5 Ways to Relieve Gravy Boredom
The sauce is Thanksgiving, non-negotiable. Green bean casserole may not be on every table and the country is divided into sweet potatoes of both haves and have-nots, but gravy is a very real and necessary elixir to soothe an L-tryptophan-laden soul.
Moreover, it improves with age. Whatever you do, the turkey will become less attractive every day after Thanksgiving. The mashed potatoes will be drier. The filling will be more stringy. But under the soothing cloud of sauce and the microwave magic wand, all is well. Every recipe tested here improves after a day or two of chilling in the fridge, so you don’t have to rush to put it on Thanksgiving.
Let’s be honest: the dry gravy mix bags do the job. But of everything you do on Thanksgiving, gravy is one of the easiest. Hard to go wrong, easy to fix if you do, and much better than a package. Your basic recipe is simple, but when you’re ready to cheat, here are a few ideas.
Reduction of red wine
When you reduce the amount of red wine, both flavor and consistency are concentrated. It adds depth and color to your gravy and is easy to do. Simply pour a bottle of red wine into a saucepan on the stove, add a tablespoon or two of sugar, and let it simmer, uncovered, until it has lost half its volume. At this stage, the consistency should be syrupy. When you’ve prepared the rest of the gravy, just add this at the end and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes to drain. The hardest part of cutting red wine is remembering it’s on the stove, so set a reminder. If you don’t like red wine, you can change it to white.
Red Wine Reconstitution Sauce
- 2 glasses of red wine
- 2 cups chicken or turkey broth
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons dressing
- 1 tablespoon turkey
Combine all ingredients except the dressing and stir in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a boil, uncovered, until the amount is halved. Now add one tablespoon of the dressing and continue whisking over low heat for 2-3 minutes. If the gravy is not thick enough, add a second tablespoon of the gravy and repeat. Add the divided turkeys at the last minute and stir again.
Pomegranate and Orange
You saw this weird juice bottle at the grocery store and you instinctively wanted to buy it, right? And you thought that you would use it for something, and then just drink it without pants from the bottle in front of the refrigerator? Just me? Okay. Pomegranate recovers beautifully like red wine (you can even taste them together) and tastes sweet, but not candy-sweet. Added to your main recipe with the addition of grated orange peel to increase the acidity, it will create a complex, sweet yet savory recipe that will make people look up and ask (good) questions.
Pomegranate sauce
- 3 cups pomegranate juice
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 cups turkey broth
- 1 glass of wine
- 1-2 tablespoons dressing
- 1 tablespoon turkey
Combine all ingredients except the dressing and stir in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, uncovered, until reduced by half, about an hour. If the taste is too sweet, continue to reduce or adjust by adding 1 teaspoon of Better than Boullion broth. Now add 1 tablespoon of the dressing and continue whisking over low heat for 2-3 minutes. If the gravy is not thick enough, add a second tablespoon of the gravy and repeat. Add the divided turkeys at the last minute and stir again.
Blueberry
I was in Florence a few years ago and my Italian friend vowed that I absolutely must visit this restaurant famous for blueberry steak. The steak arrived at my table, drenched in bright purple sauce, which I was shocked to actually dig out. Reproduced at home, I used a bag of frozen blueberries – you can use fresh ones, but since we’re making them there doesn’t seem to be much to gain from it other than costs – and cooked them up with a few tablespoons of orange juice to add a little depth. This gravy is really good to keep in the refrigerator overnight so that all the flavors really mix, but on turkey it is so amazingly delicious.
Blueberry sauce with turkey
- 2 cups frozen blueberries
- Peel of one orange
- 1 tablespoon dried sage
- 1 teaspoon dried Dijon mustard
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3 cups strong turkey broth
- 1 tablespoon dressing
- 1 tablespoon turkey
Throw everything except the dressing into the pot – the blueberries don’t need to be thawed first. Bring to a simmer, then reduce to simmer for 60 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the gravy from burning in the bottom of the skillet. When it’s reduced by two-thirds and covered with a wooden spoon, use a blender. Beat until smooth, then bring to a boil again on the stove with 1 teaspoon of the dressing. Stir with a whisk over low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the divided turkeys at the last minute and stir again.
Citrus
Okay, I know I’m going a little crazy, but I’ve never liked cranberries. Every year I use more citrus fruits – orange juice, lime, lemon and grapefruit – to brighten my cranberries. Eventually, I realized that neither my cranberries nor my gravy had reached the brightness I wanted on my Thanksgiving plate. In my quest for brightness, I settled on a spicy orange sauce. It’s sweet, spicy, and a perfect alternative to gravy and cranberries. The acidity reduces all the heavy foods on your plate, and it goes well with vegetables. Moreover, the color cannot be surpassed.
Spicy Orange Sauce with Turkey
- 2 cups orange juice
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 star anise
- 2 allspice berries
- 1 pod of cardamom
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 pinch chili powder
- 1 glass of white wine
- 3 cups strong turkey broth
- 1 tablespoon turkey
Put everything in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 60-90 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the mixture is syrupy. Now strain everything, keeping only the liquid. At this point, you can adjust to your taste by adding broth or wine and then reduce it again. It’s more of a sauce than a sauce, so it won’t be as thick, but you can add the roux if you like. The sauce itself should have a great amber color.
Umami Sauce
We added sweetness, we added brightness, and the sauce is salty on its own, so I went in search of this sixth flavor and was happy to find that umami sauce is a very real thing created by the people at Nom. Nom Paleo. Thumb up. Then I found myself wandering around in search of alternative methods that could be used to add umami to the sauce in a slightly simpler way. It was clear that it must be some kind of fermentation, so I played with fermented mushrooms, miso and even black garlic. I got the best results from the fermented bean curd. Fermented bean curd sounds terrible, but as a certified meat eater, I promise you this will amaze you. This is the umami bomb commonly used in sauces. The best part was how easy it was; just add one cube of fermented cottage cheese for every three cups of sauce. This recipe definitely benefited from being in the fridge overnight to soften and was without a doubt my favorite.
Umami Sauce
- 3 cups turkey or vegetable stock
- 1 glass of red wine
- 1 cube of fermented cottage cheese (about 1 1/2 inches)
- 1-2 tablespoons dressing
Reduce broth and wine in saucepan, uncovered, until reduced by a third. Add cottage cheese and beat with a blender until smooth. Now add 1 tablespoon of the dressing and continue whisking over low heat for 2-3 minutes. If the gravy is not thick enough, add a second tablespoon of the gravy and repeat. Leave covered overnight in the refrigerator. Heat on the stove over low heat for 30 minutes before serving the turkey, then add individual drops of turkey at the last minute and stir again.
Is too much sauce a thing?
I like to have two or three options for each, but I don’t think you can overdo it here. While there are many traditionalists out there, I believe Thanksgiving is the only time of the year that we all really go deep into our gut and awaken some form of culinary art or fail spectacularly. This is a good time to step outside your comfort zone and give people something shiny and new. It’s just gravy, after all.