Make and Freeze Some Roux Now for Easy Turkey Gravy.
Welcome to the Scammer’s Guide to Thanksgiving . While there is plenty of advice out there for people making desserts and artisan breads, The Con Man’s Guide is geared toward the individual who could use a helping hand, even from some unconventional sources. Some might call it “cheating” (as if that’s a bad thing), but there’s nothing wrong with using modern technology and supermarket know-how to create a stunning traditional feast – with far less of the traditional work involved.
Getting smart about Thanksgiving isn’t all about pre-packaged side dishes and pre-cooked turkey: sometimes you have to cook ahead. Much ahead of time. While you probably freeze turkey and pie crusts, there’s another important but often overlooked candidate for freezing: roux. Roux is the base and essential sauce thickener, and you can freeze it now for a quicker sauce later.
What is ru?
Roux is a cooked paste made from butter and flour. It can be cooked lightly, which is faster but with less flavor development, or it can be cooked to a deep, earthy brown color, which takes time, but for a brown sauce it is significantly more flavorful. Oil and flour are usually measured in equal proportions, but you can use more of one or the other for different sauce consistency. The purpose of roux is to thicken liquids for making gravies, soups and sauces , because you can’t just throw flour into a pot of turkey stock – it will clump together.
To prevent this, ghee coats the flour particles with a protective layer of fat as they are mixed together on the stovetop. Gluten only activates in the presence of water, and the high fat content of butter keeps this development to a minimum. When you add liquid (milk, turkey drippings, beef broth, tomato juice, etc.), the paste can be evenly dispersed and thicken the sauce without creating hard or stringy clumps.
How to make roux
Luckily, making a roux is very easy. Measure out equal parts butter and flour (by weight)—say, one ounce of each. Add butter to a saucepan and melt it over medium-low heat. Add flour and stir until mixture becomes paste-like and no dry lumps remain. As you make the roux, you’ll notice it foaming or bubbling, and you’ll also see the color change as the flour toasts and the milk solids brown. Stir and cook for just two minutes for a white sauce, or continue cooking if you want a darker sauce. This could be 10, 15 or 20 minutes, depending on the depth of flavor you’re looking for and what you’ll use to thicken the sauce. For brown gravies, you will likely need to stir for about 15 minutes.
When you go to make Thanksgiving gravy, it’s usually after you’ve been cooking all day and the turkey has finally come out and released its juices into the roasting pan. Your family is around and the shit has officially hit the fan. Somehow I don’t think this is the right time to get attached to your sauce for 15 minutes.
How to freeze roux
Luckily, butter and flour freeze phenomenally well for months, thawing like nothing ever happened. First, make a roux that matches the amount of gravy you’ll be serving (or make a larger batch if you’ll be using it for other soups and sauces; once frozen, it’s fairly easy to break apart).
Cool the sauce completely and transfer it to a ziplock freezer bag. Squeeze out all the air and crush the paste. Place it on a flat surface in the freezer until completely frozen, an hour or longer depending on how much you cooked. Alternatively, you can freeze a large batch of sauce in smaller portions in an ice cube tray, but I usually just break off the desired pieces from a freezer bag.
How to use gravy sauce
When you’re ready to make Thanksgiving gravy (or thicken other sauces or soups), simply remove the dressing from the freezer and break it into pieces while it’s still in the bag. Place the pieces in a saucepan and heat over low heat until melted and heated through. Then continue this step as if you had just spent the last 20 minutes browning the sauce – pour in the broth, add drippings and seasonings. Be sure to pour the hot sauce into one of these containers to keep it hot throughout your meal.