Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I make gravy from homemade chicken broth as the base (most of the fat removed) then saute onions, sometimes mushrooms add a little cornflour dissolved in water. Add salt as needed. Dee-lish-us and healthy.
You can buy chicken or beef broth at the grocery store but I save all chickens bones from meals made, put bones in the freezer and once a month use all bones to make enough broth to last almost a month.
I never make beef broth, don't eat enough red meat to have bones to make broth for gravy.
I had one of those. My dad on the other hand shared all of his family recipes. Seeing he was from North Carolina and my mother from Ohio- his recipes were far better, lol.
Yeah. I got so tired of trashed recipes I finally called my aunt, my mother's youngest sister, and ran a couple by her to ask what I was doing wrong. I didn't want to ask my mother because that would have just started another round about how I was always the dumb one.
So after the first couple her response was that those couldn't right, this was missing or that process was in reverse order. Whatever.
I often wonder if gravy was so popular in the south because it served multiple purposes. It is one of the best ways of removing fond from cast iron without completely ruining the coating on the pan, it is frugal with fat and scraps that would otherwise be tossed out, and it helped satiate hungry men doing hard physical labor.
The cast iron does add flavor, as inevitably there are carbonized buts of food from previous meals that work their way into the gravy.
I never allow any buts in my food unless it's pork butt.
But.
You may be right about that.
I picture the cooking of Cooky from "Rawhide." Would save a trot down to the waterhole to wash out the pan.
Frugal and filling.
I'm crazy about my third generation cast iron. I really do keep the inside squeaky clean with good seasoning and a light wipe of grease every now and then.
I was just making bean soup and skimming the cold fat off the top before I finished it up and DH's farm family came to mind. They were accustomed to a lot of labor and they ate a lot more fat than we do these days. She would have left it all in there.
But a little bit adds good flavor.
I have a comment about chicken broth. Discovered somewhere along the line that you have to read the can. You can buy salt-free, or is it low-sodium? And you can buy it seasoned in which case you will have the kind of seasonings you'd find in stuffing. I don't want those in my gravy. Just a good rich chicken flavor.
There are times with turkey when I've actually simmered the necks, and giblets in it to increase the turkey flavor. That was back in the day when I had no time at all and still found time to do that. Now that we're alone and retired there's never time!
I have always made beef stew in the crockpot. I dredge the stew meat in flour & seasonings & add it to the raw vegetables, usually potatoes, carrots, onions, celery. I add 2 cans of chopped tomatoes with their juice, sometimes a little Worcestershire sauce or cooking sherry & let it cook all day. That combination makes it’s own rich gravy, just stir once or twice.
I don’t do big family dinners anymore, but we always made our turkey in a Weber. For the gravy, I would simmer the giblets in seasoned water (garlic, onion, s/p, bay leaves, Mrs. Dash) for a couple of hours. Then I used that broth as a base, minced up the giblets & returned to the pot, thickened the gravy with a cornstarch/water slurry (lots of whisking) then added some smoky flavored pan drippings from the turkey at the very end.
With fried chicken, after chicken was cooked, I removed it from the cast iron pan, added some water to the pan to loosen all the crunchy bits which is where all the flavor is, then slowly added a flour & milk slurry & stirred in more seasoning to taste (garlic, paprika, s/p, Mrs. Dash). That made a good pan gravy, you would do the same with chicken fried steak, pork chops, etc.
I never found it necessary to use prepackaged broth or boullion , they’re not very tasty & often too salty. My mother never taught me a thing about cooking, I figured this stuff out by myself, before the internet, so you can do it, too.
I was looking at my old LLBean Cookbook last night, deciding whether to donate it, and was surprised at how often casseroles were used with a can of soup. We don't cook that way anymore but it was fun to stroll through memory lane. There is an online library with lots of cookbooks to browse but I can't go there or I may never find my way out.
Grandma used to make the best Polish mushroom gravy I ever had but would not share the recipe!
Swiss Cheese Sauce from Famous Recipes from Mrs. Wilke's Boarding House:
1/2 c. shredded process swiss cheese
1/4 C. mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/2 c. dairy sour cream
Combine cheese and mayonnaise. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, till cheese melts. Mix in sour cream; heat. Dash paprika. Serve with hot cauliflower or asparagus. Makes 1 cup.
I was looking at my old LLBean Cookbook last night, deciding whether to donate it, and was surprised at how often casseroles were used with a can of soup. We don't cook that way anymore but it was fun to stroll through memory lane. There is an online library with lots of cookbooks to browse but I can't go there or I may never find my way out.
Grandma used to make the best Polish mushroom gravy I ever had but would not share the recipe!
It's hard to share a recipe when there isn't one. My grandmother just threw a bunch of things together and it always tasted good.
I made a pork tenderloin with a very yummy sauce last night. It would be equally good with chicken.
Rub the meat with a drizzle of olive oil, 1 T of Dijon mustard and salt and pepper.
Brown the pork or chicken on all sides and transfer to an oven proof baking dish. Bake in 400 degree oven until done…about 20 minutes for the pork and 40 minutes for chicken…use your meat thermometer.
Basic gravy:
Heat butter, lard, oil, or other fat in a frying pan
Stir in flour, mixing in well to a thick paste, and brown it a bit. This is a roux, pronounced "roo".
Add broth a little at a time, stirring it in very well. Optional: add milk or cream.
Cook longer to thicken gravy and concentrate the flavor
Even better if you brown meat, onions, mushrooms, or other yummy food in the pan before making the roux.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Old cookbooks
