Simple Make-Ahead Gravy
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A few weeks ago, when I began thinking about Thanksgiving, I logged in here, to my Alexandra’s Kitchen dashboard, hoping to find a Thanksgiving 2018 “After Action Report”, a draft I thought — hoped! — I had created with notes from last year’s feast.
Incredibly, it existed. Truly a Thanksgiving miracle.
I’ve included the notes below, and also a recipe for a make-ahead gravy, which I made earlier this week based on this one sentence from my notes:
“Made the gravy: 4 tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup Sherry, 5-6 cups stock (turkey stock frozen from last year), salt, pepper, simmer.”
It was so tasty!
That’s truly all the instruction you need to make a simple gravy, but I’ve included a recipe below. What is especially nice about having a gravy on hand before the bird is even roasted is the mental assurance that as soon as the bird is done, you can (after it rests) serve it without too much of a last-minute scramble.
My after action report did not include this detail, but as I remember, I kept the gravy gently simmering stovetop and added drippings from the turkey roasting pan, fortification from the current year’s bird, and called it done.
Thanksgiving 2018 After Action Report
Monday:
- Double-batch peasant bread (4 loaves, 2 of which went into a double batch of stuffing)
Tuesday:
- Brined the turkey, Sally Schneider recipe
- Double-batch pie dough, rolled each out, covered with parchment, folded into quarters, ziplock in the fridge*
- Made double batch of stuffing; froze each
- Froze the ice ring (for the punch)
- Juiced the lemons (for the punch)
- Made the simple syrup (for the punch)
Wednesday:
- Made the dough for the thyme dinner rolls, stuck it in the fridge to rise overnight
- Made the gravy: 4 tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup Sherry, 5-6 cups stock (turkey stock frozen from last year), salt, pepper, simmer
- Roasted the squash for the butternut squash pie
- Measured and mixed fillings for each of the pies (pecan, butternut, salted maple, apple)
- Made the potatoes halfway
Thursday morning:
- Early rise: baked off the 4 pies
- Brought the turkey to room temperature, dried it off, brushed a stick of melted butter over it, cooked it at 425ºF for 30 minutes, then 350ºF till done. It was done in 2 hours.
- Made the Brussels sprouts
- Finished baking the potatoes
- Assembled the punch
- Baked off the thyme rolls
- Baked the stuffing
- Made whipped cream
* After the recent discovery about no-shrink pie crust, this year I’ll roll out the pie dough on the Tuesday prior to thanksgiving, fit it into the pans, then freeze until Thursday morning.
Make Ahead Gravy How-To
Gather your ingredients: Homemade chicken (or other) stock is best. If you have turkey stock made from last year’s (or other) bird on hand, use that.
Melt 4 tablespoons butter.
Add 1/4 cup flour and whisk to combine. Love this sauce whisk.
Whisk until it begins to turn light brown, 2 – 4 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup Sherry, and whisk to combine…
it will seize up…
Add 5 cups of stock, a teaspoon of kosher salt, pepper to taste, a few sprigs sage or thyme, and …
… bring to a simmer:
Reduce heat, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until slightly thickened. Taste. It should taste nicely seasoned. Keep it on the thin side: it thickens up as it rests, and furthermore you’ll be simmering it again on Thanksgiving morning, which will reduce it further.
Store in the fridge (or freeze) until Thanksgiving. Warm gently stovetop before serving.
Simple Make-Ahead Gravy
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 1.5 quarts
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Sherry, such as Harvey’s Bristol Cream
- 5 to 6 cups chick stock, preferably homemade, or turkey stock frozen after last year’s feast
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- a few sprigs fresh sage or thyme
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Continue whisking for 2 to 4 minutes or until the mixture begins to turn light brown. Add the sherry, and whisk to combine. Add 5 cups of the stock, the 1 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste, and the few springs herbs.
- Bring to a simmer, watching closely — it will bubble way up. Adjust the heat so the mixture is just barely simmering. Simmer 10 minutes. Taste. Add the additional cup of stock if you wish to thin the texture if it is too thick. Adjust flavor with more salt or pepper to taste. Simmer to reach desired consistency. Suggestion: Keep sauce on the thin side because you will be simmering it further on Thanksgiving morning.
- Extract or strain out the herbs. Store gravy in fridge or freezer until you are ready to serve. Before serving, gently reheat stovetop until hot. Add drippings from current year’s turkey for an even more flavorful gravy.
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Thanksgiving, turkey, gravy, make-ahead, simple, Sherry
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17 Comments on “Simple Make-Ahead Gravy”
Yes, on the actually any-time Turkey gravy. I always frugally made stock from the carcass, and discovered that if I simmered it hard, reducing way down, I actually ended up with a ‘glace’.. delicious. But no need to go that far for delicious gravy. And now, with Instant Pot, I don’t have to take hours to get a rich stock, so the boiling-off reduction time is just a final step.
Oh Nancy! Are you making stock in your Instant Pot?? What are your proportions/timing/etc.? I’d love to do this with my turkey carcass this year. Thanks!
Do you really use the Bristol Cream sherry in this recipe? It’s so sweet….
I do! It doesn’t taste too sweet in the end … there’s a nice sweetness, but it’s not too sweet, probably because the turkey stock is so savory + the addition of sage adds some earthiness.
On your Wednesday notes, you say you measured and mixed the pie fillings, did you then just store in a container in the fridge? I’ve never done that before and it would really help on time to do it the day before, just worried about it tasting all right!! TIA
Yes, exactly! Mixed the fillings and stashed in quart containers in the fridge!
This is a great idea, thanks
🙂
I just used regular sherry and make this on monday of Thanksgiving Week. It was wonderful. Thank you so very much for this great recipe.
★★★★★
So happy to hear this, Stephanie!!
Hi Alexandra
Does your gravy “lump” when reheated? My gravy always does but I would love to be able to make the gravy in advance and only reheat it when the bird is done. Maybe you have a trick to avoid it?
Greetings fro Switzerland
Rahel
Hi Rahel! I have not had an issue at all with this recipe in terms of lumpiness when reheating. Give it a go!
Your gravy is excellent, also all the recipes that I have made are ******
So happy to hear this, Joan 🙂 🙂 🙂
Easiest recipe and comes out super tasty!
★★★★★
This is a game changer! It is so nice not to have to worry about making gravy at the last moment. It is delicious and easy. Thanks Alexandra for a real winner of a recipe
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Ellen! I love getting this step out of the way because when the bird comes out of the oven, I just don’t really want to do any more things 🙂 🙂 🙂