Thanksgiving Recipes Part III: Making Perfect Gravy

Ok. Here it is, guys. The piece du resistance. The stuff that really makes your mouth water at Thanksgiving. The liquid gold you want to bathe in. The stuff you’d sell your kids for. Wait, what?

I give you the ultimate killer gravy.

Believe it or not, gravy is super simple to make and mighty tasty on its own, but especially delicious on potatoes, stuffing, turkey and anything else you want to smother.

All you need are the pan juices from that purdy golden bird you so perfectly roasted, some flour, some stock, a little pepper, and some lemon juice and green onions if you’re feeling fancy. Let’s pretend there’s a photo of the ingredients here, shall we?

So remember from this post what you do after you take the turkey out of the oven? That’s right! You let it rest! While said bird is resting, you take the roasting pan with the pan juices and put it on the stove and heat it up with some flour. {Now, all of these increments I’m going to give you are what worked for me. Every turkey will give off different amounts of juices. Also, some people like runny gravy, some like it thick. I tried to land mine somewhere in the middle so you could adjust it easily to how you like it. I’m giving you the method and you and run with it and make it your own.}

Why do we add in the flour over top of the pan juices? This is a great way to prevent lumps. If you sprinkle flour over top of a bunch of hot liquid, you’ll get lumps.

Lumps = no bueno.

This brings me to my next point- if your bird happened to give off a lot of liquid, pour a bunch of it off so you’re left with about 1/4-1/2 cup {which won’t seem like a lot since you’re cooking in the roasting pan.} PS- have you seen those handy dandy fat separator cups? That would be a great tool to use. PPS- if there seems to be big chunks of random you don’t know what in the bottom of the roasting pan take those out. The best way to explain this is like a chunky film that forms that can be removed in one sheet. You’ll know it when you see it. Let’s just leave it at that. I don’t want to scar you for life.

So, once you whisk in the flour into the pan juices, slowly pour in the pan juices/chicken stock, a little at a time. Whisk away to keep those lumps from forming. You want the temperature pretty high so the gravy starts to thicken. Add in the amount of chicken stock that will get you the consistency of gravy you like. If you like it runny, add a little more. If you like it thick, keep some out.

That’s basically it. You can add in a little pepper, lemon juice and green onions for some zing and freshness, or choose to leave them out. Do what you like!

Pour it into a gravy boat, and you are ready for a feast!

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Recipes Part I: Sausage Cornbread Stuffing and Calphalon Giveaway
Thanksgiving Recipes Part II: Cooking the Perfect Turkey and Butterball Giveaway