LurfysMa wrote:
> First of all, thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions for
> making turley gravy.
>
> The turkey gravy was good, but not great. I'd give it a B or B+. My
> main complaint was that it had a slightly bitter or harsh taste.
>
> I'd like to describe what I did and see if anyone can suggest how I
> could do better.
>
> When the turkey went into the oven, I started the stock. I heated some
> olive oil in a skillet ove medium high heat and browned the neck,
> giblets, and wing tips for about 5-6 minutes. I added an onion and
> some carrots chopped coarsely and cooked for several minutes.
>
> At this point, I may have made my first mistake. My wife had just
> finished peeling the potatoes and there were a pile of potato peelings
> in the sink. I grabbed a handful and dumped them into the skillet with
> the other veggies. I probably added a cup or so.
>
> I added a half cup of chianti and enough water to cover everything and
> brought it to a simmer. I left it to simmer partly covered for 2
> hours.
>
> I then added 3 bay leaves, 6-8 whole peppercorns, 5-6 whole allspice
> berries, and some basil. I left this to simmer for another hour.
>
> I strained the liquid into a pyrex yielding about 2 cups. I didn't
> taste it at this point. I probably should have. I let it sit. A little
> fat came to the top -- about 1/2 cup, which I spooned off.
>
> About this time, the turkey came out of the over. We set it on a
> cutting board. I poured the drippings into a pyrex bowl. I got a
> little less than a cup of liquid. This always happens. Very little
> liquid. My wife started with a cup or two of water in the bottom of
> the pan. The bird is on a rack and covered with foil. It always comes
> out tasting great, but not much liquid.
>
> Now comes what may have been mistake #2. The potatoes had just
> finished cooking and we had a boel of potato water. I added that to
> the 2 cups of stock making the 4 cups that I would need. I poured all
> of this into the roasting pan and put it over 2 burners on medium to
> deglaze.
>
> In the meantime, I heated 5-6 Tbsp of fat in the skillet and started
> whiking in the 5-6 Tbsp of flour previously measured out. This quickly
> became a very dry paste, so I kept adding more fat until I ran out
> than added butter. I probably added 10-12 Tbsp of fat altogether. I
> heated this until the flour turned brown.
>
> Meanwhile, I was stirring and scraping the roasting pan until all of
> the bits were loosened.
>
> I then strained the liquid from the roasting pan into the skillet with
> the flour and fat. This quickly became a smooth gravy that was a
> little too thin.
>
> It was at this point that I tasted it. It had a very strong bite to
> it. I first added a little salt (1-2 tsp at a time). This helped until
> I was worried that it was getting too salty.
>
> I ended up adding some milk and even cream, which made it less harsh,
> but still not what I hoped for.
>
> Any obvious errors?

Where to begin... EVERYTHING... you literally made garbage. You have
as much business being in the kitchen cooking as I do being in the OR
doing open heart surgery.

Sheldon