog gets the giblets. Once I put the turkey on a platter, I pour the liquid from the roasting pan into a bowl and I separate the fat. I want at least 8 cups of liquid. If I don't have enough, I add turkey or chicken broth. I believe the ratio of fat to broth is 1 Tablespoon fat to 1 cup broth. Did I mention this is not health food? I turn on the front and back burners on my stovetop to medium high and put my roasting pan on them. I put the turkey fat in the pan and gradually add flour while whisking. I use anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour. If I didn't have enough turkey fat, I would compensate with butter. So, for anyone who doesn't know, flour and fat are used to make a roux, a roux is used to make soups, sauces and fondue. A roux is browned in the pan. The length of time spent browning is at least 3 minutes but usually longer. A roux for white sauce will be slightly browned (blonde). A dark sauce will be closer to the color of molasses and takes the longest. Also, you should have basted your turkey every 30 minutes to an hour and added more water to the roasting pan as needed. Your turkey should be sitting on a rack as it cooks. The goal is to maintain 2 cups of liquid in the bottom of your pan at all times. Anything more will steam your bird, which you don't want. As I add water to the pan, I try to stir up the fond in the bottom of the pan. The "fond" is the brown stuff in the bottom of the pan that cooks off the juices and drippings from your turkey. It adds color and flavor to your broth. The next step when making gravy is to add the turkey broth to your roux, stirring/whisking constantly until it is the desired consistency. When the gravy starts to boil, reduce the heat until it gently boils ever so slightly. When you add the broth, also add the meat from the neck, the water it cooked in and salt ,pepper and parsley. Remember that gravy will thicken somewhat as it cools. I hope this will help someone who is new to the process of making gravy.