Thanksgiving Prep Kitchen

Thanksgiving's just a few days away and I'm cooking for twelve this year.  I can't wait!  I love a holiday that's in no way commercial -- just all about food and friends and gathering.  The bird gets picked up Tuesday but it's Sunday today, it's cold and damp and chilly, so it's the perfect day to continue my make-ahead gravy experiment.

Let's backtrack for a sec to Friday night, which I'd name, "Make-Ahead Gravy Part One."  The first thing I did on Friday night was throw 2 turkey wings, 3 drumsticks and 2 thighs in my roasting pan with chunked-up onions and a little olive oil basted on the skins and onions.  I put 'em in there for about an hour and 15 min until they browned.

While these were roasting, I cut up lots of carrots and celery, and threw them in my large stockpot with two boxes of organic chicken broth.

 I added fresh thyme, a few shakes of herbes de provence, some kosher salt and whole peppercorns, and set it to simmer.

When the meat was done roasting, into the large stockpot it went, where it continued to simmer for a few hours.  Probably about 4 hours....and then it was getting late, and I was getting tired, so I let the pot cool for a bit, and strained all the meat, veggies and herbs into 2 containers.

I stored the liquid in a large bowl and put that into the fridge for the fat to separate overnight.

Now we can fast forward to Sunday.  Why not Saturday?  Because Saturday was spent in the car running errands all over Austin with the entire family, and Saturday night was Date Night with the Mister.  And nothing, I repeat nothing, comes between me and Date Night!  Hello babysitter, goodbye gravy.

So, Sunday.  I pulled out the containers of meat and separated everything.  This is my least favorite part of the process--it takes a while and you really become one with the turkey.  It's kind of a labor of love and by the last drumstick, I was officially turkey'd out.  

I took all the meat and set it aside.  (It would actually become dinner for Sunday night later on.)  Back to the gravy.  I skimmed all the congealed fat (ew) off the top of the gravy, and set it aside.  I took the remaining broth that resembled jello and poured it into a large saucepan on the stovetop.  I had about 8 cups of extremely rich and delicious turkey stock.

From the fat renderings, I added flour and whisked vigorously to avoid lumps.  I cooked the fat in a small saucepan for several minutes until it reached a nice golden-brown color.  Here's the fat roux:

I then gradually added this to my large saucepan of turkey stock, whisking quickly and consistently again, until the gravy was looking just right.  The gravy in reality looks a little darker than this, but you get the idea. 

On Thanksgiving Day, I'll take some of the rich turkey drippings that have been roasting for hours and add them to my gravy.  But even if there were no drippings, it wouldn't matter--this gravy tastes amazing!

I had an extra cup of gravy after storing in an airtight container, so I made a quick casserole with it for dinner using the de-boned turkey meat.  It was devoured.  So, my make-ahead turkey gravy experiment could be ruled a success.  :)