Gravy
Ingredients
Preparation
Bland, flat, pallid, gray
Step 1
Depending on the kind of gravy, consider adding any of the following five types of ingredients:
Step 2
Herbs and spices; for instance, ground allspice, coriander, marjoram, mustard, savory, or thyme.
Step 3
Extracts, such as bouillon cubes, yeast extracts, or meat extracts.
Step 4
Alcohol, of which sherry and port are most traditional, but white vermouth is an interesting variation.
Step 5
Bottled seasonings, such as soy sauce, Tabasco, Worcestershire, A.1. Steak Sauce, and so on.
Step 6
Red currant jelly.
Fatty
Step 7
If the fat is mostly on the top, you can either skim it off or sop it up with a piece of bread. If you’re being fanatical, let it stand. While the fat is floating up to the top, tear paper towels into wide strips. Float these on top, one at a time, drawing them off toward the edge. They’ll remove the last traces of fat. If the fat is in the middle (and isn’t that the case with most of us?), the easiest thing to do is to chill the gravy (quickly, in the freezer, if necessary), skim the fat off, and reheat it. Next time, you may wish to get one of those clever gravy boats, in which the spout goes to the bottom, so you are pouring from the lean bottom of the gravy rather than the fatty top.
Lumpy
Step 8
Beat lumpy gravy with a whisk or with a hand-operated rotary beater. Use a blender or food processor only as a last resort. Or pour (or force) the gravy through a mesh strainer. Delumping gravy may make it too thin, in which case see Too Thin.
Not brown enough
Step 9
To darken gravy quickly without affecting the flavor, add 1 teaspoon instant coffee.
Not enough
Step 10
If there aren’t enough drippings left in the pan to make any gravy at all, add 1 cup water and a bouillon cube to whatever is in the pan, and cook until the cube is dissolved.
Step 11
If you have some gravy but not enough, either add one of the many kinds of canned gravy available, or try this very fast substitute: to every 1/2 cup of gravy, add 1 teaspoon meat-flavoring sauce (e.g., Worcestershire or steak sauce), 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and one 8-ounce can tomato sauce.
Salty
Step 12
The only certain way to decrease saltiness is to increase the quantity of the gravy. A few pinches of brown sugar often have the effect of overcoming saltiness without adding noticeable sweetness. Or, for minor oversalting, cut a raw potato into thin slices and cook them in the gravy until they become translucent, then remove the slices.
Too thin
Step 13
The best thickening agent is time. (Not thyme, time.) As a gravy cooks, the water evaporates, so it becomes thicker. If you don’t have time, or you can’t afford to reduce the quantity, here are the most common thickening agents:
Step 14
Arrowroot. Use about 1 tablespoon per cup of liquid, dissolved in cold water and then stirred in within 10 minutes of serving.
Step 15
Cornstarch. Use about 1 tablespoon per cup of liquid dissolved in cold water, then add the mixture to the gravy. To remove the constarchy taste and allow the gravy to thicken, bring it to a boil.
Step 16
A roux. This is the favorite method of many pros. For 1 cup of liquid to be thickened, melt 1 to 2 tablespoons butter in a small pan, add an equal amount of flour to form a thick paste, and cook it a bit. Then whisk the roux into the gravy and bring it to a full boil to get it to thicken.
Step 17
Other thickeners for various situations are rice, barley, a paste of flour and water (also good for scrapbooks and papier-mâché), milk, cream, egg yolks (remember the ones you put in the freezer?), mashed potato flakes, and (ugh) blood (preferably that of a bird or animal, not the chef, added just before serving). Here comes the most helpful suggestion on this page: never boil blood! (It will separate into protein solids and liquid.)
