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Kelly's Turkey Gravy

Categories: Holiday, Sauces
Contributed by: Kelly CA

Malie's post about the "gravy gene" got me thinking...mostly because I think gravy is one of the easiest things in the world to master. I know that everyone has their own method...roux, flour and water, cornstarch...well, here's what I do:

I take the neck and giblets out of the turkey(minus the liver) and I take that and an extra turkey thigh or some wings (that I have purchased at the store in addition to the big turkey). I roast these in the oven till they are browned. I then add these to a stockpot with an onion, a carrot and a stalk of celery and I make a stock. I usually do this the day before Thanksgiving.
After the big old turkey is done, I remove it from the roasting pan, I deglaze the pan with some of the stock and set it over high heat and scrape up the brown-bits from the bottom of the pan. I then strain the resulting liquid through a strainer and pour it into a fat separating cup.** After the fat rises to the top, I pour it back into the roasting pan(minus the fat). I then add more of the reserved stock and reduce it till it tastes just right. I adjust the seasonings, adding salt and pepper as needed.
When it tastes just right, I dissolve a bit of cornstarch in some COLD water I then add this slurry to the gravy till it reaches the thickness I desire. You let it boil for a minute or two...if it is still not thick enough, add a little more slurry. If it is TOO thick, you can thin it down with some more stock. 

That's all there is to it. It doesn't take very long and it tastes YUMMY. The browning of the meat to make the stock really adds a lot of flavor.

** I want to mention that the fat separating cup is KEY!!!! Nothing worse than a big old layer of grease floating on top of a bowl of gravy! Well, grease AND lumps would be worse, but, if you follow my directions, you won't have either of those pesky gravy demons! Some of the fat separating cups, well, THEY STINK!!! Some of the plastic ones crack the first time you poor hot liquid into them. I had a GREAT glass one, but, it was glass and it eventually broke. I then found the Oxo cup and it is GREAT! They have two sizes. The large one is more versatile(4c), if you are cooking for many people.I use this thing ALL THE TIME! If I don't have time to let stock cool in the fridge so I can remove the fat from the top, I just use the cup. One of my favorite all-time cooking tools!