INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Anytime you smoke or grill a turkey, put a drip pan underneath it and catch
the drippings. Thsn use the drippings as a base for your gravy and you'll
never even think of "brown gravy" with smoked turkey again.
I usually grill our Thanksgiving Turkey (on a weber) using indirect heat. I
catch all the wonderful flavors of the turkey in the drip pan directly
below it.
You will end up with quite a bit of fat, and you can throw some of it away
if you are concerned about fat, but don't be foolish and toss it all.
Lately, I have used the entire catchings as a base for a a large amount of
gravy. To make the gravy:
Note: By "heat up" in the following directions, I mean on the stove top.  I
have electric elements which take effect much more slowly than gas. So, if
you have a gas stove...beware. (As if you did not already know that.) I
just thought a little overkill would be okay for those not comforable using
a stove top.
1st Way:
1. Make about a 1/4 cup of roux. Heat equal amounts of drippings fat and
flour in a sauce or fry pan stirring constantly. I think it is easiest to
heat the fat to just slightly bubbling and then add a little flour at a
time, stirring constantly. You will be making a paste from this
combination, so add a little more flour at a time until you form a nice
paste.  This paste (roux) is your thickening agent for the rest of the
drippings. So the amount of roux that you want is dependent on the total
amount of gravy you want to end up with.
2. In a separate pan heat the remainder of your drippings to just bubbling.
I like to use a flat 9" X 13" cake pan for this step. It has about 2inch
sides and I find the large surface makes smooth stirring much easier than a
round pan.
3. Slowly add the roux to the entire drippings liquid until it thickens to
your liking. I use a large flat heat-resistant plastic or wooden spoon  to
sort of constantly scrape the bottom of this pan. This process basically
keeps the roux from sticking to the bottom of the pan while it is becoming
gravy. Hope this is not too confusing. If it never gets thick enough, then
you need more roux. It will take a few times, like Qing, to get the hang of
the mix you like.
4. If you like you can perkup the gravy a bit with spices. I usually add a
little salt and pepper and just a tad of Adobo Con Pepper.  The Adobo is
not required, I just like it because it has a combination of a lot of
spices that I like. Goya makes several Adobo spice blends that are nice.
Once thickened, you have your gravy.
2nd Way:
1. Heat up all of the drippings in a 9" X 13" pan.
2. In a shaker container combine 1-3 ratio  of flour and COLD water. Shake
like hell. You can add spices to this mixture if you like. The "shaking"
action is to get all of the lumps out of the new formation. (The ratio of
flour to water is sort of a guess. I usually add several tablespoons to a
1/2cup of water.) This is your thickening agent.
3. When your drippings are bubbling, slowly add the flour/water mixture,
stirring constantly.
4. Watch for thickening action and be careful not to add too much
flour/water mixture or you'll have glue. The thickening action is slightly
delayed after you add a bit of flour/water stirr a while and see if it is
thickening. If you end up with glue, just add a small amount of water. You
want to limit doing this, as you will weaken the flavors you worked so hard
to obtain.
5. Be sure to constantly scrape or move the thickening gravy from the
bottom of the pan as you go. Once thickened, you have your gravy.
Posted to bbq-digest V4 #17
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 19:45:17 -0600
From: Mike Roberts[SMTP:miker@tpsparc.cv.com]

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