Making gravy ahead of time?

S

shaun-in-to

Well-known member
A friend has asked me for advice about making gravy ahead of time, to simplify last-minute kitchen frenzy. I don't have any experience with doing it ahead of time. (She makes hers the usual way, skimming the fat from the roasting pan, stirring in a flour-water slurry and stock.) Would anyone have any advice I can pass along? Thanks.

 
Yes. If it is for turkey or chicken, roast one several days ahead of time and freeze the meat but

use the drippings for the gravy (I also use the carcass for broth for the gravy.).

 
You can make a nice brown stock ahead of time, or have some in your freezer...

(ie, brown turkey neck and giblets with chopped onion and carrot in a frying pan, then simmer in a saucepan with water for a few hours.)

While the roast is cooking, make the gravy base: make a brown roux by cooking flour and oil (or sneak a few spoonfuls of fat from the roasting pan.) until it is walnut brown. Whisk in your stock and simmer until thickened.

After the roast is done, pour the juices out of the pan, remove the fat, and add the juices to the gravy base. Deglaze the roasting pan with wine and add that as well. Voila, gravy! You can still add more flour/water paste if you'd like it thicker, or more stock or wine to thin it.

 
doesn't everybody have stock in their freezer??

it's one of the best investments i can think of.

 
I don't - it always gets used up before I get a chance to freeze it.

I should make bigger batches, eh?

 
I'v made my turkey/Thanksgiving gravy ahead for several years now.

I save drippings from poultry all year, or roast a chicken and save that juice if you need it fast. Or use chicken broth from the store. I make an onion gravy two days before, add chicken broth or what you have saved from previous. When the turkey releases it's juice, take your baster and add that to your almost finished gravy. It is lovely, all done and tastes great. Just heat it up gently, and put into your gravy server.
I also like to brown my flour, and save it in an air tight container. I usually brown about one cup of flour at a time, nice and golden. It is so much better than the raw flour.

 
Karen, I haven't tried browning my flour first- do you just do it in a dry pan on top of the stove?

 
what a novel idea. I always brown it in the fat of the meat that I'm making the gravy for. So I'm

guessing that you would just 'toast' the flour generically, otherwise you would have 3 or 4 jars of flour of specific flavours ??

What else do you use browned flour for Karen?

 
Not Karen, but I can supply some info on "brown flour"

This is an old German trick to make gravies out of pan juices without making a roux, and without having to separate the fat from the juices since the fat that would normally be used in a roux is not used.

Typically, a pan (pie pan, etc.) with a shallow layer of flour is put into the oven with the roast to toast the flour. Stir it to get an even brown, and remove when it has the desired toasting. Some people use a broiler, but you have to be careful.

Then the flour is stired into a slurry with water and incorporated in the juices to make the gravy. This is especially true for Sauerbraten, but it can be used for any pot liquids/pan drippings after roasting/frying. Lots of old time cooks in my area still do this. My grandmother would take her bowl, stir in the brown flour with milk, and then dump it into the pan and stir to make the gravy.

 
Hey big brother!

yup, it's me - but you're probably gonna disown me when you find out how little I cook these days...and how largely uninteresting what I cook is!

Maybe I can still hang around and provide "colour" or "comic relief" or something...

 
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