When asked what stresses cooks out the most about holiday cooking, most seem to say over cooking the turkey or lumpy, greasy gravy. There are plenty of sites devoted to turkey perfection right now. bhg.com has a whole section on cooking a delectable turkey. However, I haven’t seen much on gravy. So, here is my fool proof, super quick method for making gravy.
These pictures aren’t exactly pretty. Consider yourself warned.
1. I usually rub the turkey down with a mix of oil or butter and fresh herbs, salt and pepper. For this method a butter rub makes much better gravy than oil because butter is solid at room temperature and will be easier to remove from the drippings.
2. Before you put your bird in the oven, add 1 1/2 cups or so of water to the roasting pan. This will help to stretch the drippings a little and prevent them from burning.
3. When the turkey is done remove it from the roasting pan to rest under a nice foil tent. Let the drippings cool for a few minutes.
4. Put a few big handfuls of ice cubes into the roasting pan with the drippings. Slowly stir them around with a large slotted spoon.
5. The fat in the drippings will harden and stick to the ice cubes. After most of the fat is congealed. Scoop the ice cubes and fat out of the pan with a slotted spoon. Throw the ice and fat away in the trash. It can clog your drain.
6. Put the roasting pan back on the stove over two burners on medium heat. Alternatively, you can pour the drippings into a sauce pan.
7. Stir in 3-4 cups of broth or stock depending on how much gravy you need.
8. Stir the broth and drippings, scraping the bits of goodness from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil.
9. In a small bowl or cup mix 3 tbs. of cornstarch with 1/2 cup of room temperature broth. Stir into boiling broth. Simmer until thickened and then remove from heat. You made need to add more of the corn starch and broth mixture depending on how thick you want the gravy to be. If it becomes too thick just add a little more broth.
10. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Even if your turkey is dry at least you know you will have good gravy to spoon over it.
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