Tamerlain

I made a roast beef a few days ago and tried to make gravy. It didn't turn out.

I made a roast chicken tonight and called my mom for advice about gravy before I tried again. It didn't turn out.

I know you add flour to the juices from the meat and mix it together over a burner. The first time I tried it I just used flour, but it clumped together. The second time, my mom recommended mixing water and flour together and then pouring it in with the meat juices while mixing it together. I don't know why it didn't work because I've seen it work for her dozens of times.

My girlfriend told me to try cornstarch and water next time. I'm not sure when next time will be, but I thought I'd get some more ideas before tackling it again.

Thanks in advance!

-Tamerlain

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Charlatan

Flour and water is a roux... (sp?).

The way I avoid the lumps is to put a small amount of flour and some of the juice into a jar and shake. It creates a lump free roux that you can now introduce to the rest of the pan juices.

EDIT: Roux on Wikipedia.

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Dilbert1234567

Roux is flour and oil.

to avoid clumping, take a small bit of water, or better yet a complimentary wine and mix the flour in that first into a paste, then mix that in the juices.

shaking in a jar sounds like a plan too.

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Charlatan

Roux is flour and fat...


Typically in French cooking that fat is butter but the juice of a roast beef or a roast chicken is fat (and basting juices).

Here is one recipe that I use... it's Martha Stewart (don't laugh)

It's for a Turkey Gravy but the principle is the same for Beef, just no giblets.

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mtsgsd

[QUOTE=Dilbert1234567]Roux is flour and oil.

The key point here is that it's flour and fat of some type.

I remember one time (once) when I thought I'd just skip the butter for the roux and just use some water (I was out of butter). I had library paste! LOL. What a disaster!

Ripsaw

A roux is as stated prior, fat and flour. Equal parts fat to flour. After roasting a chicken remove chicken and all juices from the pan. Reserve both the fat and the chicken juices. Four ounces of roux, which is two ounces fat by weight and two ounces flour by weight will thicken one quart of liquid.

In a separate, clean pan place 2 oz of the reserved fat. Heat over medium heat. When hot, add all 2 oz of the measured flour at once. Using a whisk,
incorporate all flour so that there is no clumping. Clumps here means lumpy gravy. Cook slowly to reduce the 'floury' taste. A roux will procede through several stages of color. Pale, blonde, brown (peanut butter), chocolate, burned. Don't go past blonde for a chicken gravy. It should take about 6-8 minutes.

Turn your attention to the roasting pan for a moment. While the roux is cooking, return the pan to high heat until it gets hot again. Deglaze the pan with white wine (take the pan off the heat momentarily, unless you like fireballs), scraping up the fond, or brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Reduce this by half the volume over high heat. Add three cups of chicken stock to the roasting pan and bring to a boil. Back to the roux.

When the roux has reached the blonde stage, slowly whisk the liquid from the roasting pan into the roux. Whisk whisk whisk. Again, lumps here means lumpy gravy. Add all the remaining chicken juices and bring to a boil. Season with salt. Voila. Gravy.

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Dilbert1234567

what kind of wine are you cooking with Ripsaw? i've never had wine ignite on me, just the hard stuff.

but you've got a great description. a tip for anyone making a darker roux, make it in the oven, 350F ish, the indirect heat will stop it from burning.

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duck0987

Here is all you need to know on a roux.

2 tbsp of flour + 2 tbsp of fat will thicken about 1 cup of liquid. When ever I go for a gravy, I don't leave anything to chance, I just use butter and not the grease from the pan.

2 tbsp of butter in a sauce pan on medium heat until all the water boils off, turn down to low and then begin wisking in your 2 tbsps of flour. You know you are ready for the liquid (always keep back a little of the liquid) when it has a slightly "nutty" smell (approx 5 min) this is your roux, add the liquid continue to wisk until it reaches a boil you can turn the heat up a bit but not too much you don't want this to clump.. If your sauce is too thick you can add some of the additional liquid to thin the gravy.

You know you have the right consistency when it will coat the back of a spoon and you can run your finger down the middle of the spoon back and the gravy does not run into the uncovered area.

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Ripsaw

No wine in particular. Its just a safe habit that I picked up. I always deglaze off the heat. I've had fat aerosolize when liquid hits a hot pan, and i've had that ignite on me. Fun times.

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Tamerlain

Looks like I've got lots of things to try next time. Thanks everyone.

-Tamerlain

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shakran

that's part of it. It's supposed to clump together btw. Add the flour and stir. It'll form little clumps. Let that brown, stirring occasionally. Now add milk, SLOWLY, a little at a time while whisking until it's the right consistancy. Voila, gravy.

Mister Coaster

My secret is to let someone else make it... My father-in-law used to be a chef, so he's good at it.

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vanblah

Depending on the kind of gravy you are making you may need different tools.

For country gravy I use a cast-iron skillet, bacon grease, flour and milk. You can use sausage instead of bacon ... but I really prefer the bacon grease.

Get the grease really hot, and sprinkle a little black pepper on it. Not too much.

Then sprinkle the flour on. It should bubble and sizzle quite a lot.

Using a metal spatula work the flour around the skillet until it's all incorporated into the grease. Do this for a while -- but don't burn it.

Add a cup or two of milk and STIR CONSTANTLY until it comes to just UNDER a boil.

Then turn the heat down. Keep stirring it until you can't stand it anymore. The longer it cooks the better ... sort of. If you go too long it will be too thick.

Gravy is one of those things that can take a while to master.

For chicken and other meat gravys you can follow the general principles above. Bacon grease (or butter) and flour. Instead of milk you add the juices from the meat -- or both if you want a creamy gravy. You can add wine as part of the liquid in beef gravy. I don't add pepper to chicken gravy, but I do for beef gravy. Other spices will depend on what you used on the meat. You may also need to add salt if the bacon wasn't very salty.

The key is getting the flour to incorporate with the grease to make a roux; THEN add the liquid. Once you add liquid you can't add anymore flour. It's also VERY difficult to get flour to incorporate into a liquid because it tends to clump. You have to cook it in the grease first and then add the liquid to it.

Bacon grease is a good fat to use because you can get it pretty hot before it starts smoking, and if it DOES start smoking you can just cool it off and it won't taste bad (unless you REALLY burn it). Butter can scorch very easily, but if you pay attention it makes a great base for roux.

They're both "bad for you" -- but hey, we're talking gravy here. Nothing good for you in that at all.

edmos1

The darker the roux the less thickening properties you will have, but the more flavor. Since this is gravy and you are adding flavor from juices or fat from the meat you are cooking, you do not need a lot of flavor from the roux.

snowy

I just really make sure to SPRINKLE the flour slowly into the fat while whisking briskly. I also like to use a little bit of veggie broth with the giblet broth when adding liquid to the roux. It makes the flavor a little fuller, I think.

Really, good gravy comes about from lots of practice--and there are LOTS of sauces that can help you practice your gravy skills, especially white sauces (bechamel), redeye gravy, milk gravy, etc. I'm quite sure my gravy is good because I practiced, and not just at Thanksgiving or another major dinner event. There's something to be said for making excellent gravy, and I think it's an essential skill--I love gravy.

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little_tippler

How I like to make gravy for red meats:

After roasting whatever red meat you favour (beef, lamb), deglaze the roasting tin over the stove by adding about a glass of red wine. Leave to simmer and until the alcohol has evaporated. Then add a little cornstarch dissolved in warm water (about a dessert spoonful of cornstarch to a 1/3 of a glass of water or less) to what you have so far. At the end, add more or less cornstarch and water if you feel that the gravy has reduced too much. At the very end, stir in a few good lumps of butter. Serve!

For chicken I don't add red wine, but instead of just adding some water you could add a little cognac or some chicken stock for extra flavour. The rest of it is the same as above. Hope this helps

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ngdawg

Regular flour won't work-something like Wondra, which is extra fine and made for mixing gravy, is your best bet. Mix about 2 parts flour to one part water-it should be the consistency of thin batter and slowly pour it into the juices as they simmer, stirring as you pour. Never dump it in at once and not while anything is boiling. As the gravy cooks, keep stirring; any lumps remaining, just strain out.
Cornstarch is a faster thickener and takes some getting used to, but it's better at absorbing the fats in the juice than flour. If using cornstarch, use it as above-never put it dry into the juices, it'll lump up.

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