Gravy

Cinisajoy

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This is not a recipe but just a general thought on American gravy.
@Francesca mentioned in a post that she was amazed people wouldn't know the difference between brown gravy and chicken drippings so I thought I would tell everyone about US gravy, primarily southern because they have a few different gravies up in the northeast which I will leave to @buckytom and @Addie.
Southern gravies include but are not limited to:
Cream gravy (more on that in a minute)
Chicken gravy
Giblet gravy (very thin)
Turkey gravy
Mushroom gravy
Red eye gravy (extremely thin)
Brown gravy.
All of the above gravies except for red eye and giblet are basically made the same way.
Fat, flour, liquid.
Now back to the cream gravy,
You have your plain cream gravy which can be made from any animal fat and milk.
You have your bacon gravy. Fry up your bacon, set bacon aside, pour most of the fat into your bacon grease container, you need about 2 to 3 tablespoons of fat left in the pan, add flour and blend. Slowly pour in milk and cook until thickened. Put bacon back in gravy.
Sausage gravy, note this is pork sausage that can be crumbled or made into patties, (no skin) not smoked sausage. Same directions as bacon gravy.
You can also put chipped or ground beef (cooked) in this gravy.
Now on the chicken and turkey gravies,
You need the fat (chicken or butter or margarine or both, can also use bacon grease but only if you have used bacon on your chicken), then a bit of flour, then add chicken stock or turkey stock.
Giblet gravy is just the giblets cooked in the turkey drippings from the pan it was roasted in. Usually my family added hard boiled eggs. (I always avoided the giblet gravy.)
Not sure how to make mushroom gravy but I have seen it in the stores.
Now the red eye gravy is made with ham drippings and coffee.

That is pretty much all our gravies.
 
Now what to serve under the gravy.
For the cream gravies: bread, rolls, toast, biscuits, potatoes (fried or mashed), chicken fried steak, fried chicken.
For the turkey and chicken gravies,
Bread, rolls, mashed potatoes, turkey, chicken.
Brown gravy is usually served with beef. Can be put over potatoes and bread.
Red eye gravy is nearly always served with biscuits.

*Note: these are American biscuits not the sweet rest of the world biscuits.
 
Now what to serve under the gravy.
For the cream gravies: bread, rolls, toast, biscuits, potatoes (fried or mashed), chicken fried steak, fried chicken.
For the turkey and chicken gravies,
Bread, rolls, mashed potatoes, turkey, chicken.
Brown gravy is usually served with beef. Can be put over potatoes and bread.
Red eye gravy is nearly always served with biscuits.

*Note: these are American biscuits not the sweet rest of the world biscuits.
There goes that bread again!
 
Over here, gravy is made from the meat juices (and fat, although this is often skimmed off as it emulsifies) left in the pan after roasting a piece of meat or poultry. Wine and sometimes additional stock is added. Flour/cornflour is added to thicken, and water used to boil the vegetables is added to provide volume. Other things like Balsamic vinegar, fruit or herb jellies, browning (to deepen the colour) can also be added. Gravy is one of my passions!
 
Over here, gravy is made from the meat juices (and fat, although this is often skimmed off as it emulsifies) left in the pan after roasting a piece of meat or poultry. Wine and sometimes additional stock is added. Flour/cornflour is added to thicken, and water used to boil the vegetables is added to provide volume. Other things like Balsamic vinegar, fruit or herb jellies, browning (to deepen the colour) can also be added. Gravy is one of my passions!

OTOH there are Bisto granules. :D
 
@Cinisajoy,

Thank you for posting.

From where I am from, we have an enormous repetoire of sauces as well as, The 10 Mother Sauces from the Founder of The Paul Bocuse Institute in Lyon, France.

I travel to a major Travel & Tourism Convention yearly and they are always in a major city: Boston, Manhattan, Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and once it was held in Orlando, Florida in accordance with the Disney World Resort Hotels. However, normally it is held in Washington D.C. New York City and Boston ..

In the hotels that we stay at, the cuisines served are highly international and veered to French and Italian epicurisim.

I have never eaten the gravies, as you call them, are traditional American Sauces. Thanksgiving Turkey is served with a turkey / giblet sauce = gravy !

Due to the enormous coastline of The Mediterranean Sea, the daily diet of most Barceloneses is sourced from the sea.

We also have such extraordinary fresh food sources or raw materials, that we do not as a rule, cover our food in sauces.

We serve on side for those who wish to dunk or dip ..

The sauces / accompanients or dressing partners I do use the most are:

Fresh Tomato Sauce Homemade for Ribbon Pasta ( tagiliatelli or linguini )
Hollandaise for Eggs Benedict
Bernaise for Filet Mignon or Beef Tenderloin
Home made Basil Pesto
Piccata for boneless breast of Chicken
Marsala Wine for veal
Catalan Romesco: a roasted red pepper pesto with pineuts, garlic, Evoo ..
Ali Oli ( mayonnaise )
Vinaigrette
French L´ Orange for Roast Duckling
Tarragon Butter for Sea Scallops
Adobo Marinade which I make twice, once to marinate and discard & then one for the grilling: I Paint with a brush on the large fish cubes, some Evvo, Lemon Juice Fresh, Fresh Parsely and Fresh Mint and Salt with White pepper or Black freshly ground .. I use this for grilling fresh fish on skewers ..

Off top of head, I am not home often so, when I am, I enjoy playing Chef in the kitchen. I travel 3 weeks every month during Tourist Seasons and am off only 1 week ..

So, with this in mind, my husband and I, like to keep it " simply simple " or go out and sit at a beach café and relax !

Have a lovely day.
Thank you posting ..
 
@Cinisajoy,

Thank you for posting.

From where I am from, we have an enormous repetoire of sauces as well as, The 10 Mother Sauces from the Founder of The Paul Bocuse Institute in Lyon, France.

I travel to a major Travel & Tourism Convention yearly and they are always in a major city: Boston, Manhattan, Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and once it was held in Orlando, Florida in accordance with the Disney World Resort Hotels. However, normally it is held in Washington D.C. New York City and Boston ..

In the hotels that we stay at, the cuisines served are highly international and veered to French and Italian epicurisim.

I have never eaten the gravies, as you call them, are traditional American Sauces. Thanksgiving Turkey is served with a turkey / giblet sauce = gravy !

Due to the enormous coastline of The Mediterranean Sea, the daily diet of most Barceloneses is sourced from the sea.

We also have such extraordinary fresh food sources or raw materials, that we do not as a rule, cover our food in sauces.

We serve on side for those who wish to dunk or dip ..

The sauces / accompanients or dressing partners I do use the most are:

Fresh Tomato Sauce Homemade for Ribbon Pasta ( tagiliatelli or linguini )
Hollandaise for Eggs Benedict
Bernaise for Filet Mignon or Beef Tenderloin
Home made Basil Pesto
Piccata for boneless breast of Chicken
Marsala Wine for veal
Catalan Romesco: a roasted red pepper pesto with pineuts, garlic, Evoo ..
Ali Oli ( mayonnaise )
Vinaigrette
French L´ Orange for Roast Duckling
Tarragon Butter for Sea Scallops
Adobo Marinade which I make twice, once to marinate and discard & then one for the grilling: I Paint with a brush on the large fish cubes, some Evvo, Lemon Juice Fresh, Fresh Parsely and Fresh Mint and Salt with White pepper or Black freshly ground .. I use this for grilling fresh fish on skewers ..

Off top of head, I am not home often so, when I am, I enjoy playing Chef in the kitchen. I travel 3 weeks every month during Tourist Seasons and am off only 1 week ..

So, with this in mind, my husband and I, like to keep it " simply simple " or go out and sit at a beach café and relax !

Have a lovely day.
Thank you posting ..
If you are ever in the US and find yourself in need of an American meal, locate the nearest diner. You will more than likely be served American comfort food.
 
@Cinisajoy,

Thank you for posting.

From where I am from, we have an enormous repetoire of sauces as well as, The 10 Mother Sauces from the Founder of The Paul Bocuse Institute in Lyon, France.

I travel to a major Travel & Tourism Convention yearly and they are always in a major city: Boston, Manhattan, Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and once it was held in Orlando, Florida in accordance with the Disney World Resort Hotels. However, normally it is held in Washington D.C. New York City and Boston ..

In the hotels that we stay at, the cuisines served are highly international and veered to French and Italian epicurisim.

I have never eaten the gravies, as you call them, are traditional American Sauces. Thanksgiving Turkey is served with a turkey / giblet sauce = gravy !

Due to the enormous coastline of The Mediterranean Sea, the daily diet of most Barceloneses is sourced from the sea.

We also have such extraordinary fresh food sources or raw materials, that we do not as a rule, cover our food in sauces.

We serve on side for those who wish to dunk or dip ..

The sauces / accompanients or dressing partners I do use the most are:

Fresh Tomato Sauce Homemade for Ribbon Pasta ( tagiliatelli or linguini )
Hollandaise for Eggs Benedict
Bernaise for Filet Mignon or Beef Tenderloin
Home made Basil Pesto
Piccata for boneless breast of Chicken
Marsala Wine for veal
Catalan Romesco: a roasted red pepper pesto with pineuts, garlic, Evoo ..
Ali Oli ( mayonnaise )
Vinaigrette
French L´ Orange for Roast Duckling
Tarragon Butter for Sea Scallops
Adobo Marinade which I make twice, once to marinate and discard & then one for the grilling: I Paint with a brush on the large fish cubes, some Evvo, Lemon Juice Fresh, Fresh Parsely and Fresh Mint and Salt with White pepper or Black freshly ground .. I use this for grilling fresh fish on skewers ..

Off top of head, I am not home often so, when I am, I enjoy playing Chef in the kitchen. I travel 3 weeks every month during Tourist Seasons and am off only 1 week ..

So, with this in mind, my husband and I, like to keep it " simply simple " or go out and sit at a beach café and relax !

Have a lovely day.
Thank you posting ..
All good sauces, but when in the Med I always miss good gravy or decent sauce to accompany meat.
 
@epicuric,

I only travel once a year to The Usa and have only been to London twice, and to Edimbourgh twice .. And the reason for these 2 trips was business, and a surprise anniversary gift, dinner at the Fat Duck with Heston Blumenthal ! And I also had gone to a Spanish Taberna in Edimburg which an old friend from Barcelona had opened ..

So, I had never had the opportunity during these 2 trips to have some classic cuisine however, I did have quite a number of amazing pastries and chocolates in London ..

Have a lovely day.
 
@epicuric,

I only travel once a year to The Usa and have only been to London twice, and to Edimbourgh twice .. And the reason for these 2 trips was business, and a surprise anniversary gift, dinner at the Fat Duck with Heston Blumenthal ! And I also had gone to a Spanish Taberna in Edimburg which an old friend from Barcelona had opened ..

So, I had never had the opportunity during these 2 trips to have some classic cuisine however, I did have quite a number of amazing pastries and chocolates in London ..

Have a lovely day.
Dinner with Heston - wow! He is a bit of a hero of mine. What did you eat?
 
Dinner with Heston - wow! He is a bit of a hero of mine. What did you eat?
Me too. I once had a table booked for my birthday - but managed to fall over and break my pelvis a few weeks before! Very disappointing. I booked 5 months ahead for a lunchtime/afternoon.
 
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