Nov 20, 2007 02:18 pm Either get a McCormick gravy package from your local grocery, or substitute the drippings with some reduced chicken broth.
thanksgiving food
Posted on Nov 20, 2007 02:14 pm
fortymile
Member Since: Jan 18, 2003
i'm gonna have to make my own this year. if anyone knows how to make realistic gravy without really having access to pan drippings, pray tell here. i don't know how to approximate real gravy without the bird. i am either making turkey cutlets or a cornish hen. if the hen, maybe those drippings will be available. if the cutlets probably not. i know nothing about this.
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Nov 20, 2007 02:18 pm Either get a McCormick gravy package from your local grocery, or substitute the drippings with some reduced chicken broth.
Nov 20, 2007 02:35 pm i love the envelope gravys, i really do and i use it all the time. but for this meal i think i should try to somehow make homemade gravy.
i have chicken broth. i will look into this.
Nov 20, 2007 03:00 pm Gravy only has like 3 ingredients:
- flavoring (drippings, meat)
- thickener (flour and/or corn starch)
- liquid (milk, water, au jus)
When I make breakfast gravy I brown the meat, don't drain it, coat it real good with flour, then add milk, salt and pepper. Heat until it thickens and voila! Some great sausage gravy!
For brown gravy, I think it'd be a similar process. But really homemade brown gravy is pretty much on par with the stuff that comes in an envelope or a jar. I think all that comes in the envelope is flavoring and corn starch anyways.
I'll be curious to see if anybody here procures a good brown gravy recipe.
Nov 20, 2007 03:04 pm not sure without the drippings, thats what makes the gravy for me...when we make a roast, put a little water in the crock pot and some au jus flavoring and damn, great stuff...
That said, I much more enjoy good stuffing than gravy but with both the gravy gets poured on the stuffin and YUM!
Nov 20, 2007 03:06 pm Mmmmm... thats how I make my morning gravy too. Where I come from we call it $@!T on a shingle. Soooo good.
Nov 20, 2007 03:15 pm Damn, I'm hungry now...
I love Thanksgiving just cuz of the meal...eating too much, drinking too much, saying something off color or out of place to my in laws...luv it.
And going to early morning black friday stuff with Noize and his kid...standing the cold at 4AM with Tuna flipping him **** is just fun...I am home with some new toys for me maybe a gift or two for somebody else before anyone else in the house is even awake.
We gotta start a coffee/hot chocolate cart at those lines some year...
Nov 20, 2007 04:34 pm i'm trying to make an approximate thanksgiving dinner for one, and i've got all the stuff i need, i think. everything will be homemade. using cutlets instead of a bird, though, obviously.
for corn, i cook shoepeg corn then add lots of finely minced garlic and black pepper, with either butter or margarine. this is an excellent corn!
Nov 20, 2007 04:36 pm Dinner for one? Buy the envelope!
Nov 20, 2007 04:39 pm i have a backup envelope, but i want to see what i can do here. i want the real mccoy!
Nov 20, 2007 04:45 pm Buy it from the store premade :)
I always do the T-day cooking so this year I've just been out and bought a Boston Market Turkey breast to make it easier and more tasty :)
Nov 20, 2007 05:24 pm One suggestions is 2 cornish hens, probably enough drippings. Plus food for a couple days. On occasion for a twist I'll go to the local Chinese carry out and get some of there gravy in a container for $2-3. Usually its the same one used on foo young. But chicken broth and corn starch will get you here too + seasoning.
Nov 20, 2007 05:40 pm Or, if you have an actual turkey:
Before you put the turkey in the oven and it is thawed out, take out the neck, gizzards, heart, & liver and put them in a pot with just enough water to cover them, and boil till done. Then cut them up and use the broth. Add about 2 or 3 T. oil to a skillet, then pour about 1 cup or 2 of the broth in a bowl or glass. Add about 1 or 2 T. flour, mix it up and pour in the skillet. Then stir until it turns brown. While stirring, pour the flour-broth mixture so that it doesn't get lumpy. Heating on medium-low heat, when it's the right texture you want, remove from heat. Add salt and pepper.
Dinnah time!
Nov 20, 2007 05:48 pm my sister makes vegetarian gravy using vegetable bullion, butter, flour, water. One bullion cube, and then estimate the amount of everything else 'til you get the consistency you want. For us veg heads, it's as good as it gets. And it is tasty!
Nov 20, 2007 05:59 pm nothing can be truly tasty about vegetarian gravy! :)
Nov 20, 2007 06:00 pm I agree with forty, some things are just NOT able to be "vegetarian" no matter how hard you try, gravy is one of them...
Nov 20, 2007 09:40 pm forty, when Tuna or I do a cutlet type thing that may not create as much juice I will use some Olive oil and kind of baste it constantly. You do have to make sure it browns a bit though in order to be sure it soaked up some of the meat flavor. Then proceed as usual with the flour and water shaken up for the thickener. We will usually put fresh ground pepper into the flour water mix or a dash of some concocted seasoning mixture to add a dose of oddness to it. I kind of prefer milk over water though and 2% is probably better then whole milk. Although I hate drinking 2% and love whole milk.
Anyway, after you have made your thickener then simply add a little at a time with the heat and faux juice in the pan and stir constantly. Keep adding the thickener until you get the consistency you want.
A side note here on this procedure. It is almost a must to season the thickener as you may not get absolute heavy flavor out of the faux juice. But we have done it and the key is slow cooking the cutlets in the Olive oil so it has time to really soak up the flavor of the meat. And remember, it is important to keep basting with the oil in order for it to get a bit of meat flavor attached to it.
(edit)
And it kind of helps to let a bit of the meat sear to the bottom of the pan. Then simply scrape that and stir it into the Olive oil juice and it will help add some flaover.
Nov 20, 2007 09:51 pm And Herb, that would be a waste of good meat!
The boyz and I play rock paper scissors to see who gets to eat which giblets. Last year I only won the neck. This year I'm going for it all.
I always though I would get them for life as kids don't like that stuff. Boy was I wrong.
Nov 20, 2007 10:55 pm In a pan heat some butter & olive oil, add minced scallions(i think thats what you call echallotte),garlic and small bacon cubes and fry until brown, deglaze the pan with a little white wine then add chicken stock and or juices and thicken to the required consistency! mmmmmmmmmmm
Nov 21, 2007 01:43 am im gonna use chicken stock for sure. the bacon is an odd idea but it would add some fat. oh well, i have backup gravy here, something in a plastic jar, specifically for thanksgiving. so i am gonna go sort of noize's route here because i have all that shiz
Nov 21, 2007 01:44 am only thing i'm not sure of is how to cook the cutlets. i understand about browning them. then i guess you go to a much lower heat and try to cook them for like 20 min or something. these are like thick slices of ham, 1/4 inch thick.
Nov 21, 2007 01:47 am actually, kaos is right; use the chicken stock, but add some bacon greezzzz for those little floating, clear, artery emulsifying oil slicks. Almost identical to bird drippings, just has alot more sodium and a few more calories. Which should make it taste better according to manlaw 248.17B
Nov 21, 2007 03:11 pm what do you guys think of people who bash thanksgiving? i never understood those people who think it's supposed to be a 'sad' holiday. i also don't understand those who don't like christmas because it's too 'commercialized.'
that's one of the great things about christmas! the hustle and bustle followed by a long, drawn out ending at home.
Nov 21, 2007 03:14 pm There are people out there who just have to bash everything that makes others happy.
Typically, I am not a "holiday" kinda person, but I don't bash, to each their own and everybody celebrates everything (or not) in their own way.
Thanksgiving is one I like, I don't know why, I just do. It's not religious based, it's culture based, I like that, a day to be thankful for what you have.
For as crabby of a **** as I usually am, I have to admit, today I have been emailing friends and just appreciate the good things in life. There is typically more to be thankful for than not.
Those people that just are not happy unless they are pissing on somebody else just suck. We call then democrats.
booya!
Nov 21, 2007 03:20 pm haha yeah the thanksgiving haters are always lefties
Nov 21, 2007 04:24 pm I just wish the sun would shine a little more during the holidays. I get a little gloomed out, not hating the holidays mind you. Just get that gloomy feeling when there is no friggin sunshine for days on end.
Otherwise, thanksgiving rocks for sure.
Nov 22, 2007 12:46 am stuffing turned out wack. i did everything right, but i didn't know the bread crumbs were sourdough till i opened the bag. overwhelms it. it'll do; it's not that bad. it just woulda been better if the bread had been plain.
*edit: fixed. new batch, plain bread, now it tastes perfect.
anyway happy tgiving
Nov 22, 2007 02:16 pm Indeed, a little wine (which sucked the bog one) and a lot of food. I'm over stuffed now and its affecting my typing speed. I'm hiding out down here for awhile hoping my sister in law and her hubby go home soon.
but food was terrific. Turkey was so done it all fell apart in the roaster. Not too bad though as it means a lot less work for me carving that sucker up. About a 25 pound turkey, lots of left overs. And green bean casserole, yum yum.
Oh ya, did I mention the wine sucked. :-)
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