Great holiday turkey gravy without the last minute fuss. Learned this years ago

C

CathyZ

Well-known member
Making gravy from turkey drippings last minute just as you need to carve, serve and finish sides is something you can avoid. I learned this years ago- most likely from somebody in here:

Roast a turkey a month or more before Thanksgiving and save the drippings. Use the turkey meat, save the carcass and other bones in the freezer. When there are enough bones, make stock from the bones, reduce and freeze. Use the drippings and that stock at Thanksgiving to make the gravy. Then save the drippings from the new turkey, save the carcass when picked over, freeze and do it again for next turkey dinner. I have the luxury of a large freezer so I always have a "bone bag" going to add stuff to. I make stock every month or so, reduce down and freeze so I have containers stacked to use for all kinds of stuff- soups, sauces, braising liquid, etc.

 
Both make a difference, for sure.

Because we cannot find turkey at a decent price on this island I hardly ever buy one outright. Foodland (overpriced grocery store) offers a "deal" every Thanksgiving and Christmas- we have these store vouchers that spit out of the register for each $250 we spend at the store. These vouchers are good for "store specials" which usually aren't any kind of a deal at all (like buy one bag of potato chips, get one free, like that). But during the holidays, for a short time, one voucher gets me a free turkey, sometimes two vouchers get me a half ham. So I save them up all year for this time. So far I have three free turkeys in the freezer. Hubby loves turkey so I make sure I use up most of whatever is taking freezer space to make room for more birdies. I always feel good, healthy revenge at the store for overcharging us on all food all year long!

 
HA! Gotta get the discounts where you can. Too bad the island chickens aren't more tender smileys/smile.gif

 
No carcass goes to waste around here! (Only a foodie/cook could truly understand).

Every type of meat, poultry, fish, etc., gets stock made from whatever is left over. Vegetable stock too.

I keep a gallon ziploc in the freezer for raw chicken scraps. I bring it out and open it up next to my raw meat cutting board and toss the scraps into it as I trim whatever chicken parts I'm preparing that day. Then, back into the freezer until I have enough bones, etc., to make stock. Then I get my big, huge pozole stock pot out and simmer the whole thing for at least 8 hours. Then I strain it and begin reducing the stock until I get it down to about 1/2 quart. Then it goes into my chest freezer, labeled and dated.

I have concentrated stock for everything, including ham stock and fish stock from shrimp shells. So good, so easy, and I feel so FRUGAL when I use it.

Michael

 
Stocks and Bonds

Michael, we are cut from the same cloth. Bonded by stocks. I do exactly the same thing but I use a two gallon Zip Lock Bag- LOL. And when I use my stock I know it is better than anything I can buy at the store.

 
Absolutely! RvB got me started about 20 years ago. He suggested using homemade chicken stock...

...as a starting point for making chicken soup. He said to use your chicken stock instead of water to simmer the chickens for making a new batch of chicken soup.

Great advice.

I miss RICK.

Michael

 
I always have chicken/turkey stock in my freezer. I make my gravy a few days ahead

put it in fridge and gently heat up the day I cook the turkey. I use a baster to add even more flavor to the gravy by sucking up some juices and putting into the gravy, which thickens even more in the fridge. I also make a dressing a few days ahead and put it into a crockpot. I suck up turkey juices and add to the dressing while it heats up. It took me a lot of years to finally figure out how to get all the food made ahead, so I can enjoy my family the day of, out of the kitchen. Once I did learn all the tricks, life events happened and I have not cooked a turkey dinner for several years now. But, I can pass my tricks along!

 
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