Making Roast Turkey (or Chicken) Gravy - VIDEO

Besides the family stuffing, gravy seems to provoke the most debate, and have a certain family propriety to it.  Your gravy will conjure up memories of childhood Thanksgivings or other holidays, and strange gravy will fall flat on your memory banks.

Thick or thin? Giblets or smooth? Salty or bland?  Each family seems to have a tradition.  But gravy, while a simple concept, is not so simple in execution.  Remember those lumpy, starchy gravies of youth (maybe even of today)?  Gravy is more than a mixture of stock and thickener.  It is the unifying element on the plate, the sauce in which all the important meal elements swim.  Isn't it worth a little effort?


While our gravy takes more time, it is time AHEAD of the big day allowing for easier pacing on the dinner evening.  And, it tastes like turkey (not chicken stock), as it is suppose too.  A combination of roasting and simmering adds a tremendous amount of additional flavor, and the roux we make (using turkey fat/schmaltz) ensures a smooth and homogenous sauce.  Think: that smell you experience during the roasting of the turkey actually being tasted on the pallet.

Basic Method:
Make Ahead

• Lay a rough-cut mirepoix (tossed in a little oil) of carrots, onions and celery (plus garlic) in a heavy layer in an oven-safe saute pan.
• Cut out the backbone of the bird, find the neck and heart in the cavity, and cut the backbone into 30 inch pieces.  Remove the wingtips from the bird and reserve.
• Lay all meat pieces on top of the mirepoix, skin side down.  Put the pan in a 400 degree oven.
• Roast for 30 minutes.  Remove meat pieces, toss veggies, replace meat and lay on opposite side.  Roast another 30 minutes, until veggies and meat are carmelized.
• Put solids in a large stock pot.  Deglaze the saute pan with low sodium chicken stock.  Pour deglazing liquid into the stock pot.
• Add enough stock (in my case two quarts) to make enough gravy for the size of turkey and number of guests, at least to cover solids.
• Cover and simmer for 7 to 12 hours (I let it go overnight).
• Strain out solids and discard.  Refrigerate stock.  Can be made several days in advance!

Eating Day

• On Thanksgiving day, remove the stock pot from the refrigerator.  There should be a layer of solid or jellied fat on the surface of the stock.  Transfer this turkey schmaltz to your gravy-making saucepan.
• Simmer the schmaltz until most of the liquid is evaporated (sizzling slows).
• Add flour to the fat to make a roux.  The amount of flour depends on the amount of fat you have, and the amount of stock you have to thicken.  One cup of flour will thicken approximately 2 quarts of liquid.
• Cook the roux for 7-10 minutes on low heat until just taking on color.
• Add the hot stock, a ladle-full at a time, to the roux.  Whisk with each addition.
• Add stock until the desired viscosity of the gravy is reached.
• Season with salt to taste.

Here is the video: