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As promised, after mashed potatoes comes the gravy. After all, you can’ t imagine them without it, and if you’re roasting a turkey, chicken, or chunk of beef for Easter, you’ll have some extra bits on hand that’ll make it all the better. But don’t worry, even if you’re not, you can still make your own gravy.
True, gravy started out as a way to make use of the drippings from roasted meat. And it’s also true that, as long as regular flour was the only option, the fat from the meat was needed to make the flour blend with the liquid it was thickening. Now, blending flour cuts out the need for fat, and by using a well-flavored broth you can do without meat drippings — though the gravy will still taste better if you use them.
(If all you’ve got is regular flour, read the recipe to the end; you can still use it, with a little tweaking and a little fat.)
- 2 cups broth or stock*
- 3 tablespoons blending flour
- Meat drippings (optional) — whatever you’ve got, DEGREASED
- Salt to taste, especially if you use homemade broth
- Heat the broth or stock over medium heat till it’s just bubbling. Put the flour in a small bowl and carefully add a little of the hot liquid, stirring with a fork or whisk to make a smooth paste.
- Then slowly add the paste to the pot of liquid, stirring till it’s all blended.
- Add the drippings and keep warm till it’s time to serve.
- If you’re using regular flour: Save the fat from the degreased drippings, if any.
- Melt as much butter or lard as you need to bring it up to three tablespoons, or just use them alone if you have no fat.
- Heat the fat carefully in a small pot, and whisk in the flour till it’s smooth. Now add the stock or broth, blend and heat.
- *For the difference between broth and stock, see here. You can make your own, but you can also use ready made or instant.
- Unless you’ve got a lot of well-browned drippings, this is not going to look like a deep brown commercial gravy full of artificial color. Don’t worry, it tastes as good or better.
- To warm up your gravy boat so the gravy will stay hot longer, fill it with boiling water and empty it just before you put in the gravy.
