The Puzzling Universal Embrace of Traditional Meat Roast Gravies a/k/a
Use Your Freakin’ Head!
Making a Traditional Meat Roast Gravy (hereinafter TMRG) starts with scraping the roasting pan to free the ‘fond,’ the bits of meat that stick to the bottom of the pan, and to capture all the meat flavor that drips from the roast into the roasting pan.
The more juices that come out of the roast and into the pan, the richer the meat flavor in the TMRG.
The more juices that come out of the roast and into the pan, the drier and less flavorful the roast.
Did I say that right?
Are adults drying out and extracting flavor from their roasts so they can make a gravy and pour the extracted juices and flavor back over the dried out and bland roast to return it to life?
So they can add making a gravy to the checklist of roasting?
Scrape the pan, add stock and wine, Roux, butter, herbs, salt and pepper and then reducing the result, hoping we’ve sucked enough juice and flavor from the roast to make a good gravy?
And even then not sure if it's going to come out?
And then time its making to further complicate the busiest moment of the cook?
When we’re pulling the roast, calling the diners, checking the table, getting the vegetables, and so on?
Good grief!
Come now.
Let’s get serious.
We want a gravy.
But we want our gravy to enhance the roast.
The only way to enhance the roast is to bring outside flavor to the roast
This recipe assumes we have no gravy on hand so this gravy will be voluminous enough for several dinners.
Once this ‘mother’ gravy is on hand, every dinner afterwards will use it.
After every dinner, we will supplement the container by making a more modestly-sized gravy.
Find the recipe for this in GRAVY AFTER DINNER, TURKEY
GRAVY, TURKEY RECIPE
4lbs turkey pieces
8oz each: celery, carrots, and leeks
Put the turkey in a stockpot.
Fill the stockpot with water to 2inches above the turkey but using at least 6 quarts of water.
Bring the pot to a boil and skim the foam.
To the foam-skimmed stockpot add:
the celery, leeks, carrots and
A half-bunch of fresh parsley and half a bunch of fresh sage.
Better to omit the parsley than to use a dried-herb substitute.
For health and culinary reasons, never add salt to stock.
Bring the pot to a medium simmer.
Cook for at least 4 hours, replenishing the water as needed to keep the ingredients submerged.
Taste the stock.
It’s done if it has a strong turkey taste,
Strain the stock.
The flavor-exhausted meat, bones, and vegetables are not needed for this recipe.
Return the stock to a smaller stockpot.
Add 1 cup of red wine.
Reduce the stock to one fourth of its original volume.
Taste the concentrated stock.
It should have a very strong turkey flavor.
Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Bring it to a boil.
Take Roux from the freezer, add 3TB to the boiling concentrated stock and whisk it in.
Add more Roux a little at a time until the consistency of the gravy is to your taste.
Refrigerate until needed.
Once this first gravy is made, we must supplement it every time we draw down from it.