Gimme Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes...)

[Ed P]

So we spun a 17lb turkey on our dedicated roti kettle using a 2-zone setup and a 13x9 drip pan. The turkey came out great but the drippings were unusable for gravy because the pan on a half-grate was too exposed to the the direct side (for clearance for the spinning turkey) and despite keeping plenty of water in the pan it wasn't enough to prevent scorching. So I bought the Dragon Heat Deflecting Grill Stone, but in searching TVWBB I could not find any reference to this and IMO it has a lot going for it. It ticks a lot of boxes for me. Does anyone have experience with this? Note that it fits under the grate!

BBQ Dragon Heat Deflecting Grill Stone for 22-Inch Kamados & Kettle Grills - BBQD160 : BBQGuys

The Heat-Deflecting Cooking and Smoking Stone by BBQ Dragon will turn your kettle grill into a smoker or convection oven. This heavy-duty ceramic stone easily fits under your grate and protects your food from radiant heat. Slow cook a whole chicken or rib roast without ever having to turn it...

www.bbqguys.com

 

[Matthew Turner]

Not sure on that product. Seems like it might work to keep your drippings from scorching. Salvaging the drippings to make gravy is a noble endeavor, but consider below.

Once I started cooking at least some, if not all, of my Thanksgiving turkey over live coals or fire, I gave up on the whole gravy from the drippings thing. In fact, I think the whole drippings gravy is more romanticized than it is good, even for an oven-roasted bird. I'm probably angering some Thanksgiving purists, but gravy is much better directly from a stock that you can control the seasoning, the salt, and the mouth feel. Even if you're just using the rendered turkey fat for the roux, it is often a salty mess that adds little more to the finished gravy than butter, oil, lard, schmaltz, tallow, or shortening could. Butchers are virtually giving away turkey wings during fall which, given their connective tissue-to-mass ratio, are the best for producing a great stock with great poultry taste and that incredible lip-smacking mouth feel. I usually save and freeze ends of vegetables throughout the year–leeks, onion, carrot, celery, fennel, etc.–to use in stocks when needed but you'll probably have plenty scraps of veg left over from your Thanksgiving prep and you'll be set. Alternatively, you can make the stock or gravy way ahead and freeze or refrigerate until Thanksgiving and don't worry about those dripping one bit.

 

[Ed P]

Not sure on that product. Seems like it might work to keep your drippings from scorching. Salvaging the drippings to make gravy is a noble endeavor, but consider below.

Once I started cooking at least some, if not all, of my Thanksgiving turkey over live coals or fire, I gave up on the whole gravy from the drippings thing. In fact, I think the whole drippings gravy is more romanticized than it is good, even for an oven-roasted bird. I'm probably angering some Thanksgiving purists, but gravy is much better directly from a stock that you can control the seasoning, the salt, and the mouth feel. Even if you're just using the rendered turkey fat for the roux, it is often a salty mess that adds little more to the finished gravy than butter, oil, lard, schmaltz, tallow, or shortening could. Butchers are virtually giving away turkey wings during fall which, given their connective tissue-to-mass ratio, are the best for producing a great stock with great poultry taste and that incredible lip-smacking mouth feel. I usually save and freeze ends of vegetables throughout the year–leeks, onion, carrot, celery, fennel, etc.–to use in stocks when needed but you'll probably have plenty scraps of veg left over from your Thanksgiving prep and you'll be set. Alternatively, you can make the stock or gravy way ahead and freeze or refrigerate until Thanksgiving and don't worry about those dripping one bit.

Now that is a man who knows his gravy right there! I respect your opinion and I thank you for it. I'm going to soldier on, though.

 

[Kevin Henson]

Or you can buy your gravy in a jar like me.

 

[DanHoo]

I've never seen that stone so I have no comment, yet I have a couple of ideas on the gravy.

@Ed Pinn do you have a picture of how the drip pan is setup? If there is a way to layer the drip pans maybe that would keep the drippings from scorching.

My other idea presumes that drippings may not happen and is along the same lines as @Matthew Turner.

Mine is a variation on Sunset magazines' chardonnay gravy. it takes some prep and pre work, but it is a sure-fire way to make sure gravy is going to be awesome -- even if you don't have drippings. This has become my make-ahead gravy base. Fresh drippings will make it even better but not required. Maybe I'll post it in recipes and not hijack this thread any more.

 

[Ed P]

I've never seen that stone so I have no comment, yet I have a couple of ideas on the gravy.

@Ed Pinn do you have a picture of how the drip pan is setup? If there is a way to layer the drip pans maybe that would keep the drippings from scorching.

My other idea presumes that drippings may not happen and is along the same lines as @Matthew Turner.

Mine is a variation on Sunset magazines' chardonnay gravy. it takes some prep and pre work, but it is a sure-fire way to make sure gravy is going to be awesome -- even if you don't have drippings. This has become my make-ahead gravy base. Fresh drippings will make it even better but not required. Maybe I'll post it in recipes and not hijack this thread any more.

It's really a simple 2-zone setup with the old style charcoal rails occupying a little less than half the char grate and foil over the remainder. I have an old Weber hinged grate that I cut out one half of the grate so I could add coals easily...so a half grate supports the pan that sits under the protein as it spins. Like you, I have a BGE and use the Eggsetter with a drip pan but I was somewhat surprised that I coukdn't find any reference to this product on TVWBB. This grill stone sits under the tabs that support the grate so a grate to support the side dishes like baked potatoes or a even just a trivet to support the drp pan could be used to keep the drip pan out of contact.

The gravy aspect is not a must-have, but I want to perfect the technique for those occasions where the wife wants to make gravy from a spun protein. We're not big gravy eaters (I seldom eat mashed taters) but you gotta catch the drippings anyway and if they are edible that's a plus for me.

I'll try to get some pics when the stone arrives.

 

[Chuck-roaniecowpony]

I don't know much about gravy other than eating it. But my wife has been on this mission to produce great gravy for the past 10 years of the holidays. She never liked gravy but always knew it had to be on the table for the big family holidays. We had some not-so-great gravies over the years. She harvested the drippings for all these years and one year (~10 yrs ago) she got a "lesson" in gravy making from her know-it-all sis-in-law. That really pissed her off and she's been on a mission to make a gravy that would shut up her sis-in-law .

This year, she found a recipe that used turkey stock and referred the reader to another recipe on how to make turkey stock, like mentioned by Matt and Dan. She started on this about Monday. I'm not kidding when I say she made it a 3 day project. She filled a 20 qt stock pot nearly full of water, wings, thighs, drums, veggies, etc., and cooked it for nearly 2 days, finally cooking it down over night to half its original volume to richen it, then strained all the turkey and vegetables out. The house smelled incredible. I seemed to always be hungry when this was going on. Anyway, she had her super rich stock, which I stole a qt of to inject into the turkey I spatched.

She made her gravy the old fashioned way of making a rue and browning it, then adding the rich turkey stock until it reached the required consistency. Then she asked me to season it. I added a bit of pepper and a little salt, that's it. By far, it was the best gravy I can recall ever having anywhere (sorry Mom, RIP).

Her stock alone was so rich, you could dip bread in it and it was incredible. I never tried it with a flip-flop, but I'm sure if you like flip-flops, it would be great.

My plan for the next holiday turkey is to use some of this stock as a brush-on au jus to the sliced meat to richen and add moisture to the turkey, because now I need to shut up my wife's sis-in-law after she called my turkey dry this year and went on about how she uses one of those oven bags, feigning to tell her adult kids: "See, this is why your mom uses an oven bag to cook turkey" as the kids rolled their eyes (and I held my tongue). Isn't holidays with the family great?


(I slice and platter all my holiday dinner meats every since seeing this video)

 

[Bob Bailey]

So we spun a 17lb turkey on our dedicated roti kettle using a 2-zone setup and a 13x9 drip pan. The turkey came out great but the drippings were unusable for gravy because the pan on a half-grate was too exposed to the the direct side (for clearance for the spinning turkey) and despite keeping plenty of water in the pan it wasn't enough to prevent scorching. So I bought the Dragon Heat Deflecting Grill Stone, but in searching TVWBB I could not find any reference to this and IMO it has a lot going for it. It ticks a lot of boxes for me. Does anyone have experience with this? Note that it fits under the grate!

BBQ Dragon Heat Deflecting Grill Stone for 22-Inch Kamados & Kettle Grills - BBQD160 : BBQGuys

The Heat-Deflecting Cooking and Smoking Stone by BBQ Dragon will turn your kettle grill into a smoker or convection oven. This heavy-duty ceramic stone easily fits under your grate and protects your food from radiant heat. Slow cook a whole chicken or rib roast without ever having to turn it...

www.bbqguys.com

Boil the neck and giblets and set aside to cool. In a skillet, fry wing tips and excessive skin from around the cavity openings, until browned well. Dice giblets, trim meat from neck and add to skillet, along with stock. Deglaze the pan and simmer for 10 minutes, adding liquid as needed. Remove wing tips and skin, thicken to desired consistency with flour/water or cornstarch/water solution and season to taste. Voila! Turkey gravy.

 

[Ed P]

The grill stone came in today. It fits my dedicated roti kettle with the roti ring in place (my roti ring is sealed with a gasket) and clears the grill grate tabs easily...sits below the tabs about 5/8". It also fits my Genesis 1200 and Silver gas grills so could be used as a pizza stone on top of the grates. It looks like it will lend itself well to indirect 2-zone cooking. I'll try to get a picture this afternoon.

This is the 2-zone setup left over from Turkey Day:


With the grill stone in place (the coat hanger doo-dad holds my temp probe):


With the grate on the tabs, about 5/8" above the stone:


With the spit and drip pan in place:


It's got possibilities and combinations. One thing that will be handy for collecting drippings is that the stone does not have a fixed location and can be leveled or sloped as needed.

With the stone on the Genesis 1200 just to show how it fits (too lazy to swap out the GGs for the pic):