So I posted a little bit inaccurately in the how to cook a turkey thread, but it was close enough. I am going to do the gravy one right. I have never made gravy and had it not be Entirely consumed in one way or another (you know it is good when someone cleans out the dish with some bread)
To start, you should not put water in the pan with your turkey. Rather use turkey stock, or chicken stock if you can’t find turkey.
You should also quarter a large sweet onion and place it in the pan around the turkey, it will add depth to the drippings.
After cooking, remove the turkey, and let it rest covered while you start the gravy; if you check the plate the turkey is on after a min or two you will find a lot of great drippings.
You can transfer all of the drippings into a sauce pan, or use the pan you cooked the turkey in, whatever you want. I personally use a rubber spatula and scrape out the roasting pan into a sauce pot and then add more turkey stock just to increase my volume. At this point you can also decide to get rid of none, some, all of the floating fat. I skim off quite a large amount. I also add my WHOLE fresh herbs now too (you can use sage, thyme, rosemary, etc… whatever flavor you are going for DO NOT SALT YET). The onion should also be transfered into the pan with the drippings.
Bring the liquid to a simmer, just below a boil as boiling will alter and cloud the mix. Allow it to simmer for a good 3-5 minutes to reduce the water content and concentrate the flavors.
Now I should have mentioned this before but you will want to use a RUE to thicken the mixture, not flour and water, and not wondra or any other pre made thickener. The rue should be cold as you should always add a cold rue to a hot sauce. To learn how to make rue see the bottom of this post.
So you have your cold rue and your hot drippings, take the drippings and run them through a fine strainer inorder to remove all of the used herbs and any pieces of fat or meat that may remain and tamper your gravy. Pour the hot mixture back into the pan and over medium heat (again just below a boil) start to whisk the rue into the liquid. It will start to thicken pretty quickly but be careful not to get overzealous and add too much. Allow the mixture to cook for about a min even getting to a gentle boil if you have to. at this point it should have thickened up even more. You can now taste and add some salt and pepper to get it to the right flavor.
Just before serving add a little bit of your herbs (finely chopped this time, not whole) and a tab of butter stirred in gently. The herbs add a kick of flavor, and the butter makes your gravy smooth like satin.
Transfer to your favorite serving boat and ENJOY.
Making a RUE:
Start with a pan heated over medium heat. The pan needs to be preheated so that the butter will not seperate on contact. Add some butter, lets say 2-3 tablespoons for the sake of discussion. As it melts away add the same amount of flour, if not a little more. IT should meld together to make a thick thick creamy mixture. Continue to stir constantly over the heat untill it turns to a light brown color. Essentially you are cooking the flour and binding it with the butter. This allows it to have flavor and also allows it to thicken your sauce. After it is suffeciently cooked, remove from the heat immediatly and place in a container or on a plate. Allow to cool to room temperature or place in the fridge for faster cooling. You know have a rue that can be used to thicken any sauce.
