Great Turkey Gravy

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups Turkey broth, made from drippings from the bottom of the roasting pan
  • ¼ cup Turkey fat, skimmed from the top of the broth
  • 1/3 cup All-purpose flour
  • Salt and black pepper, browning sauce if desired, to taste

Instructions:

  • After the turkey is roasted, remove the turkey to a carving platter and pour off all the liquid (fat, drippings and juices) into a tall, narrow container, like a pitcher or into a fat/gravy separator. If there are still a lot of drippings stuck to the bottom of the roasting pan, add water, scrape them up and add the drippings to the pitcher as well. The fat will float to the top after a few minutes.
  • Transfer the fat into a measuring cup and make a note as to how much fat is there. Measure your flour in the amount of 1-½ times the amount of fat. For instance, if there is 1 cup of fat, measure 1 ½ cups of flour.
  • Make the roux. Pour the fat into a heavy saucepan, heat over medium heat and add the flour to the fat, stirring until smooth with a wooden spoon. Cook the flour for a few minutes while stirring so the mixture goes from white to light golden. If you want darker gravy, cook the flour mixture longer, but do not burn.
  • Remove from the heat and reserve to thicken your gravy. You will most likely have more roux than you need, so you can refrigerate it and use to thicken future sauces if desired.
  • Pour the juices and drippings from the turkey into a large, heavy-bottom saucepan. (Strain the drippings if you want a totally smooth gravy). If there is not enough juice/dripping for your needs, add chicken broth, vegetable broth or water to the pan to suit your needs.
  • Bring the liquid up to a boil. While whisking, add a tablespoon of the reserved fat and flour mixture at a time, whisking until it is totally dissolved. Return the liquid to a full boil, check thickness by lifting some of the sauce out with a ladle and pouring it back into the pot. Add more flour and fat as necessary. This might take many additions, depending on how much dripping/juice you have.
  • When the gravy is to your desired thickness, season to taste with salt and pepper.
  • If you want darker gravy, you can add a few drops of a darkener sauce, such as Gravy Master or Kitchen Bouquet. Strain the gravy if desired. Serve hot.

Lincoln Culinary Institute.

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