Simple Make-Ahead Gravy

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.

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