Pvt Butter

Making Turkey Gravy
Scrape all the drippings off of the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour drippings into a smaller skillet. Ladle off excess fat with a gravy spoon and save for possible use later. In a separate small bowl take a quarter cup of corn starch and add just enough water to dissolve the corn starch. Beat cornstarch with a spoon to remove lumps. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly. You may not end up using all of the cornstarch mixture. Only add as much as you need to get the desired thickness. Allow time for the cornstarch to thicken the gravy. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or other seasonings to taste.

Save Bones for Stock
When you are finished with your turkey, save the bones from the carcass to make a delicious turkey soup.

wyo_rose

I used to use cornstarch for all my gravies cuz I was scared of lumps. But it's easy to make "real" gravy with flour that has a nice look, taste, and "feel", and NO LUMPS!!

Pour off your drippings and let sit for a little while so the fat rises. Spoon off all the fat from the drippings. You'll want to mix equal parts of the turkey fat and flour. A good amount is 1/2 cup of each. Pour into a skillet, mix, and cook over medium high heat for a few minutes, stirring with a whisk until the mixture turns a darker shade.

Now it's time to pour in your drippings (minus the fat). Have a pitcher of water nearby in case there's not enough drippings. Stir your flour/fat mixture with the whisk and keep stirring. Pour in your drippings all at once while stirring. It will bubble right up and get instantly thick - keep stirring. It will probably need more water, so pour some in while still stirring. Season with salt and a little pepper. Taste it! Add more salt if you need to. Cook for a few minutes, cool a few minutes and enjoy.

What not to do: don't mix any water or let any dripping "liquid" get in with the flour and fat at the beginning. That causes lumps.

Don't mix water and flour (like the cornstarch method), add to the drippings and cook up like that. You'll have a very floury taste unless you cook it for like an hour.

Don't quit stirring while stirring in the liquid. If you can't pour and stir at the same time, have someone else pour the liquid in for you. Tell them DON"T BE SCARED to pour it all in at once. And make sure they have the water handy too, to pour in right after that.

Don't forget to add salt to taste.

wyo_rose

Two great choices: cornstarch or flour!! Cornstarch is a little more fool proof, but now that I can finally make flour gravy that's all I use.

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Pvt Butter

so funny, I made gravy with cornstarch a couple of weeks ago. It was so good and not lumpy, but when it sat on the stove for a while it turned to that "martian glue". My little sister made gloop at school for science. I guess they use cornstarch to make it so she quickly compared my gravey to gloop. The nerve! It was still tasty and more economical in the calorie department.

wyo_rose

...martian glue....

__________________
Don't take life so seriously!
It's not permanent.

between2worlds

*grin* Martian glue....

Besides using the reux method (cooking the fat and flour together as a paste) the other way I know how to make gravy is using broth, milk and flour. I never have trouble with lumps either. My mom taught me how to make this gravy:

Heat 2 cups of seasoned broth to boiling. Take a -small- jar with a GOOD fitting lid (those junior size baby food jars are perfect). Put 1/4 cup of cold milk in it. Add 2 tablespoons of flour in on top of the milk and put the lid on. Immediately shake the jar vigorously until the flour is completely dissolved.... the mixture will be thick like cream. Slowly drizzle the milk/flour mixture into the seasoned broth and cook to desired thickness (about 10 minutes after the broth comes back to boiling).

The only time this hasn't worked was when the milk was warm or I got distracted between putting the flour in the jar and shaking it up. Then, yeah it will have lumps... but if you don't have any drippings or only have some broth to work with, this will do the trick.

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Pvt Butter

ah yes, the reux! mmmm the base to the best milk gravy. I'm going off the turkey track and gonna hunt down some biscuits and gravy.

*lol* I'm so hungry right now. I guess I should go and eat something.