Homemade gravy


 

Steve Petrone

TVWBB Diamond Member
Any suggestions for gravy?

All I do is melt 2-3 T of butter, add 2 T flour,
light roux, add meat broth. S&P.... any thoughts? Tonight I added chipotle and a squeeze of lemon.
 
Of course it depends on what you're making gravy for but thoughts based on your turkey cook tonight:

Sauté some minced shallots till soft in your butter before adding the flour. Thyme leaves (fresh if possible, dried if not) work very well with shallots. So does wine--a fruity Chardonnay is good with turkey--add a few tablespoons or 1/4 cup just after the shallots start sizzling, reduce it to 1 or 1 1/2 tablespoons, then add the flour for your roux.

I like the chipotle and lemon idea (both would work with the above, btw). Another pepper that works well with lemon is Aleppo; has a nice kick and it's very fruity. Works good with chipotle too--bring out the fruit in it, imo.

Too bring out fruit notes in the smoke or rub a little fruit juice in place of or mixed with the wine can be very nice. E.g., a splash of peach juice, maybe a tablespoon or two, alone or with a little wine, could be reduced as mentioned above. The flavors will concentrate as will the sweetness but the spicing and lemon will cut that nicely. A minced parsley finish, off heat, would be welcome.

For more depth an alternative is brandy in place of wine. Have a shot ready in a glass. When the shallots (if using) are just sizzling, and if you have a gas stove, dump the shot in quickly and tilt the pan away from you (still on the burner), pulling it toward you a little so that the gas ignites the alcohol, swirl the pan (now flat on the burner) til the brandy reduces to practically nothing; add the juice now, if desired, and reduce it. Continue on. (A lemon addition, even just a few drops, would be good here too.) Aleppo would work well here, chipotle less so, I'd cut that back a bit.

If I'm looking for more natural juices than I got or think I'll get I'll make more, so to speak, when my meat or bird is resting. If you have a whole turkey or a wing-on breast, you can trim off the wing tips or take one or both wings and simmer them in a little chicken stock while the bird rests. Add this mix to what you collect naturally (not the other way around) a little at a time, tasting frequently. You don't want to lose the natural flavors. You can do a similar thing with pork rib trimmings (best if some bone is involved) that you smoke and pull early.

Heavy cream can smooth flavors. You don't need much (unless you want a creamy sauce), just a little, even one tablespoon or less, will blend flavors well. (Sometimes I'm looking for that, sometimes I want more distinctive tastes.) Put it in your sauce last but before salt and pepper. Heavy cream can take heat without breaking unlike light cream and half-and-half which break in some instances. If you use cream, add it after the meat juices and allow both to reduce a bit to concentrate flavors; the cream will take on a slight nutty taste. Off heat, add the lemon, if using, a few drops at a time until you hit it, and the salt and pepper. When I use cream in a sauce I prefer white pepper.

Other herbs that can work here (in small amounts, I'm assuming you're looking for something to support the meat, not take a starring role) are sage, marjoram, and savory. If you can get fresh, you can sauté a sage leaf, and/or a half a sprig of marjoram, crushing slightly, for example, in the butter at the beginning just briefly, and then remove it/them before continuing.

Other spices that can work here, again, in very small amounts: celery seed, coriander, mahlab (sour cherry pit--very tasty).

If I have a good amount of juice (either natural or made) I often skip the roux entirely upping the shallots (or onion sometimes), adding my pinch(es) of spices and reducing my wine or brandy and/or juice. I'll add a little Dijon, then add my meat juices and reduce them till very flavorful and to the point that I know, if puréed it will be thickened by the shallots. I'll purée this, return it to the pot bring to a simmer and add a little heavy (maybe) and final salt/pepper/lemon adjustments.

Just a few thoughts.
 
Wow, Kevin has some awesome sounding gravy ideas.

There are also alternative thickeners to flour as well.

I'm still experimenting with gravy. I've tried cornstarch, flour and something called sperse (sp?).

For a single ingrediant thickener I prefer flour, cornstarch is my least favourite. But I want to try using a combination of sperse and flour, or perhaps a flour and cornstarch combination.
 
I generally use flour, cornstarch, arrowroot, the solids in the gravy/sauce puréed, or nothing at all (a straight reduction perhaps followed by a few pats of cold butter whisked in one at a time, off heat, to emulsify and thicken the sauce).

Flour can be mixed well with an equal amount of softened unsalted butter (called beurre manié) and stashed in the fridge. This is handy to use if your gravy is done but not quite thick enough and reducing it would intensify it too much. Add a glob of beurre manié to the simmering sauce, whisking till incorporated and cooked enough to get rid of a flour-y taste. Beurre manié can be used in place of making a roux, though if I'm going to use flour as a thickener I usually make a roux. If a flour-thickened sauce cooks too long (especially over high heat) the flour will lose some of its thickening power and the sauce will thin again.

Cornstarch is good for sauces/gravies (especially ones that contain dairy products). Because it's a purer form of starch than flour, its thickening power is greater, about double that of flour. It should be dissolved completely in cold water first, then whisked in to the sauce. The sauce then needs to come to a boil so the cornstarch will lose its white color and not taste starch-y. Don't let it boil more than 2 or 3 minutes and don't whisk it vigorously, whisk gently. If cooked too long or over-whisked it will thin again. Cornstarch also loses its thickening potency when used with acids. In a gravy like Steve's above, he'd want to thicken it first then add the lemon juice, off heat, after. Cornstarch imparts a bit of a glossy sheen which may or may not be desired. It's good in custards as it helps keep eggs from curdling.

Arrowroot is more powerful than cornstarch. It's good for Asian stir-fry sauces, meat glazes, dessert and cooked vegetable sauces, etc. It becomes very clear when used, glossy, but because it reaches its greatest thickening ability at lower temps than flour or cornstarch and is so shiny it's not good for gravy. It will start thickening at a lower temp but as the temp rises it will lose its white color and become clear. Sauces/glazes thickened with arrowroot do not freeze well.

Nut flours and plain breadcrumbs can work very well depending on what you're shooting for.

I particularly like using just enough bulky ingredients (shallots, onions, fruit, other vegs) so that I can purée everything together and not use a starch thickener at all. This works well with Q sauces where I might have tomatoes, onions, pineapple etc., in the mix. My last smoked turkey sauce was one of cherries, onion, shallot, and mustard (with wine, natural juices and thyme). I puréed a bit more than half of it giving me a thicker sauce but leaving some larger cherry pieces for color and visual appeal (they looked cool on the sliced turkey breast). But if adding bulky ingredients would alter your sauce unacceptably, or would add or confuse the flavor you're shooting for, a starch thickener is required.
 

 

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