No holiday roast is complete without a side of homemade gravy. Since roast beef, turkey, chicken and pork need a 20- to 30-minute resting period after cooking, there is plenty of time to make gravy before you sit down to your meal. While store-bought gravy is an option, making it from scratch allows you to control the amount of fat and sodium contained in the final product.
Step 1
Remove the meat from the roasting pan. Pour all of the pan drippings into a fat separator, small bowl or other container and set aside. As the liquid cools, the fat will rise to the top, while the juices from the meat will remain on the bottom of the container.
Step 2
Preheat one or two of the stove burners to high, depending on the size of the roasting pan. Place the roasting pan on the burners and let sit for one to two minutes or until hot. Pour the wine directly into the hot pan to deglaze it. Stir with a wood spoon to get up all of the brown bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat to low and bring to a simmer.
Step 3
Place the stock with the flour in a jar or sealed container, and shake vigorously until thoroughly combined. Pour the mixture directly into the roasting pan on the stove and stir. As the liquid cooks, the slurry will begin to thicken the gravy.
Step 4
Use a large spoon to skim off the fat from the drippings, if using a bowl or other container. Discard the fat and pour the juices from the meat into the roasting pan. If using a fat separator, simply pour the juices into the roasting pan, being careful not to add back any of the fat.
Step 5
Turn the heat the medium-high, and cook the gravy for 10 to 15 minutes or until the desired consistency. Stir the gravy constantly during the cooking process to prevent lumps from forming.
Step 6
Place a sieve over a bowl or line a bowl with cheesecloth, leaving several inches of the cheesecloth hanging over the edge of the bowl. Pour the gravy into the bowl through the sieve or cheesecloth. Lift the sieve or cheesecloth and allow the residual gravy to drip back into the bowl, leaving any solids behind.
Tips and Warnings
- Match your wines to your meat. Use dry white wine for poultry, red wine for red meat and Madeira wine for pork. Celebrity chef Rachel Ray uses a combination of apple brandy and apple cider for her gravy when cooking turkey. Home and garden diva Martha Stewart recommends keeping gravy warm before the meal by placing the gravy in a small bowl set in a saucepan with a little simmering water to prevent it from congealing. The next time you cook breakfast sausage, scale back the recipe to roughly half. Serve sausage gravy over biscuits -- a real Southern treat.
- Do not season the gravy too early in the process. The liquid reduces, concentrating the flavors, which can result in over-salted gravy if you are not careful.
Things You'll Need
- Roasting pan with drippings from roast beef, turkey or pork
- Fat separator, small bowl or jar
- 1 cup wine
- 1 cup beef or chicken stock
- Jar or other container with lid
- 3 tbsp. all-purpose or gravy flour
- Medium bowl
- Fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth
- Kosher or sea salt
- Coarsely ground black pepper
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