Cooking for Thanksgiving is a week long process, or at least I make it a week long process so that I don’t have so many dishes to do, and so that I can get everything in and out of the oven in a timely manner on Thanksgiving day. I have a lot of favorite recipes, and I share quite a few of them here, but I have one that I haven’t shared and it’s one that I think can make or break Thanksgiving dinner: the gravy.

In my opinion, the gravy must be made just before dinner is served as it needs to be hot when served. This is the top, the garnish, the finishing touch to the whole meal. I don’t know about you, but the gravy goes on everything that’s supposed to be warm, and then it’s topped with just a touch of cranberry sauce on the turkey to finish everything off.

Today I thought I’d share how I make my turkey gravy. To start with, it is a basic gravy, the flavor all coming from drippings and turkey stock. But there is a process to a smooth, silky gravy that’s perfect for any turkey dinner.

To begin with, you need turkey drippings and/or turkey stock. The best gravy is made with both, and is made with the turkey stock from the turkey you cooked, not from a box or can. Some turkey’s come with a gravy packet inside the turkey, this can be a good base to begin with as well.

I start my gravy when I start the turkey because I want the drippings. After the turkey is cooked I add water to my hot pan to get any browned bits or fond off the pan, not just the bottom, but often there’s some good flavor that has cooked up the sides as well. The other thing I do while my turkey is cooking, is to boil the neck that I pulled from inside the turkey. This creates more stock for flavoring the gravy.

Once I have my stock and my drippings, I place all that in a separate bowl and then begin with some fat of some kind. I like to use the turkey fat from the drippings, just not all of it, so I scrap some off and use several tablespoons as the base for my roux. I cook the flour in the fat for 45 seconds to a minute, just to cook off any flour flavor. I like the roux to be thin but not runny. I don’t want a clumpy dry roux.

Then I begin pouring my stock/drippings liquid into my roux, mixing with a whisk as I add the liquid so it doesn’t clump. This will lead to a smoother gravy. I continue to add and stir until the gravy is the consistency that I like. Not like pudding, but not like water either. I like a whipping cream type consistency. Then I taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

A couple of things to note when making gravy from scratch. You need the same amount or just slightly more fat to flour ratio (for example 2 Tablespoons of fat to 2 Tablespoons of flour). 2 Tablespoons of flour will thicken 1 cup of liquid, so adjust your fat/flour amounts according to how much stock you have and how much you think you’ll need for the amount of food you have/people you have. If you don’t have enough fat from your turkey, you can use butter as your fat. If you don’t have as much stock as you’d like, you can add chicken stock, or water and bouillon.

Turkey gravy, like most gravies, should be smooth in consistency. If yours didn’t turn out smooth, don’t worry, run it through a fine mesh strainer and strain out any lumps. You can use a spoon, swirled at the bottom of the strainer to help the gravy go through, but keep the lumps in the strainer.

Turkey gravy is the perfect topping for a delicious Thanksgiving meal. I am looking forward to this part of Thanksgiving day probably more than anything else! If you are celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday, I hope you have a great one, and I hope it kicks off a wonderful holiday season for you!