Thanksgiving Dinner Without Some Homemade Gravy? No Thanks

November 19, 1987|By Donna Lee, Scripps Howard News Service.

What`s a holiday turkey dinner without gravy?

It`s not what it should be, as I learned when I was pouring gravy into the gravy boat at a friend`s house, and spilled most of it into her open silverware drawer.

Gravy from a can or mix may be the answer for such emergencies, for when you need gravy for leftovers, or when you simply don`t feel like making gravy at the last minute.

Unfortunately, commercial gravy does not compare well with the real thing, as a panel of tasters found in a blind taste test.

The seven tasters didn`t know which was the homemade turkey gravy, but it won by a landside.

Some of the commercial versions would be passable in a pinch. And, it does help if you stir a small amount of the turkey pan drippings into commercial gravy.

One relatively new gravy helper, Mrs. Hobbs Easy Pan Gravy Seasoned Gravy Thickener with Real Turkey Meat Flavors, is an easy way to make gravy. You can stir the seasoned thickener into hot liquid without making lumps. It didn`t rate highly, though, when made with margarine, as suggested on the label when you`re making gravy to go with leftovers and have no turkey drippings. (That`s how it was made for the taste test.) But if you use Mrs. Hobbs Gravy Thickener with turkey drippings, as I did on another occasion, it makes a very acceptable gravy. (The product is available in Chicago supermarkets particularly during the holiday season.)

Gravy sounds inelegant. You don`t even find it in 95 percent of all cookbooks. And although Americans are changing their eating habits, they still like gravy ladled over turkey and stuffing, running in rivelets over mashed potatoes.

Among my favorite nostalgia foods are hot beef or hot turkey sandwiches from a roadside diner, with mashed potatoes and soft white bread swimming in gravy.

Jane and Michael Stern, in their ``Square Meals`` (Alfred A. Knopf, $17.95) cookbook, include such a recipe for gravy-lovers. It`s a diner-type gravy made from canned broth and canned soup. Not like grandma`s, but it suffices when leftovers outlast the gravy.

To get a meat-flavored broth for homemade gravy, boil the turkey giblets and neck the day before. You can, however, get a flavorful gravy by using just the drippings, flour, salt, pepper and water.

Some people chop the giblets to add to the gravy, or grind them to add a meaty flavor to stuffing. Others use them as a treat for the family pet.

Don`t boil liver with the other giblets because it adds a strong flavor. If you want to cook the liver, drop it into the broth for 5 minutes or so, since it doesn`t require much cooking, or roast it along with the turkey for 10 minutes.

Here are some tips to lessen the hassle of making turkey gravy from scratch:

Remove turkey from the oven 20 minutes before carving and transfer it to a warm platter. This allows juices to settle in the meat and produces a juicier turkey than if you carved it immediately. It also gives you time to make gravy. If you want even more time, shift the turkey to an ovenproof platter or another pan an hour before it`s finished, so you can use the drippings for the gravy. Any juices that accumulate on the second pan or platter can be stirred into the gravy before serving.

Gravy skimmers, inexpensive clear plastic cups with a spout, make it easy to separate fat from the liquid drippings. Fat rises to the top. Since the spout opens from the bottom of the cup, the fat-free drippings pour out first, to be used for gravy. You`ll probably use some fat for flavor in the gravy (about 2 tablespoons per cup), but more than that produces a greasy, high-calorie gravy.

In a jar, mix 1/2 cup flour with enough cold water to make a thin paste. Use this for thickening the gravy. You can gradually stir it in, adding just enough to bring the gravy to the desired thickness. Even if you prefer to stir dry flour into the drippings and then gradually add the liquid, it`s good to have some flour-water slurry on hand, just in case you want to thicken the gravy more. If you add flour to hot liquid, it lumps, but the flour-water paste won`t.

The standard proportions are 2 tablespoons fat (skimmed from the drippings) and 2 tablespoons flour to each cup of liquid, but that makes quite a thick gravy. For somewhat thinner gravy, allow 1 1/2 tablespoons flour per cup.

A wire whisk is best for stirring to prevent lumps.

If the gravy isn`t dark enough, add a dash of liquid gravy coloring

(such as Kitchen Bouquet) or soy sauce.

To smooth out lumpy gravy, strain through a sieve. A blender or food processor may turn it gluey.

Here are recipes for making your own gravy and real mashed potatoes.


About 2 cups gravy

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

4 tablespoons fat from turkey pan drippings

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups giblet broth, recipe follows, chicken stock or water

Salt, freshly ground pepper