renee's best roast turkey gravy

 

Here are two basic ways of making gravy from roast drippings, one using corn starch, the other using flour. In each case, you start with the roast drippings. You may have much more drippings than you need for the amount of gravy you want to make. You can follow this guideline - for each cup of gravy you would like to make, start with a tablespoon of drippings. So, if you want to make 2 cups of gravy, drain all but 2 tablespoons of fat and drippings from the roasting pan (set aside for future use). These instructions will be for the end result of 2 cups of gravy, but you can easily divide or multiply to adjust for how much gravy you want to make.

While your turkey is roasting make your turkey stock for your gravy.

8 cup(s) water
4 large carrots, cut into 2-inch chunks
4 large stalks celery, cut into 2-inch chunks
2 medium onions, cut into quarters
2 bay leaves
Giblets and neck from turkey, excluding liver
Salt to taste

In 8-quart stockpot or sauce pot, place water, carrots, celery, onions, and bay leaves. Cover and heat to boiling on high. Add giblets, neck, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, uncovered, 1 hour. Strain stock into large bowl, discarding vegetables, neck and giblets. You can refrigerate stock for up to 3 days or freeze for 3 months.

Making Gravy with Corn Starch

1 Remove the roast from the pan. Place pan on stove on medium high heat. Pour off all but 2 Tbsp of the drippings in the pan.

2 Dissolve 2 Tbsp of corn starch in the minimum amount of turkey stock needed to make a thin paste - about 1/4 cup. Pour into pan with drippings and use a wire whisk or spatula (as pictured) to blend into the drippings

3 Stir with a wire whisk until the gravy begins to thicken. As it thickens, slowly add 1 3/4 cups turkey stock and 1/4 cup good quality cream to the pan. Alternate stirring and adding liquid, maintaining the consistency you want, for about 5 minutes. Taking into consideration the evaporation that is occurring while you are cooking, you will end up with about 2 cups of gravy. Season with salt, white pepper and herbs.

Gravy with Flour

1 Remove the roast from the pan. Place pan on stove on medium high heat. Pour off all but 2 Tbsp of the drippings in the pan.

2 Into the 2 tablespoons of drippings in the pan stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir with a wire whisk until the flour has thickened and the gravy is smooth. Continue to cook slowly to brown the flour, and stir constantly.

3 Slowly add back some of the previously removed drippings. In addition, add 1 3/4 cups stock and 1/4 cup good qualitycream to the gravy. Season the gravy with salt, white pepper and herbs.   http://whiskusaway.blogspot.com/search/label/Holidays