Today I am sharing how you can make perfect gravy every time using my formula. This is not a secret and as long as you know the ratios you can make delicious gravy for your Thanksgiving dinner in no time with only a few ingredients.
This works in most situations and will help you render delicious rich gravy for all your favorite meats and more!
I get a lot of people asking me to share with them how to properly make gravy and today I am helping them with this quick and easy gravy tutorial!
Gravy seems to be a real challenge for a lot of people. There are a few ways to make it and the way I am going to share with you is what I think is easiest. It begins with a roux. A mixture of equal parts of flour and butter that is cooked together for a brief time and then a liquid is added to make the gravy.
You will want to choose your liquid based on the meat you will be serving. Pan drippings are helpful but not necessary and if you were to bring home a rotisserie chicken and wanted to make a quick gravy with some boxed stock or even some chicken bullion and water, this would be the way to do it fast and easy. In this tutorial I am using chicken stock. I roasted a chicken on this night for dinner so I used a bit of the cooking liquid from the pan to flavor my gravy on this night. A bit of additional seasoning is all that is needed to make delicious gravy every time!
You will start by using equal parts of flour and butter. Melt the butter. Add the flour. Whisk together and cook until you can detec a nutty aroma and the bubbles look large and the roux looks to be drying out a bit. Now you can begin to slowly add your stock 1 cup at a time continuing to whisk until thick. When the mixture becomes thick, add another cup of stock and continue to whisk. When this becomes thick add the pan drippings and more stock.
At this point you can determine if the gravy is thick to your preference. If you like yours a bit on the thicker side. Stop and serve. If you prefer your gravy a bit lighter add the remaining stock. I used for cups of stock for this batch of gravy. When the gravy coats the back of a spoon and you can run your finger across without the gravy coming together you have reached “Nappe”. This means your gravy is properly thickened and had the right amount of body.
You can pour your gravy into a gravy boat or serving dish and present to your guests!
FORMULA FOR PERFECT GRAVY:
For every 1 cup of liquid, you need 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour.
Roux is your thickener here. Flour and butter cooked together = roux.
A roux is made with equal parts butter and flour.
An easy way to remember is 4 butter, 4 flour 4 liquid. The liquid can vary depending on your preference. If you like your gravy a bit on the thicker side, don’t use as much liquid. If you like it lighter, use it all.
You don’t need to have pan drippings. You can make gravy with boxed stock or even reconstituted bouillon powder. You can also add a browning sauce such as Kitchen Bouquet to darken and enrich your gravy in place of pan drippings.
If you use this formula you will have perfect gravy every time.
I hope this unveils the mystery of gravy making for those who have challenges with it.
I hope you will give this formula a try and I hope that you love knowing how to get perfect gravy every time!
Happy Eating!
