When you prepare an exceptionally nice meal, there’s one food that makes the meal very complete: gravy.
Some people believe that making gravy is quite difficult; however, it’s actually almost effortless and even fun. The process is not time-consuming, expensive and fraught with potential mistakes that can lead to a kitchen disaster.
Whatever meat you are cooking – beef, chicken, turkey, ham, or wild meat – can be accompanied with a few tablespoons of gravy that add the finishing touch onto the meal.
Pan Gravy is Flourless Gravy
Pan gravy is essentially au jus. Here’s a way you can make a perfect pan gravy every time.
Papa’s Pan Roast Beef Gravy
This gravy is very easy to make and an excellent way to add some moisture to the slices of roast beef at the meal.
- First determine what type of gravy you want.
- Prepare to bake a 6-lb. roast on a rack, fat side down in a baking pan in an oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- nsert a meat thermometer into the deepest meat layer and bake roast covered until the thermometer reads 150 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The total time is generally about 36 minutes per pound for a medium roast of this size.
- Remove the meat from the cooking pan, place on a platter and set aside.
- Remove the meat juices from the pan, making sure to scrape out all the pieces of meat that are in the bottom. You should have about one cup of liquid; if not, add water until you get a total yield of one cup fluid.
- Put drippings in a small cooking pot or a skillet and place over low heat, allowing to simmer for awhile.
Before you know it, you will have gravy. And the best part of making pan gravy is that you didn’t even have to add any flour!
For great gravy flavor, you can even add a pat or two of butter to make it look glossy.
Mushroom Chicken Gravy
Ingredients:
One 16-ounce package fresh mushrooms
One bunch of green onions
1-1/2 sticks butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 boneless chicken breast strips
a bottle of cooking sherry
- Remove mushrooms from package; wash and drain on a paper towel. Set them aside.
- Wash and drain and chop the green onions. Set aside.
- Using a wooden kitchen mallet, beat the chicken breast until flat. Coat each side with all purpose flour and set aside.
- In a 12-inch skillet, stir in the butter. Adjust heat setting to simmer. Melt butter.
- Add mushrooms and green onions. Saute over slightly higher heat until the mixture cooks to a golden brown.
- Remove from skillet, place in cup and set aside.
- Place the chicken strips into the skillet, cooking about four minutes on each side or until tender and golden brown; remove and place onto serving dishes.
- Add the mushroom mixture to skillet, raise heat to medium and slowly add the sherry, stirring constantly until gravy thickens.
- Pour over chicken and serve with green beans and rice.
East Turkey Gravy
This is a smooth and creamy gravy that is easy to prepare and is sure to please the palate of any dinner guest. If you’ve already cooked a turkey, eliminate the first 4 steps of this recipe.
- Place a 12-lb. turkey in a roasting pan, baste with butter and rub with poultry seasoning. Insert meat thermometer into deepest part of thigh without touching bone.
- Cover with foil and place in oven preheated to 350 degrees F.
- Remove foil and baste every 30 minutes until done.
- Cook for at least three hours, until thermometer reads 160 degrees F and remove the turkey from the oven.
- After removing turkey from pan onto a platter, skim fat from drippings with a large tablespoon and set aside in a bowl. The fat will be floating on top of the drippings. Place the spoon very gently at the edge of a floater of fat and tip slightly. The fat should flow into the spoon.
- Repeat process until much of the fat has been removed from the drippings. Set aside. Pour remaining drippings into a large measuring cup or bowl and set aside.
- Reserve 3 cups drippings and place these ingredients in a bowl:
- The skimmed fat from above
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 Tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup half and half (optional)
- Put the skimmed fat in a 3-quart saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir in the flour a little at a time until you have a good paste but still have some liquid from the fat. Don’t stir in too much flour or mixture will become too pasty.
- Brown flour slightly. Add the drippings a little at a time, stirring constantly until desired thickness is reached.
- Slowly stir in the half and half. Remove from heat. Add the salt and pepper and stir and place in a covered dish or gravy bowl until ready to serve.
The process of making gravy is a simple step-by-step process. Make it fun and add a little love while you cook and your guests will be able to feel your love for them.
