Thanksgiving is coming, and I admit that I'm a complete traditionalist

[The Polack MSgt]

With regards to Thanksgiving Dinner.

With the exception of how we do the sweet potatoes - My wife does a tempura of small birds nest looking clumps of sweet potato sticks which is delicious and keeps the cloying sweetness to a minimum.

I have a couple tips regarding this Tempura.

Use ice cold club soda and potato starch make the batter.

Make small batches of batter as you go and keep it bubbly and cold

Let the oil come back to temp between batches

But that is all I'll say about vegetables because this OP is about GRAVY.

Real giblet gravy made from pan drippings and innards from an actual turkey.

In the beginning there are pan drippings - All the real gravy ever made since the beginning of gravy started with pan drippings, and that means that we need to talk about the turkey and collecting the juice that will become gravy.

I brine my turkey overnight in a mixture of equal amounts of salt and sugar (I use three quarter cups each for a 16ish pound turkey)as well as a couple bay leaves some garlic and a linen pouch of rosemary. Boil the ingredients in a gallon of water until completely incorporated. Mix this dense brine with enough COLD water so that you have enough brine to completely cover the turkey in whatever container you use (I use a CLEAN medium sized cooler). The brine needs to be cool - You do not want to start the cooking process with the brine.
Don't worry about salmonella or anything like that (other than the usual hand washing and utensil cleaning stuff) because the salt and sugar in the brine are antibiotic.

This loads the bird up with seasoned liquid that will sweat into the roasting pan as you cook.

About that pan - Use one that has a removable rack so that you can pull the turkey and collect the precious drippings without having to suck it out with a baster. While the bird is out pour the juice into a pot and scrape out all the brown stuff you can.

I harvest the drippings twice - at the half way point and about 40 minutes before I pull the bird to let it rest. I put it in a pot skim and reserve as much visible fat as I can, and then let it simmer and reduce until I'm ready to start the process.

I always finely chop the liver heart and gizzard to use in the gravy but that's optional - You can forgo using them if you'd like.

Anyway, when the drippings are reduced by about a third it's time to get to work.

Make a roux with butter and the reserved turkey fat and sifted (Lump Free!) flour. Roux is half flour and half fat, but the ratio is not that critical- aim for not too thick or too runny

Cook the roux until it is the color you want your gravy to be and when it is finished - start adding the reduced liquid in batches while whisking vigorously.
When you have all the roux worked into a liquid pour it out of the fry pan into a saucier or small stock pot.

Put that pot over a medium low flame and continue adding the reduced drippings until the gravy is the thickness you want.

I season with Savory and white pepper for the final flavor.

If you want giblet gravy what you need to do is to finely dice the meats (after removing the silver skin from the giblets) and saute in either butter or some reserved turkey fat until done through. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Add that meat to the gravy and stir.

That is that. Delicious scratch made gravy - and lots of it. I make more than a quart and could make more if I had to.

Brining the bird really lets you make a bunch of gravy.


Enjoy!

[irisblue]

1. What time is dinner?

[The Polack MSgt]

2. It's Thanksgiving - That means 3 o'clock

I'm a traditionalist like I said

[FloridaBlues]

3. I too am a thanksgiving traditionalists

Sometimes cook stuffing in the bird! Can't help myself. Make giblet gravy like yours as well.

[The Polack MSgt]

4. My wife make a meat and oyster stuffing - It adds to the flavor of the pan drippings

[justgamma]

5. Sounds delicious.

I have a question about roux. A few years ago, this was known as white sauce, when did the name change? Or maybe there is a difference?

[The Polack MSgt]

6. I never heard it called anything but Roux, so I don't know

But I know that it can go from pale as hell to dark as chocolate depending on how long it's cooked.

It thickens more the paler it is so you need to use a lot more in Gumbo which uses very dark roux than I need in this gravy which is just cooked to a khaki color.

the only thing I know of that sounds like white sauce is sausage gravy.

It uses un-fried flour so it stays white, but you'll need to let the gravy simmer for a while to cook the flour since you don't fry it prior to making the gravy

[dem in texas]

7. Roux

The roux is the flour and fat cooked together. For white sauce, you cook butter and flour until the flour is cooked, no raw flour taste wanted, should not be browned for white sauce. Then add milk and cook on medium, whisking all the time, cook until sauce thickens, season with salt, pepper, any other seasoning you like. Drippings are best fat, more flavor. Cajun cooking, you cook the roux until it is well browned. Sarge is right, the browner the roux, the browner your gravy will be, just have to be careful and not burn the roux.

My sons always cooks the turkey, but he has the drippings and giblets waiting for me, I always make the giblet gravy. Not many will be on hand this Thanksgiving, daughter and her family going to see in-laws up in Tulsa, oldest granddaughter has a 3 week old baby, so they are staying home in Midland, other Granddaughter has a serious BF, so she is going to Marble Falls to meet his family for the first time.

[The Polack MSgt]

8. My extended family is very widespread

And honestly we're not very close.

When the one Aunt of mine with the huge old house with huge dining room passed, we kinda stopped gathering.

So it's just the wife daughter SIL and Son.

My son may go to his gf's house this year. I haven't heard yet.

Thanks for reading. Happy Thanksgiving

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. Thanks for that. I'm a traditionalist also.

I will emphasize that you absolutely must bake the turkey in a real pan with a rack as you already said. Not the aluminum throw away pan.

Early in my marriage I was intending to get one of the aluminum pans, but two days before Thanksgiving they were completely out of them at all the stores I went to. So at one of the large home supplies places (forget the name of it) I bought a real pan with a rack. Best seventy bucks I have ever spent. The bird simply roasts far better in the whatever metal the pan is made in that the aluminum one.

So if you serve at 3, I guess I should show up around 2pm to help with setting the table and the like? I'll bring a couple of bottles of Egri Bikaver, a Hungarian red wine that goes exquisitely well in my opinion with the Thanksgiving table.

[The Polack MSgt]

10. Sounds delicious.

Last edited Tue Nov 6, 2018, 05:07 PM - Edit history (1)

I agree about the roasting pan. A steel covered pan radiates the heat evenly and the rack prevents the bird scorching or sitting in its own drippings.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. If you or anyone in the house likes red wine,

and if you typically have wine on Turkey Day, do scare of a bottle of the Egri. It's a full-bodied wine, and the flavors at most Thanksgivings are reasonably strong. In my opinion red (or that fabulous fall-back champagne) is best with that meal. Most whites, especially a delicate white, will be overwhelmed.

[The Polack MSgt]

12. Thanks for the tip

I have wine drinking friends that I will try to impress with my newfound knowledge.

I generally drink lagers and liquor (sometimes in the same day!) but I have friends and family who enjoy wine

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. Also get a nice beaujolais or two.

I'm personally fond of the Louis Jadot Beaujolais Village. It's lighter and fruitier and may be much more to the taste of some of your friends and family.

Honest, I'd be happy to show up with an assortment of red wines for the crowd.

[The Polack MSgt]

14. .