There are many different types of gravies out there, from pan gravy to sausage gravy, but I'm going to focus on pan gravy because it's made from pan drippings.
So there are a few different ways to make pan gravy and I'm going to go through the three main ways of doing it and you can choose your favorite way for yourselves. Regardless of which style you go for, they all start the same way, with a roasting pan of drippings from your main entree.
In order to start, place the roasting pan on your stove burner and bring the liquid up to a simmer, this will make it easier to loosen whatever might be stuck to the bottom of the pan. Believe me, you want those little pieces of food because they add a lot of flavor to your gravy. If you don't have enough liquid in the bottom of the pan, add a some liquid to it so that you have enough to stir up. You can use water, broth or stock, or wine. This is called deglazing the pan. You want to use a spatula or whisk to break the food bits loose from the bottom of the pan. Do not use a metal turner/spatula as it will damage your pan and possible put little pieces of metal into your gravy, not good! Once that is done, move onto the next step.
This is where gravy making takes a few different paths as it is type to add the thickening aspect to give us that wonderful texture that allows the gravy to coat so well. We can add either flour, roux, or a cornstarch slurry to get us to our final product.
Flour: If you grew up with lumpy gravy, or gravy with little white balls floating in it, your mother most likely used flour to try to thicken her gravy. This is my least favorite way of doing it and here's a few reasons why. Unless you make a flour slurry (flour and water whisked well together), it is way too easy to end up with flour lumps. Also, you really have to make sure it's cooked well so you don't get that flour flavor in your final product. For pan gravy, this process is definitely not the best when it comes to pan gravy.
Roux: This is the traditional French way of thickening up gravies, sauces, and other items. You can make a nice gravy roux by melting butter in a pot or pan and whisking flour into it. Heat a pot or pan with a cup of butter over medium heat. When it starts to bubble, slowly add 1 3/4 cups of flour while whisking it together. You want to keep whisking it while the mixture bubbles so that you don't get clumps of flour. It will reach the white stage after about 5 minutes, this is where the roux just starts to lose its flour flavor and will help to thicken the gravy. The longer you cook the roux, while whisking, the darker it will get and the more it will thicken that gravy, but two warnings for you! Do not walk away from the roux! Roux can burn easily and it is not a good thing, either in flavor or in smell. Also, the darker a roux is, the more of a nutty flavor it will add to your gravy so take that into account when making it. Finally, just whisk in small amounts of roux into your bubbling pan drippings in order to make your gravy. After about 5 minutes, you can add more if necessary.
Cornstarch Slurry: This is my preferred way to make gravy from pan drippings as it seldom, if ever, creates lumps and it doesn't really affect the flavor of it either. You want to use equal parts of cornstarch and liquid to get the right thickening power. Put about a tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl, then stir in a tablespoon of cold water, broth, wine until the cornstarch is dissolved. Make sure the liquid is cold or at most, room temperature, as this will prevent clumping. This will make enough to thicken 1 cup of pan drippings, you can make more for larger batches of gravy. Now, just whisk the slurry into the simmering pan drippings and continue to whisk until the slurry is fully mixed in and the gravy thickens up. Do be careful though to not continue cooking for too long as it may start to thin out again.
Next time, we'll be talking about another common use for pan drippings, au jus!
