A PSA about Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

12 years ago

Oh my, I've made this the past 3 or 4 years.

It is the best gravy ever.

And yet, it is a PITA.

Expensive -- a good $25 or so for the turkey parts and broth and wine.

Time-consuming -- you roast the turkey parts and veggies for 1 1/2 hours and then you cook them in stock for 1 1/2 hours and then you refrigerate and skim it and finally finish it with a roux. Ahem.

But here's the thing: Your house smells like Thanksgiving a day or two ahead of the day. Magical.

You can skim off all the fat. Healthful.

You can clean up all the mess in advance. Practical.

It makes an amazing quantity -- you will run out of turkey and mashed potatoes before you run out of gravy. Delightful.

Who doesn't love a deeply flavored gravy??

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Comments (6)

carol_in_california
12 years ago
Due to health issues this is the first year I have not done just that.
Here's hoping next year will be better.
grainlady_ks
12 years ago
Ironically, I do this method for all kinds of bone broth and I make it several times a year with meaty bones I collect from cooking, or those I buy when they are drastically reduced, and store in the freezer until I have about 10# of bones per batch, and make it with poultry, beef, and occasionally a ham bone and/or ham hocks.

Pour the strained and reduced stock into a shallow cake pan, chill until it gels, cut into cubes, place the cubes on a plate lined with paper towels and leave them in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours more to dehydrate a little, which makes them a little more solid from loss of moisture, and the flavor concentrates. Next, place the cubes in containers in the freezer, or I'll freeze the cubes and place them in a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-seal them for longer freezer storage. These are my "instant" bouillon cubes for making flavorful sauces, gravy, broth.... Never buy instant bouillon cubes or granules ever again.

I also have some ice cube trays I use only for food (not ice), and I'll make the cubes in them.

-Grainlady
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Flour makes gravy thick. Cooling gravy gets very thick too. However, what has been said is that floured gravy that is cooked at a high heat for a long period of time will eventually lose its thickness. The key is that the floured gravy is cooked at a high heat for a long time. Something happens that results in a breakdown of the flour's ability to keep the gravy thick. If you normally don't heat your gravy at a high heat for extended periods of time, you would never encounter this situation. It's similar to the idea that browned flour, such as is used for making a traditional dark roux, doesn't have the thickening power of a lighter colored roux. So boiling a thin, floured gravy may not result in a thicker gravy. Not unless it is boiled enough to actually reduce the liquid quite a bit. "Sauces thickened with starches should be reheated carefully, as they will lose some thickening ability if reheated to a full boil."
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I would not add smoked juices to the gravy either. Not everyone likes too much of that flavor. I just assemble my stuffing and then bake it the next day. I even tried the make-ahead mashed potatoes this year. Less mess and dishes on turkey day. Just remember to take the dishes out and try to bring them to room temp a few hours before they go in the oven or add cooking time to the recipe. It might be cold in the middle if you use the original cooking time. I have time change notes on all of my make-ahead recipes.
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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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mabeldingeldine_gw
12 years ago
Coolbeans, thanks to this PSA, I decided to make some extra turkey stock for gravy a day ahead. I made the gravy the day of but made the roux ahead of time, so that I could add the turkey drippings and additional stock. Oh my word!

I made it with port and also added some of the potato cooking water (as I'd spatchcocked my turkey and was short on pan drippings) and it was the best gravy I've ever made. I could eat it with a spoon, arteries be damned!
kathleenca
12 years ago
I think this is the fourth year I've made Make Ahead Gravy. I LOVE it, especially as I have not been a good gravy maker in the past. I make this about 3 weeks ahead & freeze it in a couple of containers. It makes about 2 quarts & the flavor is great. I hadn't thought about the cost, but it's worth every penny to me for the flavor, quantity & not having a last-minute item to contend with. Yum,yum, yum.
mustangs81
12 years ago
I do the Make Ahead Turkey Gravy too. About 4 years ago I started using chicken feet along with the other ingredients mentioned and was reminded by my nephews yesterday that it was the best gravy ever but they just didn't like the name. I told them that going forward it's Aunt Cathy's Gravy.

Actually I didn't call it Chicken Feet Gravy, I was responding to the comments about how good it was and all anyone remembers is "chicken feet".
anoriginal
12 years ago
Wasn't cooking the whole meal so knew I wouldn't have left-overs. Last weekend, bought a whole turkey breast. I tooke it off bone, vac sealed half and just put other half in regular freezer bag since it was only gonna be frozen till yesterday. I roasted the carcass to get a decent amount of good browm GUNK in pan. Then thoroughly browned bones went into big stock pot. Ended up with about 2 quarts of nice stock... used some to get all the nice dripping out of roasting pan. Filled a few containers just for freeze and ended up with nice amount of gravy to go with my "left-over" turkey for dinner.

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A PSA about Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

Comments (6)

carol_in_california

grainlady_ks

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mabeldingeldine_gw

kathleenca

mustangs81

anoriginal

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