Serves 4 to 8
Step 1: Make stock
This is much easier than it sounds. Take the neck, the heart and gizzard from your turkey and throw them in a roasting pan. Cut off the wings off the turkey and throw them in too. Quarter an onion, skin on, and throw it in. Cut a carrot into chunks. Into the pan, drizzle with a touch of vegetable oil and throw it in the oven at 375F, preferably ahead of the bird, but it doesn’t matter much. After 30 minutes, toss and return to the oven. Whenthe turkey and the vegetables are browned, throw everything into a saucepan and cover with five cups of water. If there is residue in the roasting pan use some of the water to loosen it and add it th the saucepan Simmer until 30 minutes before dinner service.
Step 2: Make a Roux
Remove your turkey from the roaster and set aside to rest. Pour all the liquid and fat in the roaster into a bowl or a gravy separator. (Great investment.) Hopefully there are lots of rich brown bits stuck to the bottom of the roaster. Place the roaster over a burner on low-medium heat and add in ¼ cup of turkey fat (make up the balance with butter if you don’t have enough). Add ¼ cup flour and mix it with the oil, gently, using a whisk. Cook the flour until lightly toasted. You’ll know it’s ready when it smells a bit nutty.
Step 3: Make Gravy
Remove the roaster from the heat and let it cool a little. Add two cups of turkey stock and whisk, gently scraping to remove the fond (those brown bits on the bottom of the raster). Add in the liquid that you poured off the turkey roasting pan, minus the fat. Place the raster back on the burner and add stock in half-cup portions, whisking until you get the consistency you want. Taste and season with salt and white pepper. Simmer about five minutes and loosen with more stock or water if required. If you like a really perfect looking sauce, pur it through a wire mesh sieve.
Serve.
Source: Vancouver Sun, December 19, 2012