Yes, everybody makes basic cooking mistakes. Like, say, something as simple as overcooking mushrooms or toasting grains and spices. Below, reader Riene Sullivan confesses to botching a batch of gravy to associate food editor Rick Martinez. Here’s Martinez's advice for making sure it never happens again. Welcome to Effed it Up.\n__Dear Rick, guardian of great gravy,__I'll be honest here—I've not been having much luck with gravy. I normally take the sauce from marinated steaks then add some flour and vegetable stock. I stir it for ages, but it never tastes quite right, nor does it ever seem to be the right color—*frown emoticon*. What am I doing wrong? How can I get it right? An easy recipe would help, maybe?\nThanks,\nRiene\nDear Riene,\nDon't feel too bad. Gravy can be so tricky that Thanksgiving hotlines are flooded every year with cooks around the country battling too thick, too thin, too lumpy, too greasy, too salty, or too…just…bad gravy. But I'm here to help!\nThere are two keys to great gravy: flavor and formula.\nGravies can be basic. A cream gravy is really just flour, butter, and milk. More complex gravies, like a cognac-spiked gravy you drizzle over a roasted turkey, are made up of drippings from a roasted turkey deglazed with cognac, turkey fat, flour, vegetable purée, herbs, cream, and stock. The bottom line: It all depends on what the gravy is going to be poured over—and your personal taste. With that in mind, let's jump in.\nFormula\nThe texture and body of your gravy is a matter of personal taste. Some people prefer thin and saucy gravy, while others want theirs to be thick and creamy. But before you get there, follow a 2:2:2 rule of thumb for the fat, flour, and liquid as a great place to start.\nWhat I mean is this: Heat two tablespoons of fat (I like animal fat or butter, rather than vegetable oil, for extra flavor) in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add two tablespoons of all-purpose flour to the liquid and cook for about a minute. Whisk in two cups of stock, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer to continue cooking for five minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and check the consistency. Do you want it thinner? Then whisk in a quarter cup of stock and check again. Do you want a thicker gravy? Continue cooking until more liquid has evaporated and you've reached your desired thickness. Then remove from heat and whisk in one tablespoon of room temperature butter.\nFlavor\nBuilding flavor starts from the base up. If you are roasting, searing, or sautéing, there is flavor in the bottom of that pan that can make a delicious base for a sauce or gravy. Deglaze it with stock, wine, or a brown liquor (think: brandy, cognac, or bourbon), then add fat (think: turkey, chicken, or bacon fat; butter; lard), flour, and more liquid. You'll make a great gravy out of that.\nMarinades are great ways to add flavor to meat and vegetables, but the marinade itself is not a good base for gravy. Marinades should be very strongly flavored and are often (and should be) highly acidic and very salty. If you then tried to use that as a base for a sauce or gravy, be prepared to pucker up, because it's probably not going to taste very good on the tail end.\nHowever, the pan drippings from a marinated or roasted grilled meat will make a good sauce for gravy. The acid and salt levels will be much lower after cooking, and you'll also have the flavors of the browned meat and caramelized sugars combined with the marinade.\nStocks and broths also add both flavor and body to the gravy. Milk and cream add richness and flavor; they can round out or mellow any sharper flavors that develop along the way. Finishing a sauce or gravy with butter will thicken the gravy and add a velvety texture—a surefire way to up your gravy game.\nWhich leads me to one last note on flavor: love your fats. Fats add tremendous flavor. Use them. Butter, chicken fat, turkey, beef, pork, bacon, duck, goose…if it has fat, it'll add flavor.\nAnd that, Riene, will get you back on the gravy train. Now, go roast a chicken, save the drippings, and make some gravy! (We've heard biscuits to sop up all that gravy add a little extra flair too.)\nLove,\nRick\nThe best sandwich we ate all year features a pretty mean gravy.\nEven more gravy help!","isBasedOn":"https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/never-make-bad-gravy-ever-again","articleSection":"recipes","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rick Martinez","sameAs":"https://www.bonappetit.com/contributor/rick-martinez"}],"dateModified":"2015-10-12T11:33:03.000-04:00","datePublished":"2015-10-12T11:33:03.000-04:00","headline":"Never Make Bad Thanksgiving Gravy Ever Again - Bon Appétit","image":["https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d6f6b6730f4b1565834191/master/w_500,h_500,c_limit/thanksgiving-leftover-gravy.jpg"],"keywords":["techniques","effed it up","gravy","sauce","steak","thanksgiving","textabovecenterfullbleed","web"],"thumbnailUrl":"","url":"https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/never-make-bad-gravy-ever-again","isPartOf":{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Bon Appétit"},"isAccessibleForFree":true,"alternativeHeadline":"Try this easy Thanksgiving gravy. Forget too thick, too thin, too lumpy, too greasy, too salty, or just bad gravy. Nobody needs that—especially not you.","description":"Try this easy Thanksgiving gravy. Forget too thick, too thin, too lumpy, too greasy, too salty, or just bad gravy. Nobody needs that—especially not you.","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/never-make-bad-gravy-ever-again"},"publisher":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"Bon Appétit","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.bonappetit.com/verso/static/bon-appetit/assets/logo-seo.png","width":"479px","height":"100px"},"url":"https://www.bonappetit.com"}}
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Forget too thick, too thin, too lumpy, too greasy, too salty, or just bad gravy. Nobody needs that—especially not you.
By Rick Martinez
</head>Yes, everybody makes basic cooking mistakes. Like, say, something as simple as overcooking mushrooms or toasting grains and spices. Below, reader Riene Sullivan confesses to botching a batch of gravy to associate food editor Rick Martinez. Here’s Martinez's advice for making sure it never happens again. Welcome to Effed it Up.
__Dear Rick, guardian of great gravy,__I'll be honest here—I've not been having much luck with gravy. I normally take the sauce from marinated steaks then add some flour and vegetable stock. I stir it for ages, but it never tastes quite right, nor does it ever seem to be the right color—*frown emoticon*. What am I doing wrong? How can I get it right? An easy recipe would help, maybe?
Thanks,
Riene
Dear Riene,
Don't feel too bad. Gravy can be so tricky that Thanksgiving hotlines are flooded every year with cooks around the country battling too thick, too thin, too lumpy, too greasy, too salty, or too…just…bad gravy. But I'm here to help!
There are two keys to great gravy: flavor and formula.
Gravies can be basic. A cream gravy is really just flour, butter, and milk. More complex gravies, like a cognac-spiked gravy you drizzle over a roasted turkey, are made up of drippings from a roasted turkey deglazed with cognac, turkey fat, flour, vegetable purée, herbs, cream, and stock. The bottom line: It all depends on what the gravy is going to be poured over—and your personal taste. With that in mind, let's jump in.
Determine your ideal gravy consistency, then adjust. Photo: Anders Overgaard
Formula
The texture and body of your gravy is a matter of personal taste. Some people prefer thin and saucy gravy, while others want theirs to be thick and creamy. But before you get there, follow a 2:2:2 rule of thumb for the fat, flour, and liquid as a great place to start.
What I mean is this: Heat two tablespoons of fat (I like animal fat or butter, rather than vegetable oil, for extra flavor) in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add two tablespoons of all-purpose flour to the liquid and cook for about a minute. Whisk in two cups of stock, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer to continue cooking for five minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and check the consistency. Do you want it thinner? Then whisk in a quarter cup of stock and check again. Do you want a thicker gravy? Continue cooking until more liquid has evaporated and you've reached your desired thickness. Then remove from heat and whisk in one tablespoon of room temperature butter.
Rich turkey gravy. Photo: Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott
Flavor
Building flavor starts from the base up. If you are roasting, searing, or sautéing, there is flavor in the bottom of that pan that can make a delicious base for a sauce or gravy. Deglaze it with stock, wine, or a brown liquor (think: brandy, cognac, or bourbon), then add fat (think: turkey, chicken, or bacon fat; butter; lard), flour, and more liquid. You'll make a great gravy out of that.
Marinades are great ways to add flavor to meat and vegetables, but the marinade itself is not a good base for gravy. Marinades should be very strongly flavored and are often (and should be) highly acidic and very salty. If you then tried to use that as a base for a sauce or gravy, be prepared to pucker up, because it's probably not going to taste very good on the tail end.
However, the pan drippings from a marinated or roasted grilled meat will make a good sauce for gravy. The acid and salt levels will be much lower after cooking, and you'll also have the flavors of the browned meat and caramelized sugars combined with the marinade.
Stocks and broths also add both flavor and body to the gravy. Milk and cream add richness and flavor; they can round out or mellow any sharper flavors that develop along the way. Finishing a sauce or gravy with butter will thicken the gravy and add a velvety texture—a surefire way to up your gravy game.
Which leads me to one last note on flavor: love your fats. Fats add tremendous flavor. Use them. Butter, chicken fat, turkey, beef, pork, bacon, duck, goose…if it has fat, it'll add flavor.
And that, Riene, will get you back on the gravy train. Now, go roast a chicken, save the drippings, and make some gravy! (We've heard biscuits to sop up all that gravy add a little extra flair too.)
Love,
Rick
The best sandwich we ate all year features a pretty mean gravy.
Even more gravy help!
Rick Martínez is a former senior food editor for BA and currently hosts the companion video series to his debut cookbook MiCocina and Sweet Heat, both on the Food52 YouTube channel and Pruébalo on the Babish Culinary Universe channel. He cohosts the Borderline Salty podcast with [Carla... Read more
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