Whips and lumps and gravies, oh my!

[midwestyankee]

Last night the conversation in the nightcap turned once again to food. In particular, it turned to the sensuous art of gravy making. Since we're rapidly approaching the one time of year when gravies flow freely chez Yank, I thought it would be useful and possibly entertaining to continue the discussion of gravy-making. And while I always enjoy a wee nip whilst cooking, too much drink can spoil the sauce so it seemed like a good idea to reconvene the discussion here in a different kitchen.

I'll start by re-posting the gravy-related contributions from last night's conversation and then we can continue as our sensuous gravy-making little hearts desire.

 

[midwestyankee]

From LilyBart

Gravy for the roast This works for your Thanksgiving turkey too.
(Warning: Not for anyone on a low fat diet. )

After removing the meat and vegs from the roasting pan, place pan over 2 burners on top of stove. Add a cup or so of sherry or chard and bring to a boil. Add a few cups of stock at this time as well, varying the amount according to the volume of gravy you desire. Preferably, your stock was homemade, much like ITWs recipe below, (although I usually include the giblets in addition to the neck), and then strained.

Scrape the precious brown bits from the pan as it comes to boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or so and then strain (This is where that clever fat separator comes in handy) into a saucepan.

Meanwhile, mix equal parts butter and flour. For a 4 or 6 serving gravy, you can do this in your hands. Take a half sick of butter (4 T) and 4 T of flour and smoosh them together in your hands. This is a sensory experience, btw. But get the butter and flour really well mixed. If you are not sensory (or like me, need to use twice as much butter/flour), please do this in a bowl. Just make sure butter and flour are mixed in really well.

The bowl method comes in handy now...because you want to start gradually incorporating some of your hot broth from the stove into your butter/flour mixture. Your buerre manié. OK, I am a Julia Child offspring, sort of.

Once a bit of your hot liquid is fully loving your butter/flour mixture....as in you have a perfectly smooth mix, with no lumps (really, this is sex in the kitchen)....pour this back into your saucepan of strained juices. Simmer, while whisking, until thickened to your liking.

Season according to your local custom/tastes. Also, you can dice the giblets and add to the finished gravy if you desire.

This is my once a year gravy. It is sinful. It is rich. And, if I could orgasm on food, well...this would be on my top 5 list. Maybe my top 2.

~LB

 

[midwestyankee]

From intothewoods

My turkey gravy recipe is from memory, but basically you simmer the turkey neck all day in water with carrots, onions, a bay leaf, some peppercorns and salt and some celery. You blend some of the meat, stock, carrots, celery and onions to make the gravy. It's very light, which is a nice contrast to the heavy turkey, and you can actually taste the flavors.

 

[intothewoods]

Gravy is sensuous? *scrunches up face* Wow, you ARE kinky.

Are we seriously only going to talk about gravy? Not other Thanksgiving dishes? But but but...I don't like gravy that much!!!Pleaaaaase can we talk about something else????? I never get my way in any thread! Even the my celebrity parts thread turns into a het male ode to Rachel Maddow, who is a fucking lesbian, for corn's sake! Come on - it's all about slaves and good girls. Can a brat get a break around here ever?

 

[LilyBart]

Fun thread, Mr Yanks...and thank you for publishing my recipe.

Now, would you mind editing it to add the ingredient that I forgot? I was so worked up over sensuality of gravy making, I completely failed to mention that one must add a few cups of stock at the same time that you add the sherry or wine to the roasting pan.

Preferably, your stock was homemade, much like ITWs recipe (although I usually include the giblets in addition to the neck), and then strained.

Also, you can dice the giblets and add to the finished gravy if you desire.

~LB

 

[LilyBart]

Gravy is sensuous? *scrunches up face* Wow, you ARE kinky.

Are we seriously only going to talk about gravy? Not other Thanksgiving dishes? But but but...I don't like gravy that much!!!Pleaaaaase can we talk about something else????? I never get my way in any thread! Even the my celebrity parts thread turns into a het male ode to Rachel Maddow, who is a fucking lesbian, for corn's sake! Come on - it's all about slaves and good girls. Can a brat get a break around here ever?

LOL...gravy is sensuous.
But I'll give...what food do you want to talk about?

~LB

 

[intothewoods]

LOL...gravy is sensuous.
But I'll give...what food do you want to talk about?

~LB

Oh thank goodness. SOMEONE likes me. Heh heh heh. I know this won't end well.

Oh, btw, I add giblets to mine too. A little. I feed some to the cat.

If we're talking turkey day, my favorite dish ever is stuffing. Now carbs are sensual! Ha ha. Mister Man and I are having a battle because he refuses to listen to the advice not to cook the stuffing in the bird. I love to use three different kinds of bread in my stuffing - white, wheat and cornbread. And sausage, really good sausage.

And soup, love butternut squash soup. I might make carrot ginger this year though.

I also like a lot of fresh, crisp vegetables with the meal. I do not like my entire Thanksgiving meal to be heavy and mushy. Contrast, people! And also cranberry sauce that I make, no jar or, shudder, can. Oh man, I am getting excited!

I'm not a pumpkin pie fan, which I know is like treason, but I prefer apple. I might throw in a pumpkin bread though.

I also might make challah to use for sandwiches the next day.

 

[Lady_Midnight]

I love stuffing too intothewoods, but unfortunately I'm rubbish at making it. I always delegate the stuffing when I'm on Sunday dinner duty.

Are you going to give us your recipe? You never know, you might help shock the family by serving up amazing stuffing without having to delegate for once.

 

[LilyBart]

Oh thank goodness. SOMEONE likes me. Heh heh heh. I know this won't end well.

Oh, btw, I add giblets to mine too. A little. I feed some to the cat.

If we're talking turkey day, my favorite dish ever is stuffing. Now carbs are sensual! Ha ha. Mister Man and I are having a battle because he refuses to listen to the advice not to cook the stuffing in the bird. I love to use three different kinds of bread in my stuffing - white, wheat and cornbread. And sausage, really good sausage.

And soup, love butternut squash soup. I might make carrot ginger this year though.

I also like a lot of fresh, crisp vegetables with the meal. I do not like my entire Thanksgiving meal to be heavy and mushy. Contrast, people! And also cranberry sauce that I make, no jar or, shudder, can. Oh man, I am getting excited!

I'm not a pumpkin pie fan, which I know is like treason, but I prefer apple. I might throw in a pumpkin bread though.

I also might make challah to use for sandwiches the next day.

I love stuffing too! And it can indeed be sensual making it...at least the one that I make...because most of it involves using your hands to mix it.

I have to confess that I always put a little stuffing in the bird, even though I know I shouldn't. (I figure I'm not dead yet so the risk can't be that huge.) Then I mix the stuffing from the bird in with the rest of the stuffing. I just like the added flavor that the turkey juices provide.

The stuffing that I make has cornbread and white bread usually. I may try including wheat this year. But I don't care for meat in stuffing. Just veggies (lots of onion and celery, wilted in butter of course) and the breads and seasoning. Every year I tell myself that I am going to branch out and make 2 dressings, for variety's sake. And then I never do.

And I love pumpkin pie. Or, even better...sweet potato pie. Oh, and sweet potato biscuits served with (what else?) butter mixed with a bit of honey.

Actually, I think Thanksgiving is my ode to butter. I even slip bits of it under the turkey skin before it goes into the oven. After Thanksgiving, I am more well-behaved.


~LB

 

[midwestyankee]

Gravy is sensuous? *scrunches up face* Wow, you ARE kinky.

Are we seriously only going to talk about gravy? Not other Thanksgiving dishes? But but but...I don't like gravy that much!!!Pleaaaaase can we talk about something else????? I never get my way in any thread! Even the my celebrity parts thread turns into a het male ode to Rachel Maddow, who is a fucking lesbian, for corn's sake! Come on - it's all about slaves and good girls. Can a brat get a break around here ever?

My dear, sweet, itw. Have you ever seen me hold myself religiously to the stated topic of any thread here? I thought not. So why do you think that I would hold it against you if you wandered away from the sensuous gravies and toward the discussion of other seasonal wonders such as squash pies, Indian Puddings, and other treats?

 

[intothewoods]

Here it is:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/11/the-silver-palates-corn-breadsausage-stuffing-recipe.html

have to keep looking on the cranberries, but it's pretty basic only with candied orange peel.

 

[midwestyankee]

To stuff or not to stuff...

Random thoughts on stuffing:

The risk from putting stuffing inside the bird is definitely minimized by limiting the volume of stuffing that comes to maturity therein.

My mother always made two stuffings, one cooked inside each end of the bird. I too am still alive so there! In the larger cavity she made a bread stuffing. The smaller cavity was home to a tourtière stuffing, which is a French Canadian traditional meat-pie filling (ground pork, mashed potatoes, chopped onion, and a few odd spices).

The wifely one came from very bland stock so I suffer through mostly tasteless stuffing and wonder periodically if any divorce judge in my state would consider wretched corn bread stuffing to be reasonable grounds.

In recent years I have baked my holiday turkeys on the gas grill outdoors. The bird gets a dry rub dominated by chopped fresh sage. Inside I place a cloved orange and a fistful of fresh sage. This leaves the oven available for more timely preparation of Indian Pudding and other lesser desserts.

 

[intothewoods]

My dear, sweet, itw. Have you ever seen me hold myself religiously to the stated topic of any thread here? I thought not. So why do you think that I would hold it against you if you wandered away from the sensuous gravies and toward the discussion of other seasonal wonders such as squash pies, Indian Puddings, and other treats?

Oh, danke. Puts away tantrum.

Here's a good soup recipe: http://abcnews.go.com/abcnewsnow/ChefsTable/story?id=5950927&page=1

So less stuffing in the bird is a good thing? Okey dokey. I mean, if Mister Man and I can agree on this and the pesky issue of hardwood floors (not carpet) on the stairs, we may have a shot at this crazy thing. You betcha!

 

[Lady_Midnight]

Here it is:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/11/the-silver-palates-corn-breadsausage-stuffing-recipe.html

have to keep looking on the cranberries, but it's pretty basic only with candied orange peel.

Thanks for that - it sounds delicious. I'll have to give it a go!

 

[LilyBart]

ITW, the soup recipe looks good. But I wandered around the site and found a dessert recipe for Pomegranate Flan. I think I might make it this weekend...

http://abcnews.go.com/abcnewsnow/ChefsTable/story?id=5951092&page=1

~LB

 

[intothewoods]

ITW, the soup recipe looks good. But I wandered around the site and found a dessert recipe for Pomegranate Flan. I think I might make it this weekend...

http://abcnews.go.com/abcnewsnow/ChefsTable/story?id=5951092&page=1

~LB

Ooh, what is pomegranate mollases, I wonder? I'm avoiding all things with half and half these days.

 

[LilyBart]

Ooh, what is pomegranate mollases, I wonder? I'm avoiding all things with half and half these days.

According to the video, pomegranate molasses is just reduced pomegranate juice. She didn't say if it was a purchased ingredient, but she also didn't mention how to make it. So, I found a recipe, in case anyone else is inspired to make it.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004170pomegranate_molasses.php

~LB

 

[intothewoods]

I found this recipe recently on epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/f...-Soup-with-Spicy-Toasted-Pumpkin-Seeds-233095

The soup calls for frozen puree, so it's not exactly foodie gold. But I'm totally intrigued by the pumpkin seeds.

 

[catalina_francisco]

Aww, just made this song jump into my head!

Catalina

 

[the captians wench]

I use corn starch for my gravy insted of butter and flour, but same basic tecnique.

And my mom is a StoveTop girl when it comes to stuffing, and right inside the bird.

There is always atleast one pumpkin pie, and I make a sugar-free one, with home made sugar free whipped cream.

Usually thanksgiving dinner will consist of the same things our grand sunday dinners do, but the past few years I've added some exotics to them. Asperigus with Almond lemon butter for instance. And home made bread and rolls. I've also been slowly incorporating fresh green beans insted of canned and the like.

Mom says she'll never convert

 

[Netzach]

FINE just move here then.

Stuffing. My best re-creation from a NYT recipe from the early 80's that my mother made a bunch and then lost.


1. Get a whole mess of chestnuts, depending on the size of your army. I go for the pound.

2. This is not as horrible as you think it has to be. There's a trick. Who knew? Score those mothers with an x. Put them in a paper bag with a shot of oil. Shake them, shake and bake style. Roast these in a pan, on the stove NOT in your oven, with a *little bit of water* in the pan, covered. Keep 'em moving like popcorn every so often. They're going to pop miraculously out of the shells AND fuzz. Trust me, this is the way to do this, after years of not knowing.

Liberate the chestnut meat, chop it up.


3. Get out your pound of sausage, preferably the simplest you can come up with. Jones works, I prefer block sausage if you can get it, uncased. There's a local "pork water salt spices" kind I like. Cook it, drain it halfheartedly (you need some fat here) I spice it as follows: 1 tsp pepper, 1. tsp or more rubbed sage or 1/4 cup chopped fresh, chopped fresh parsley, some rosemary.

4. Cube and cook 1 LARGE onion, I use the sausage aftermath to do this. You can add celery if you swing that way. I don't.

Cut up a loaf of bread of your choice. You can make it exotic, like some kind of cranberry flax seed thing or simple white. Doesn't really mattter much. Cube this.

Mix everybody together with adequate chicken stock till things are slightly soft. Bake this in the appropriately sized buttered pan until the center isn't soggy, at a low heat (250) cranked to high (400) in the homestretch. It takes 30-40 min.

 

[LilyBart]

Random thoughts on stuffing:

The risk from putting stuffing inside the bird is definitely minimized by limiting the volume of stuffing that comes to maturity therein.

My mother always made two stuffings, one cooked inside each end of the bird. I too am still alive so there! In the larger cavity she made a bread stuffing. The smaller cavity was home to a tourtière stuffing, which is a French Canadian traditional meat-pie filling (ground pork, mashed potatoes, chopped onion, and a few odd spices).

The wifely one came from very bland stock so I suffer through mostly tasteless stuffing and wonder periodically if any divorce judge in my state would consider wretched corn bread stuffing to be reasonable grounds.

In recent years I have baked my holiday turkeys on the gas grill outdoors. The bird gets a dry rub dominated by chopped fresh sage. Inside I place a cloved orange and a fistful of fresh sage. This leaves the oven available for more timely preparation of Indian Pudding and other lesser desserts.

Your turkey cooking method sounds pretty yummy, MWY.

Can you take over the making of the stuffing this year? (And I would really like to see others' favorite recipes for this).

And where is your gravy recipe, btw?

~LB

 

[LilyBart]

FINE just move here then.

Stuffing. My best re-creation from a NYT recipe from the early 80's that my mother made a bunch and then lost.


1. Get a whole mess of chestnuts, depending on the size of your army. I go for the pound.

2. This is not as horrible as you think it has to be. There's a trick. Who knew? Score those mothers with an x. Put them in a paper bag with a shot of oil. Shake them, shake and bake style. Roast these in a pan, on the stove NOT in your oven, with a *little bit of water* in the pan, covered. Keep 'em moving like popcorn every so often. They're going to pop miraculously out of the shells AND fuzz. Trust me, this is the way to do this, after years of not knowing.

Liberate the chestnut meat, chop it up.


3. Get out your pound of sausage, preferably the simplest you can come up with. Jones works, I prefer block sausage if you can get it, uncased. There's a local "pork water salt spices" kind I like. Cook it, drain it halfheartedly (you need some fat here) I spice it as follows: 1 tsp pepper, 1. tsp or more rubbed sage or 1/4 cup chopped fresh, chopped fresh parsley, some rosemary.

4. Cube and cook 1 LARGE onion, I use the sausage aftermath to do this. You can add celery if you swing that way. I don't.

Cut up a loaf of bread of your choice. You can make it exotic, like some kind of cranberry flax seed thing or simple white. Doesn't really mattter much. Cube this.

Mix everybody together with adequate chicken stock till things are slightly soft. Bake this in the appropriately sized buttered pan until the center isn't soggy, at a low heat (250) cranked to high (400) in the homestretch. It takes 30-40 min.

Even though I don't usually think I like meat in my stuffing, this one sounds good. I really need to open my mind to sausage going with the turkey.
And I have always wanted to try a chestnut stuffing.

What do people here think of oyster stuffing? This is another one I have trouble visualizing on a date with the turkey on my tongue.

~LB

 

[Netzach]

Even though I don't usually think I like meat in my stuffing, this one sounds good. I really need to open my mind to sausage going with the turkey.
And I have always wanted to try a chestnut stuffing.

What do people here think of oyster stuffing? This is another one I have trouble visualizing on a date with the turkey on my tongue.

~LB

That could be great, it really depends. I could see it being wonderful, actually, because turkey is kind of like the tofu of the animal kingdom, it does whatever you want it to.

Personally, I think there's only one right way to eat oysters, though. Raw on ice, with good beer, cocktail sauce, and the right company.

 

[Netzach]

Ooh, what is pomegranate mollases, I wonder? I'm avoiding all things with half and half these days.

I can't fathom making this. The molasses, not the flan. It's sold at the middle eastern groceries, I'm sure. If nothing else there's a thick, sweet pomegranate syrup in a jar there.