| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 3 hr |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 2 hr 30 min |
| Yield: | 8 cups |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion or leek, or 2 shallots, sliced
- Neck and giblets from your turkey (discard the liver)
- 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 sprigs thyme, parsley, rosemary and/or sage
- 1 bay leaf
- Turkey drippings from your roasting pan
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- Dash of Worcestershire sauce
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons cold Flavored Butter, recipe follows (optional)
Instructions
- When your turkey goes into the oven, start the broth: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and turkey neck and giblets; cook, stirring, until the giblets are browned, about 15 minutes. Add the chicken broth, herb sprigs and bay leaf; cover and simmer while the turkey roasts, about 2 hours. Strain the broth and keep warm; reserve the neck and giblets, if desired.
- When your turkey is done, transfer it to a cutting board and pour all the pan drippings into a degreasing cup. Add 1/2 cup of the prepared broth to the roasting pan and scrape up the browned bits with a wooden spoon. (If the bits are stuck, put the pan over a low burner to loosen them.) Add the bits and liquid to the degreasing cup.
- Let the fat rise to the top of the degreasing cup, then spoon off 1/2 cup fat and transfer to a large saucepan over medium heat. Make a roux: Sprinkle the flour into the pan and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the flour browns slightly, about 4 minutes.
- Gradually add the hot broth to the roux, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low. Pour the dark roasting juices from the degreasing cup into the gravy, discarding any remaining fat. If desired, chop the giblets and shred the neck meat; add to the gravy. Simmer, whisking occasionally, until the gravy thickens, about 10 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the flavored butter, if desired.
- Start with cold heavy cream and mix on high speed.
- After about 3 minutes, you’ll have whipped cream; continue mixing.
- After about 6 more minutes, the butter will clump and separate from the liquid. Strain and wrap the butter in cheesecloth, then squeeze out the liquid.
- Tip: To make perfect rounds, shape flavored butter into a log using parchment paper; wrap and chill, then slice.
- Pumpkin
- Mash 1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin, 1 stick softened butter, 1/4 teaspoon orange zest, 1/2 teaspoon each sugar and pumpkin pie spice, and a pinch of salt.
- Spiced Cranberry
- Simmer 1/2 cup cranberries with 1 tablespoon water, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 strip lemon zest, 1 cinnamon stick and 1 clove, 6 to 8 minutes. Discard the zest, cinnamon and clove; let cool. Pulse in a food processor with 1 stick softened butter and a pinch of salt.
- Bourbon-Raisin
- Microwave 1/2 cup raisins with 1 tablespoon bourbon, covered, 45 seconds; let cool. Pulse in a food processor with 1 stick softened butter, 1 tablespoon chopped chives and a pinch of salt.
- Sage Brown Butter
- Melt 1 stick butter over medium heat and cook until browned. Add 1/4 cup sage and fry 30 seconds; drain on paper towels, then chop. Let the brown butter cool; mash with 1 stick softened butter, the sage and a pinch of salt.
Reviews
Now that another Thanksgiving has come and gone, I wanted to give a shoutout to this recipe. I’ve been using it for probably close to a decade and it’s never let me down. My old way used too much of the fat from the drippings; this version is lighter on the fat and big on flavor. It always yields a nice, dark, rich, turkey-tasting gravy. One difference, though: Just because it’s the way I was taught, I cook the roux and then slowly add in the hot liquid, waiting until it’s incorporated and the gravy is thickened before I add more. I stop when it’s the right consistency. Once or twice I’ve ended up with gravy that’s too thin, so I just mash up equal parts butter and flour, drop it in, and stir until thickened. (If you have leftover stock/liquid, save it for thinning out the remaining gravy over the next few days of leftovers.)
Amazing from broth making through final product. A huge hit!
Not sure what I did wrong. I followed exactly. I carefully measured 8 cups of broth and cooked. Not much liquid cooked out of this in 3 hours on the stove. So I was suspicious that 1/2 cup of flour was going to thicken. It did not. Then I added the liquid from the pan I cooked the turkey in so that made it much more runny. Then I added another 1/2 cup flour in a slurry. Still very runny. I was holding dinner up because I am a turkey gravy fan but finally told everyone to go ahead and eat. Left it on the stove. Did not thicken up even as it sat. I had a big saucepan full of tasty but very liquid gravy. I used King Arthur flour. Maybe I should have used corn starch? IDK but I will try this again but only use 4 cups of broth to cook the giblets.
Your butter to make doesn’t say how much whip cream you used to blend with different flavors
Best gravy I’ve ever made.
Amazing. The fresh herbs really made the stock/gravy pop!
Good Work!
can this recipe be doubled without losing the rich flavor?
Worked like a charm.
I think you’re doing it the hard way. Three hours to make gravy. Are you nuts? I do it the way my mother did it, who did it the way her grandmother did it etc. When you pull the turkey out of the oven, and it’s up to temp, remove the turkey from the roasting pan. Put the pan on the stove top. Start sprinkling white flour into the juices. Stir constantly as you add the flour. When it starts to thicken, turn the burner underneath it low to medium. Start adding hot water slowly, stirring constantly. Stir and warm until it reaches desired consistency. Season to taste. Taste it before adding the seasonings. If you have sprinkled the turkey with spices before cooking, the gravy will have some flavor from that. All I add is salt and it is delicious. Fifteen minutes, tops.