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How can I make brown bits for turkey gravy?

14 years ago

Ever since we switched to having fresh turkeys for Thanksgiving, I have not had any nice brown bits in the bottom or the roasting pan for gravy making because the bird exudes so many juices during roasting that the bits never brown.

So how do others get around that problem? I do make gravy with the drippings and juices separated, but I miss the brown bits. Help.

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Comments (6)

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
14 years ago
It is rediculously simple to get "brown" gravy.

There are two kinds of soy sauce, light and dark (supermarkets mostly sell the light kind, get the dark kind in Asian stores).

One table spoon of dark soy sauce makes gravy very brown.

dcarch
arlinek
14 years ago
I've ONLY used a fresh, nat'l turkey for 25+ years (Huntsinger in So. Calif.) and I get tons of brown bits, so I'm confused how this would happen to you. I'm clarifying to you that my turkey NEVER has been injected with the "8-12%" salt solution, etc. as many are but buyers often neglect to see the fine print. My procedure is to Pam my roasting pan and rack, place the washed and cleaned/trimmed turkey on the rack and THEN proceed to season it all over, including the insides, along with a final sprinkling of paprika for color all over. Some of all of this, of course, falls to the bottom of the roasting pan. I then always cook breast-side down for first 45 min. @ 425 F. and then breast side up for the remaining time at 325F., rubbing it with softened butter just once during cooking. I also tilt the unstuffed bird just prior to removing it from the pan for any add'l drippings that were inside. I have TONS of brown bits in the pan + about 1/2" at least of dk. brown drippings. I then separate this, commence with the gravy makings in the same roasting pan and then add in at the right time the cup or two of turkey broth (+ chp'd giblets and neck bits) I cooked earlier with the giblets, neck, wing tips, onion and water that boiled for 1.5 hrs. The color is DARK brown with NO soy sauce or anything else added (sorry, DCarch). Delish.
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Hi Ellen, here it is! I hope your friend likes it, I'm making mine right this minute (I don't use the giblets, I think they're ick). Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy Makes about 2 quarts For more flavor, after roasting the turkey you can skim the drippings from the pan and add them to the gravy just before serving. It's best to discard the strong-tasting liver before using the giblets. This recipe makes enough to accompany a large turkey and still have plenty for leftovers. 6 turkey drumsticks, thighs, or wings reserved turkey giblets reserved turkey neck 2 carrots , chopped coarse 1 head garlic , halved 2 ribs celery , chopped coarse 2 onions , chopped coarse Vegetable oil spray 10cups low-sodium chicken broth 2 cups dry white wine 12 sprigs fresh thyme 1/2 cup all-purpose flour Table salt and ground black pepper 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Place giblets, neck, drumsticks, carrots, celery, onions, and garlic in roasting pan, spray with vegetable oil, and toss well. Roast, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 2. Transfer contents of roasting pan to Dutch oven. Add broth, wine, and thyme and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until reduced by half, about 1 1/2 hours. Pour through fine-mesh strainer into large container (discard solids), cover stock with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until fat congeals, at least 2 hours. 3. Using soup spoon, skim fat and reserve. Heat 1/2 cup fat in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until bubbling. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, until honey colored, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in stock, bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Gravy can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.) Reheat gravy in saucepan over medium heat until bubbling.
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Comments (3)
I always cook a fresh turkey. Since I baste with the pan juices, it's easy to pull off any extra juices in the bottom so the turkey doesn't end up boiling in the juices. I always have "bits" in the bottom. Like my mom, once I take the turkey from the oven, I put the roasting pan on the burners and cook down the juices (deglaze, not a word she would have used!), till they are nice and brown and concentrated. I usually get more bits during the deglazing, too. I make my gravy in the roasting pan. This makes nice dark, tasty gravy. I sometimes add veggie broth for a nice taste, and if necessary, Kitchen Bouquet for color (and taste). I get a very good gravy.
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So the gravy involved experimentation, yelling, throwing food out, and frenzied remaking. I had a little pork stock and a good amount of duck stock. I expected someone to bring some turkey drippings, and we had boxed chicken stock for an emergency. I thought it would be fun to make a few kinds of gravy. So I did something that made perfect sense to me. I put about 2 c of AP flour in a saucepan and browned it. It was fun, I got to do that rolling thing where you move the pan to get the contents to roll into a wave and thus mix. Okay, the kitchen got a little smoky but oh well. My idea, you see, was that I'd have a jar of this pre-browned flour on hand for future "instant" gravies and general thickening. Because sometimes you need a sauce thickened right away and don't have time to mix raw flour with a little of the liquid, whisk it smooth, add and cook until the floury taste is gone, and you don't want the texture of a cornstarch thickened sauce. Then I made the gravy for my low cooked deep fried pork cubes. I simply put the pork stock in a small saucepan, added butter and pork fat, then stirred in the pre-browned flour. It worked great: dissolved right away, no clumping, no further cooking of the flour needed, and easy to adjust the degree of thickness by adding a bit more pre-browned flour (let's call this PBF for short) because the thickness responded immediately. That was easy, I thought. Then SWMBO started, not yelling exactly, but loudly expressing her disappointment and astonishment that I had cooked the raw flour, which is Never Ever Done and Unheard Of. DD took a few minutes to comprehend what I had done, then joined in the vocalization of Great Dismay. Protesting, DD proceeded to make the duck stock with my PBF. And immediately claimed it was a disaster. I was busy frying confit duck breasts so I didn't see what she did. I think she may have used the PBF as if it was raw flour, starting the roux by cooking butter and flour. Maybe the PBF quickly became burned - since I didn't do any additional cooking of PBF during the actual gravy making, I am not sure how it would tolerate further cooking. I just don't know. Anyway she said the texture was gritty and the taste was burned, and that all the duck gravy had to be thrown out. Throwing out a pint of duck stock is not something that makes DD happy. She said so. In the end, she started all over with the Normal Sane Roux Method You Dummy and made gravy with the turkey drippings and chicken stock, and it was fine. The pork bites drizzled with gravy turned out to be very popular. So there. And I have a jar of PBF that I need to hide or label as something else, lest SWMBO or DD find it and throw it out.
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anoriginal
14 years ago
If I was getting a LOT of juices early on, might suck them up with baster. Pan needs to go a little "dry" to get that brown stuff happening. DON'T toss any juice you might remove... set aside and use to baste.

Though I like soy sauce in a lot of things, woudn't use with turkey... kinda salty?? We always had Kitchen Bouquet around. Have NO idea what it really is, but a small amount (maybe teaspoon or so) can turn tasty but pale gravy nice and brown.
lindac
14 years ago
Soy sauce may make your gravy brown, but it won't taste anything like the fond in the bottom of a pan.
How hot in your oven when cooking the bird?
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
14 years ago
Soy sauce adds a lot of complexity to the taste, not the same as doing things the regular way, but a table spoon is not going to change things substantially. Good soy sauce is not very salty.

If you have problems making your gravy brown, as the OP seems to have, this is a very quick, easy, delicious and sure way of doing it.

dcarch
ritaotay
14 years ago
I use a product called Brown Gravy Sauce by Dynasty... I've used other brands and they all work just fine... A few drops is all you need for 2 cups of gravy and it doesn't alter the taste one bit... I use it mainly for beef stew but it works for turkey gravy too...

Rita

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