Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make gorgeous gravy:
Turkey broth (recipe of sorts, included. Keep reading)
Wondra flour (yes, buy this)
White pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Remember I promised you I would tell you what to do with the giblet
pouch?
Now is the time. In that drippy bag, you are going to find a big old
turkey neck, the heart, gizzard and liver. The heart, gizzard and liver
are great treats for the dog, but unless giblet gravy is your heart’s
desire (sorry, couldn’t help myself), in my opinion, they have no place
in
a gravy boat.
First off, get your turkey neck, a half a carrot, celery stalk and a
half
an onion, quartered. Throw them all together into a medium sized
saucepan
and fill about three quarters of the way up with cold water. Put the
pan
on a medium high heat, bring to a boil, then lower the temp and allow
to
simmer for about an hour or so. Throw a lid on the top and turn it down
even lower and allow it to cook for another hour. Strain broth from
solids
(toss the solids) and set aside for later gravy making. If it is hours
away from that event, refrigerate the broth.
Instructions
Hitting the Gravy Train
Okay, the turkey has been removed from the pan and is resting
comfortably.
Skim the big greasy globs of fat from the roasting pan and place in a
medium sized saucepan (there should be about three tablespoons or so of
fat, depending on the size of your bird). Next, take an equal amount of
Wondra flour and add to that turkey grease (I know this sounds yucky,
but
you have to trust me). The heat should be about medium high and you
need
to whisk away to your heart’s content until the roux (pronounced ROO)
is
golden and thick, and naturally lump-less. This roux procedure will
take
you all of five minutes-very easy, you can’t mess this up. Set your
beauteous roux aside.
Now back to the roasting pan. Add a cup of your reserved turkey neck
stock
to the roasting pan and turn up the heat (you will probably need two
burners for the job) and bring it to a boil. Using your wire whisk,
scrape
up all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Those browned bits
contain concentrated turkey flavor that will make your turkey gravy
absolutely to die for. Don’t skip this step. Now add all the golden
roux
in the saucepan you just made and whisk like your life depended on it.
In
just moments, a beautiful, velvety bronzed gravy should be emerging and
filling you with the joy of accomplishment.
I am an admitted snob when it comes to gravy making, but even cookbook
authors have their limitations when it comes to making enough turkey
gravy. Truth be told, a turkey doesn’t make as much gravy as necessary
for
the gravy hounds undoubtedly sitting at your very holiday table. You
know
the types-they use three ladles of gravy on their potatoes alone before
even tackling the turkey on their plates. It is because of them that I
came up with this trick. Actually, I take that back. My sister did this
and I was shocked at how good it was. I didn’t know she had done this
at
the time or I probably would have thrown myself prostrate on the stove
begging her not to ruin the gravy. Here’s what she did: she added a
package of dry turkey gravy mix (and the accompanying water) to her
already made gravy. No one was the wiser-including me! I was amazed at
how
much gravy she had and too, was thrilled that I (an admitted gravy
snob,
plus a hound myself) was able to amply ladle gravy without being
scolded
about “saving some for the next guy”. She told me about the sneaky
gravy
extension trick after I had polished off Round One of The Meal and
noticed
there was still gravy left. I nearly needed smelling salts when she
told
me what she had done. I tried this trick at home and it is simply
fabulous. This kind of mix stuff I will do on special occasions.
Understand please: this is something to do in case of emergency and not
enough gravy certainly merits an emergency
In a deep pan which has a
tight lid pour 1/3 cup soy sauce. Push down as many
fresh greens (turnips, spinach, lambs quarters,
etc) in the pan. Mix up a small batch of cornmeal
batter as you normally make it for cornbread. Pour
this over the uncooked greens. Cover the pan
tightly with lid. Cook for five minutes on high
heat and then turn down to low heat. Do not remove
lid for fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes,
remove lid. Check to see if cornbread is cooked
through. If not quite, cover and cook a little more
while watching it. If you are not a vegetarian you
can fry two or slices of bacon in the bottom of the
pan instead of the soy sauce.
