Elevate the flavors of your favorite dishes with a well-crafted gravy. Gravies come in a delightful array of flavors and ingredients, each perfectly suited to complement different meals.
Making homemade gravy is an important kitchen skill for any home cook. Gravy is a sauce made from fat, thickener (flour or cornstarch), and liquid. Learn everything you need to know to perfect your from-scratch gravy.
Types of Gravy
Brown gravy is made from roasted meat or poultry drippings, such as beef, turkey, or chicken. It gets its rich and savory flavor from the meat drippings.
White gravy offers a light and creamy experience. This gravy is created with milk or cream.
Rich and earthy mushroom gravy is another favorite. Mushroom gravy is rich, velvety, and packed with savory flavor.
Gravy Ratio
The classic ratio for gravy is 3-2-1. You will use 3 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons fat, and 1 cup of hot liquid.
Roux
A roux (pronounced ROO) mixes butter and flour into a paste that can thicken liquids. Roux can be taken through a range of stages of cooking, from white to deep brown. Gravy made with flour starts with a roux.
Fond
Those bits of caramelized vegetables and meat at the bottom of the skillet or roasting pan are called fond and give gravy rich color and flavor. Deglaze the pan by adding a small amount of liquid (broth, stock, juice, wine, or water) to the hot pan. As the liquid sizzles, scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or flat spatula. The brown bits will easily lift from the bottom of the pan. Now, you can start making gravy.
Fat
Fat is the first thing that goes in the pan to construct gravy. You can use fat from cooked meat, butter, or oil. Warm the fat in the saucepan you’ll use for the gravy over medium-low heat.
Aromatics
Now is the time to add an extra flavor element to the gravy. Try sweet onions and garlic or mushrooms and herbs. Cook the vegetables in the hot fat until they’ve softened. This step is not necessary, but this is the opportunity to enhance the gravy’s flavor.
Thickener
If you’re using flour as the thickener, now is the time to add it. Flour gives the gravy a traditional opaque look. To avoid lumpy gravy, use a fine-mesh sieve to sprinkle the flour over the fat and aromatics. Whisk the flour into the fat slowly over the heat until it’s well incorporated. The mixture of flour and fat should look like wet sand. Continue stirring for about 1-2 minutes. Some gravies are cooked longer to develop a more intense and rich flavor; be careful not to burn the mixture.
Cornstarch will make a shiny, clear gravy. Cornstarch makes a great option if you want the gravy to be gluten-free! Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. If you’re using cornstarch for the thickener, heat the liquid in a pan before adding it. First, mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cool water or liquid to make a slurry. Slowly add the cornstarch slurry to the hot liquid. Whisk the mixture until it is well incorporated and the gravy thickens.
It’s important to consider whether you’ll be reheating the gravy, as flour-thickened gravy is much better for reheating. Cornstarch-thickened gravy will be thinner and may have an uneven consistency when reheated.
Liquid
Use drippings from the meat or poultry, homemade or canned broth/stock, or warm milk for the liquid. Now is the step where you add hot liquid to the flour gravy. Add 1/2 cup of the hot liquid and stir. Then, slowly and gradually whisk the remaining liquid into the mixture, stirring to ensure everything is well incorporated. Whisking constantly during this step eliminates lumps!
Simmer
Bring the gravy up to a simmer, continuing to whisk, and it starts to thicken up. The ideal consistency for gravy is thick enough to coat a spoon. If you dip a spoon in the gravy, you should be able to run your finger along the back of the spoon and leave a trail.
Season
Taste the gravy and season with salt and pepper. To change the flavor of your gravy, try adding spices and seasonings like poultry seasoning, paprika, rosemary, garlic or onion powder, sage, cayenne, and chili powder.
Gravy Fixes
The consistency of gravy is easy to correct. If flour gravy is thin, make a paste with equal amounts of flour and softened butter, bring the gravy to a boil, and gradually whisk in a tablespoon or two at a time until you obtain the desired thickness. Be sure to cook the gravy for at least 5 minutes after adding the paste to eliminate raw flour flavor. Thicken cornstarch gravy by mixing a tablespoon of starch with just enough gravy to form a thin paste, stirring to get the slurry smooth before whisking it into the gravy.
If the gravy is too thick, it contains too thickener. Thin it with additional liquid such as stock; you could use water instead, but then you’d be watering down the flavor.
If the gravy is lumpy, all is not lost. You can strain out the lumps by passing the gravy through a fine-mesh strainer or break up the lumps with a blender.
Storing
When the gravy is fully cooled, store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator or ziplock bag for the freezer. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to five days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Gravies are very important in the culinary world; they enhance the taste of your favorite dishes. So, the next time you’re in the kitchen, don’t forget to elevate your dish with the magic of gravy.
Written by Vicki Hayman, MS, University of Wyoming Extension Nutrition and Food Safety Educator
Sources:
- restauranthalloffame.com
- iamafoodblog.com
- www.tasteofhome.com