How to Make Turkey Sauce Without Dripping From a Skillet
There is a certain (I think) overly romantic expectation that a good turkey sauce should be dripped from the pan and whipped a few seconds before a large meal is placed on the table. To this I say: “No thanks,” especially when a very good sauce can be made in hours, days or even weeks.
I can only speak for myself, but once the turkey is out of the oven, my brain and body are partially shut down and I don’t want to cook anything else, especially something like gravy, which requires a lot of watching over me. give. Plus, dripping from the pan is unpredictable. Depending on your brine situation, you might end up with a whole bunch of juicy, fatty foods or – if you brine the turkey in brine – you might end up with very little. Plus, you don’t even need them – all you need is a flavored broth, flour, and butter.
Another case for matchcooking
I know I beat you in the head with my preference for roast turkey , but this is another time it really helps you. Removing the spine means you can use it (along with the neck and offal) to make a deep-flavored broth, which can then be used to make a deep-flavored sauce.
You can also cover this
If you don’t want to remove the spine of a large bird, that’s okay. You still have a neck, and you can supplement it with a few large turkey wings that are cheap and high in collagen rich, which will make your broth – and therefore your sauce – super silky.
Do you have time to tweak
I like it when I’m not in a rush, especially when I’m doing something as important as a sauce. Doing this ahead of time means I can taste and tweak while I (calmly) prepare the gravy, instead of frantically whipping as everyone roams around the kitchen greedily, waiting for the turkey to finish its bake.
But stock up first
If you can stir, you can make a nice sauce, but before we get to that, you need to make a broth. What exactly do you put into your stocks is up to you, but make a mistake in the question: “Is this really too much?” If you don’t know what to add, you can use this as a template:
- A large saucepan or tabletop pressure cooker such as the Instant Pot.
- The turkey’s neck, giblets and spine (or a pair of wings if you want to keep the turkey safe and sound).
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (plus more if needed)
- 1 onion, cut into quarters
- 2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup red wine
- Contents of your freezer trash bag
- 1 parmesan peel
- 2 sprigs each of thyme, rosemary and marjoram, plus 2 sage leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- Salt
Heat oil over medium to high heat in a saucepan or pressure cooker insert. Season the turkey pieces with salt, then roast them until they are dark golden brown on all sides (the giblets darken faster than the neck, back, or wings, so watch out for them). Remove the turkey pieces and set them aside, then add more oil to the pan if it looks dry. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook until all are golden brown. Add wine, then scrape off any lingering brownies with a wooden spoon.
Return the turkey portions to the pot along with everything else, season with at least a couple teaspoons of salt and add enough water to cover the contents of the stock pot or pressure cooker insert. If using a pressure cooker, close it and cook under high pressure for an hour. If you are cooking broth on the stove, bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for at least four hours, removing the unappetizing-looking scale if necessary. When it’s done, strain it through a fine sieve (or a colander lined with cheesecloth). You are now ready to turn your broth into a gravy.
Now make the gravy
First, you need to make a ru , which in French means flour made with equal amount of butter. I like to use at least one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of flour for every cup of broth, possibly with an extra tablespoon of each for good measure. (So, if you want to make a gravy from a liter of broth, use just over a quarter cup each.)
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until completely melted, then dust with flour, stirring occasionally, to make sure there are no lumps. Cook the roux, stirring constantly, until it is dark brown and smells good. Pour in broth slowly, half a cup at a time, whisking continuously until you have a nice, juicy sauce. Thinning the gravy is much easier than thickening it again, so don’t add all of the liquid at once. If, however, you are too thin, do not panic. You can add beurre manie – a paste made of equal parts butter and flour – to thicken it again. (Also note that the gravy will thicken as it cools.)
If you want to make things a little more exciting, you can add other flavorful friends like miso, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or even some citrus zest or wine juice . You have time , so try, tweak and try again until it’s perfect.
Cool down (and reheat later)
If you cooked the sauce a day or two earlier, it may hang in the refrigerator until the big day, but if it lasts longer, you should freeze it. To prevent it from separating too much on cooling, pour it into a shallow container and place it in an ice bath to cool quickly. Then transfer to a freezer bag and place it in the freezer until it hardens (unless you just refrigerate it, in which case, just place it in the refrigerator in a sealed container).
To warm up from freezing on the stove, place the sauce bag in the microwave for about 10 seconds, then break the semi-frozen sauce sheet into pieces and place them in the saucepan. Heat the gravy over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until it boils. (If you’ve chilled the gravy, that’s all you need to do.) If you have a submersible circulation pump, you can simply place the entire frozen (or chilled) bag in a 140-degree water bath, stirring it every 10 minutes or so. … and keep it there until you are ready to service it.