Happy Thanksgiving: The Final Detail for the Big Day

Every Thanksgiving dinner needs gravy.

The big day is finally here. If you've been keeping up you have a brined, thawed, and ready to roast turkey; some excellent chicken or turkey stock; and a "pumpkin" pie all ready for today's feast. There are several details left to cover: the dressing, the green beans, other sides that are part of your family's feast, but the one I'm going to go over today is gravy. Every family has different side dishes, but every traditional Thanksgiving dinner needs gravy. Gravy has a reputation for being fussy. Maybe it is, but you can handle it.

There are two basic ways to make a gravy: slurry or roux. I'm a Southern girl, so that means I'm team roux. I think there are several advantages. The roux method is versatile; once you've got this down you know how to make sawmill (biscuit) gravy, bechamele, and cheese sauce, in addition to any basic meat (turkey, chicken, pork, or beef) gravy. It's quick; if you use a flour slurry the gravy must simmer for a long time to remove the raw flour taste. It's more forgiving than most people realize; you can add more roux to thicken a gravy that's gone too thin (or just use corn starch). The second best choice for gravy is a corn starch slurry; it shares the quick and forgiving trait with roux, but it makes a glossy translucent gravy. I'll cover both.

Before I do, however, let's talk about how starches (flour in the roux and corn starch in the slurry) thicken sauces. Starches are a type of carbohydrate, like sugar. Unlike sugar, these carbohydrates have large, complex molecular structures. They are used in plants as energy storage (you do the same thing with a starch called glycogen); the plant sticks sugar molecules together to form starch when energy is abundant (day/summer), and breaks the starch back into it's constituent sugars for fuel when energy is scarce (night/winter). Some plants, like potatoes, store large amounts of starch to hibernate through winter; others, like wheat and corn, store starch in the seed to give their offspring the best start in life.

While the plant is alive the starches are folded up to take up as little space as possible, and until we do something that's how the starch stays even after processing. The starch in your flour and corn starch are folded up nice and tight. When we add heat the starch molecules start to "wiggle" and loose their compact structure. When this happens the long molecules can tangle together and entrap water, just like gelatin. This allows starch to thicken and gravy to exist. Different starches require different temperatures to fully thicken. Corn starch doesn't thicken until we get the gravy to a boil; flour thickens at a slightly lower temperature.

Roux-based Turkey Gravy

per 1 cup of gravy needed (about 2 people's worth depending on your people)

2T (i.e. 1/8c) of fat. Turkey fat collected from the stock making procedure is ideal as it adds additional turkey flavor. Pan drippings from a turkey that was NOT wet-brined also work. If neither of these are available use oil (careful with olive oil as it will impart a distinct flavor) or butter.

2T of AP flour. This is approximate, you may need a tiny bit more or less.

1c homemade poultry stock. Or a can if that's all you have.

Seasonings: salt, pepper, hot sauce. Trust me here; we won't be making it spicy, I promise. We need a hot sauce that is not too hot with a very vinegar-forward flavor. Nothing fancy or sweet or smoky. Texas Pete or (my choice) Louisiana are good. NO SRIRACHA. Not today.

For small batches (1-3cups): Get out a 10" frying pan with sloped sides and a small silicone whisk. Heat pan over medium heat. Add fat, allow it to melt fully if needed. Add flour by sprinkling. Whisk, whisk, WHISK! Until a smooth paste forms, no lumps. This won't take long. The paste should be thick enough that you can easily part it to see the bottom of the pan, but should start to ooze back into place. If it's play-doh thick (no oozing) add just a little more oil and whisk it in. If it's too thin add a little more flour. Don't obsess, if you end up with too thick roux you'll be more likely to end up with lumps (but we can fix that!), too thin and your gravy might be a little oily, but still delicious. Now let the flour fry for about 3 minutes with fairly constant whisking (don't break your arm, just keep it slowly moving so the flour cooks evenly). You'll know you're ready to go on when the roux has darkened slightly and started to smell like toast. If you can't smell the toast because the whole house smells like turkey, don't worry, after 3min you're good.

For large batches: Get an oven-safe pot with sloped sides and a whisk large enough for you to use without touching the edge of the pot. I am partial to the Lodge enameled dutch oven (left). The rounded edge between the bottom and sides allows the whisk to get everywhere; this prevents lumps. Add your fat, melt it, and add your flour. Whisk to combine. Squeeze the pot into your oven (around 350F) for 10-15 min. Take it out and whisk the flour and fat back together. The flour should be slightly darkened and smell like toast. If you don't have oven space, follow the small batch directions, but cook for 5-7min.

 Any batch size: Add a splash of stock. Whisk, whisk, WHISK! It should now be a larger amount of paste. AGAIN! Add a splash of stock. Whisk, whisk, WHISK! It should now be a yet larger amount of paste. AGAIN AGAIN! Add a splash of stock. Whisk, whisk, WHISK! It should now be looking more like gravy. Keep adding and whisking until you get to the right thickness. Let it come to a boil between additions now so we know how thick it is. On the heat, gravy should be too thin; it thickens as it cools. You're looking for thick enough that you can drag a spoon through it and see the bottom of the pan, but the gravy immediately moves to cover the track. (this test only works on pan-sized batches. For bigger batches, look for it to coat the back of a spoon.) Now dribble a little on your finger and taste it. Does it need salt? Add salt. It needs pepper; add some (1/4t maybe?).

About this much pepper.

Taste again. Is it still a little "meh", with a fatty one-dimensionality? It needs sparkle; it needs hot sauce. Add one tiny dash and whisk it in. Taste it. Keep adding a little bit at a time until you get "sparkle" but before you get a noticeable heat or a "there's hot sauce in this, isn't there" notion. For 1 cup of gravy this will be 1-2 small dashes. If you really don't trust me, use vinegar instead. Go for cider or white wine vinegar. Same tiny amount. White wine could also be used here. Put the gravy in a gravy boat and cover to keep warm. If you've gotten ahead of yourself and the gravy has gone cold and congealed by the time you're ready to use it, just put it in the microwave for a minute. If you have lumps, just use a metal strainer to catch them while putting the gravy into the boat.

Cornstarch Thickened Gravy

per 1 cup of gravy needed

1T corn starch

1T cool water (or stock, but only if your stock has no gelatin; it must be fully liquid while cool)

1c homemade poultry stock. Or a can if that's all you have.

Seasonings: salt, pepper, hot sauce. Still NO SRIRACHA. Not today. Again, you can use vinegar or white wine if you won't trust me about the hot sauce.

Any batch size: Put all the stock into a pot or pan with sloped sides big enough to hold said stock. Bring the stock to a boil over medium high heat and then reduce heat to low to maintain a simmer. Get a small tupperware and put the 1T of water in it. Add the 1T of starch, and close it up. Shake, shake, SHAKE! Get the starch fully suspended in the water. Now open it and hold it with your non-dominant hand. Start whisking the stock. Slowly pour the starch water into the stock. Don't stop whisking. After a minute or so (longer for bigger batches), the contents of the pot should transition from cloudy back to clear (or at least as clear as your stock was in the beginning). Once that has happened, the starch has fully thickened the gravy. On the heat, gravy should be too thin; it thickens as it cools. You're looking for thick enough that you can drag a spoon through it and see the bottom of the pan, but the gravy immediately move to cover the track (this test only works on pan-sized batches. For bigger batches, look for it to coat the back of a spoon). Now dribble a little on your finger and taste it. Does it need salt? Add salt. It needs pepper; add some (1/4t maybe?). Taste again. Is it still a little "meh" and one-dimensional? It needs sparkle; it needs hot sauce. Add one tiny dash and whisk it in. Taste it. Keep adding a little bit at a time until you get "sparkle" but before you get a noticeable heat or "there's hot sauce in this, isn't there". For 1 cup of gravy this will be 1-2 small dashes. If you really don't trust me, use vinegar instead. Go for cider or white wine vinegar. Same tiny amount. White wine could also be used here. Put the gravy in a gravy boat and cover to keep warm. If you've gotten ahead of yourself and the gravy has gone cold and congealed by the time you're ready to use it, just put it in the microwave for a minute. If you have lumps, just use a metal strainer to catch them while putting the gravy into the boat. Lump removal is extra important in cornstarch thickened gravies; the starch lumps are nasty tasting.

HELP! The gravy's too thick!

Add more stock, silly. Get the gravy hot in the pan/pot again and whisk in more stock. If your gravy is getting too salty and too thick from sitting on the stove too long, use water.

HELP! The gravy's too thin!

You have a few options. First, just let the gravy simmer for a while; water will evaporate off and the gravy will thicken. Don't go too far with this or your gravy will be too salty. This is for only slightly too thin gravy. Second option, make a cornstarch slurry and whisk it into the gravy by the teaspoon-full. Make sure to allow the gravy to boil (a gentle simmer boil, we just need the liquid at 212F) between additions (if you're doing this to a roux based gravy, you won't see the opaque/translucent change because roux gravy is always opaque. Let the gravy boil 1min between additions). Final option, for roux based gravies only. Make another small batch of roux, and get meta. Use the thin gravy as the liquid for the roux. If you over shoot and end up with gravy too thick, add more stock to thin the gravy. Or just use stock in the new roux, when it's a very thick gravy, add small amounts to the thin gravy and whisk to combine.