The King's Christmas Feast
The Feast Gravy
Make gravy while the turkey stands:
In this step, you are simply gathering all the juices from the turkey
and from the roasting pan that you can. These juices contain a lot of grease.
When you gather them juices into a large measuring cup or bowl, the fats
will rise to the top and whether you use a fat separator or just pour off
the grease, in the end you are gathering eight cups of liquid to make the
gravy.
The steps are as described here:
First. Pour juices from the roasting pan through a sieve into a large
two quart measuring cup (do not clean roasting pan), then skim off and
discard most of the fat floating on top of the measuring cup. Reserve this
liquid for the gravy. If you do not have a two quart cup you can use a
large bowl. If you do not have a sieve, just continue as described and
forget the sieve. The sieve removes large chucks from the liquid but, in
many ways, these chunks are very flavorful and it will not "ruin" the gravy
to leave them in. The King's mother always insisted on having all the large
chunks in the gravy.
If using a fat separator, pour the roasting pan juices through sieve
into separator and let stand until fat rises to top, just let it sit for
1 to 2 minutes and most of the fat will rise to the top. Carefully pour
pan juices from separator into measuring cup, discarding most fat. Do not
clean the pan. The roasting pan will be deglazed to create even more liquid.
Second. Then place the roasting pan across 2 stove top burners (each
end of the pan will be on a burner), then add one cup and one half cups
of water and deglaze roasting pan by boiling over high heat for about one
minute while you also stir and scrape up brown bits from the bottom
and sides of the roasting pan. This procedure is called deglazing
Third. Then pour the deglazed liquid through sieve into a large measuring
cup containing pan juices. Hopefully you will now have enough liquids from
the turkey pan and your stock to create 8 cups of liquid. If you
do not have any stock, you can add water if necessary to get to eight cups.
If you have time you can quickly make a "flash stock" by chopping an
onion, a piece of celery, a garlic clove or two, into a sauce pan of water,
bring it to a boil, then and a bit of salt and pepper. Boil it for five
minutes, discard the vegetables and use the liquid as your substitute stock...
at worst it is far superior to plain water.
The chef usually makes stock by boiling a whole chicken with an onion,
pepper, garlic, a carrot lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. The remaining
chicken can be used later, as you wish, and should be refrigerated immediately..
Fourth. Melt one stick of unsalted butter in a large heavy sauce pan
or pot, two quarts is a good size. Stir 3/4 cup of all purpose flour into
the melted butter. Cook the butter and flour mixture ( this is the roux)
over moderate heat, whisking, 5 minutes.
Fifth Then add stock liquid mixture --- the eight cups of liquid ---
in a small steady stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, then bring
to a boil, whisking occasionally. Stir in any turkey juices accumulated
on platter and simmer for about 5 minutes. The chef usually uses a small
cup (a measuring cup) to dip liquid out of the large measuring cup or bowl,
and then pour the liquid slowly into the roux (the flour and butter mixture.
The small cup makes it easier to pour a steady stream into the roux.
Sixth. Adjust with seasonings to taste. Add salt (add about one half
teaspoon salt at time, stir in and taste to suit you will probably need
about two or three teaspoons of salt.. Add pepper, about one fourth teaspoon
at time, stir and taste to suit. You will probably need about two teaspoons
of pepper. Then stir in one to two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to
taste.
Seventh. Finish with a dash or two of cayenne pepper along with a half
teaspoon of garlic powder to perfectly season this gravy.
The gravy can be served over bread, over turkey, over potatoes, over
rice, etc. depending on your final menu choices.
Click Below for Information
on Great Anti Aging Products
