[0 - 1] - I'm Frank Proto, professional chef
[1 - 3] and culinary instructor, and today I'm gonna show you how
[3 - 5] to make the best gravy you've ever had,
[5 - 9] silky smooth, flavorful gravy that anyone can make.
[9 - 12] This is Gravy 101.
[13 - 14] Gravy is a sauce made from the thickened
[14 - 17] and seasoned juices of cooked meat.
[17 - 20] People usually make gravy when they're doing a large roast
[20 - 22] and they have all the drippings in the roasting pen.
[22 - 23] Pretty much anytime you make a roast,
[23 - 25] you should be making gravy.
[25 - 27] Today I'm gonna show you how to make the classic version
[27 - 30] that I was taught in culinary school many moons ago.
[30 - 33] [magical music] [upbeat music]
[33 - 34] In order to make a delicious gravy, you have
[34 - 37] to season your protein and get yourself some mirepoix.
[37 - 42] A classic mirepoix is 50% onions, 25% carrots,
[42 - 44] and 25% celery, that's all it is.
[44 - 48] It sounds fancy, it's just onions and celery and carrots.
[48 - 50] There are two main reasons I use a mirepoix for my roast.
[50 - 52] First of all, it's gonna keep my roast
[52 - 53] off the bottom of the pan
[53 - 56] and it's not gonna stew in its own juices.
[56 - 58] Second of all, I want this to flavor in my juices.
[58 - 60] I'm gonna get some really nice caramelization
[60 - 62] and flavor from this mirepoix.
[62 - 64] All you really have to do is put these into the pan.
[64 - 67] You'll notice that I cut everything really large.
[67 - 68] I don't want these to fall apart.
[68 - 69] I want them to hold their shape.
[69 - 70] If we cut them really small,
[70 - 72] they're gonna give off too much flavor
[72 - 75] and we'll taste veggies, not turkey in our gravy.
[75 - 76] When I went to culinary school,
[76 - 78] my basic skills teacher always told us
[78 - 79] to leave the skin on your onions
[79 - 82] when you're doing a gravy or a stock.
[82 - 83] It lends color to our finished product.
[83 - 85] So our basic mirepoix is in there.
[85 - 88] I'm gonna add a head of garlic cut in half.
[88 - 90] I'm going to add a couple of bay leaves and some thyme.
[90 - 92] So I'm just gonna give it a little bit of oil,
[92 - 93] a little bit of salt.
[93 - 95] I'm just gonna give it a little light toss,
[96 - 97] and then I'm gonna bunch everything
[97 - 98] into the middle of my pan,
[98 - 101] and that's gonna be where my turkey's gonna rest.
[101 - 103] I also have a neck, which I'm gonna add into there.
[103 - 106] That neck is gonna give us flavor, and I also have this bag.
[106 - 108] If you've taken this outta your turkey,
[108 - 110] you have no idea what it is, it's the bag of giblets,
[110 - 113] and that usually has livers and gizzards and hearts in it.
[113 - 115] I add those giblets to the base of my pan.
[115 - 116] It's gonna help to flavor my gravy.
[117 - 119] I'm gonna oil this baby down, I'm gonna do salt and pepper.
[120 - 122] Throw a little salt into the turkey too.
[122 - 124] I have my mirepoix in the pan, it's seasoned up.
[124 - 126] I have my turkey in the pan, it's seasoned up.
[126 - 127] I got my giblets in there too.
[127 - 129] We're gonna fly this bird into the oven,
[129 - 131] 425 for the first hour,
[131 - 134] that's gonna jumpstart the browning on the skin,
[134 - 136] and then I'm gonna lower it down to 325
[136 - 138] so that my turkey stays nice and juicy.
[138 - 141] [upbeat music] [air whooshing]
[141 - 142] The turkey is outta the oven.
[142 - 144] It's golden brown and delicious.
[144 - 145] But I want you to see this.
[145 - 147] Look at all these delicious juices in there.
[147 - 149] You can see our vegetables are nice and caramelized.
[149 - 152] We've rested the bird for about 10 to 15 minutes.
[152 - 154] When you cook it, the juices kind
[154 - 155] of all go towards the center.
[156 - 158] When you rest, the juices kind of relax
[158 - 159] and go back into the turkey.
[159 - 161] Whatever juices don't stay in the turkey
[161 - 164] go to the bottom of the pan to make a great gravy.
[164 - 166] So what I do is just stick this into the cavity
[166 - 168] and I lift my bird out.
[168 - 170] I'm gonna drain any excess juices
[170 - 171] from the inside of the bird.
[171 - 174] I wanna keep all those juices, remember that's our flavor,
[174 - 176] and we can put this aside.
[176 - 177] What we're left with in the pan
[177 - 179] is all the juices and drippings from the turkey.
[179 - 181] And because we stacked that mirepoix up really high,
[181 - 183] the bird got brown on the bottom
[183 - 185] and we collected the juice in the bottom of the pan,
[185 - 188] and that is the base for a delicious gravy.
[188 - 190] I've seen people throw this away
[190 - 192] and it made me pull my hair out.
[192 - 194] All the flavor we need for our gravy is here already.
[194 - 197] We just have a few more steps until we have a beautiful,
[197 - 199] silky, delicious gravy.
[199 - 201] I have my roasting pan with all my turkey parts,
[201 - 203] mirapoix and juices.
[203 - 205] What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna turn this up
[205 - 209] and I'm gonna let the juices boil down to make a fond.
[209 - 212] We're gonna use the turkey fat to make the roux.
[212 - 214] A roux is usually equal parts fat and flour,
[214 - 218] and it's used to thicken soups, stews, sauces, and gravies.
[218 - 221] Let this cook out, let's evaporate all the liquid
[221 - 222] and then we can add our flour.
[222 - 224] If you look in my pan,
[224 - 227] we start to see a slick of oil on top, like an oil slick
[227 - 229] of turkey fat, and that's what I want.
[229 - 232] What I'm trying to do here is create a fond, F-O-N-D.
[232 - 235] Fond is the caramelized juices at the bottom of the pan.
[235 - 237] The fat's starting to separate out from the juices.
[237 - 240] It's starting to look like a little greasy or oily,
[240 - 241] and that's what I'm looking for.
[241 - 244] Once we start seeing clear fat at the top, we're good to go.
[244 - 247] At this point, we can make the roux with the turkey fat.
[247 - 249] I have this on a medium heat.
[249 - 252] I'm gonna sprinkle some flour all around
[252 - 255] so that it soaks up all that beautiful turkey fat.
[255 - 259] Stir, stir, stir, the fat is combining with the flour
[259 - 261] and that's gonna make us a nice roux.
[261 - 264] What I'm looking for here is that we don't see any more fat
[264 - 265] on the surface of the pan,
[265 - 269] so just enough flour to soak up all that fat
[269 - 271] and we can add some stock.
[271 - 272] I like to use turkey stock.
[272 - 275] You can use chicken stock, whatever stock makes you happy.
[275 - 278] And what we can do now is start scraping the bottom
[278 - 281] and getting all of that beautiful fond
[281 - 282] off the bottom of the pan.
[283 - 285] And now all I wanna do is start stirring it
[285 - 286] until it starts to thicken.
[286 - 288] At this point, if your gravy is too thick,
[288 - 290] you can add a little more stock.
[290 - 292] If it's too liquidy, let it cook a little longer
[292 - 294] and see if it actually thickens up.
[294 - 296] I'm gonna let this come to a simmer.
[296 - 298] I'm gonna keep stirring it so it doesn't stick anymore,
[298 - 299] and I'm gonna keep scraping the bottom
[300 - 303] to get any of that beautiful fond off of the bottom.
[303 - 305] As my gravy starts to thicken, I want to give it a taste,
[305 - 308] just a preliminary taste to see where my seasoning is at.
[310 - 312] All right, definitely needs a little salt.
[313 - 315] You can also see that it's a little on the thick side,
[315 - 317] so I'm just gonna add a little more stock.
[317 - 319] If it's too thick, we add a little more stock.
[319 - 321] If it's not thick enough, we reduce it a little bit.
[321 - 323] I'm let it come back up to a simmer and see where we're at.
[323 - 325] One last taste.
[327 - 330] Tastes good, I think we're ready to strain,
[330 - 333] and I'm just gonna dump this through the strainer.
[334 - 336] Couple of things I want to keep in mind when I strain
[336 - 338] is I don't wanna push these vegetables through.
[338 - 339] It's gonna leave little bits
[339 - 341] and pieces floating in my gravy,
[341 - 344] so I just wanna let the juice fall through and stir lightly,
[344 - 346] trying not to break up too many things.
[346 - 348] Here we have our finished gravy.
[348 - 350] Now, I want you all to listen really quick.
[350 - 353] I'm gonna get a ladle full, what do you hear?
[353 - 357] [gravy sloshing] Kind of sounds smooth, right?
[357 - 359] If I did that and I heard plopping,
[359 - 361] that would mean my gravy is way too thick
[361 - 363] and we can adjust with more stock.
[363 - 367] This one is the perfect consistency.
[367 - 369] [upbeat music] [air whooshing]
[369 - 371] We've taken all this time to make this beautiful,
[371 - 374] luxurious gravy, it needs to have a gravy boat.
[374 - 377] Put it in a vehicle that makes your gravy look even better.
[377 - 379] So I'm gonna ladle it in.
[379 - 381] This gravy looks good enough to drink,
[381 - 382] but I have a better idea.
[382 - 384] Remember that turkey I roasted earlier?
[384 - 385] Well, here it is on the plate,
[385 - 387] and the only way to make it better
[387 - 389] is to take the star of the show
[389 - 391] and slather it all over our turkey.
[391 - 392] Ooh, I don't know about you,
[392 - 395] but I like my turkey to swim in the deep end of the gravy.
[395 - 398] Let's taste, now I'm gonna get a lot of gravy on this baby.
[398 - 402] Let's slather it on there, mm.
[403 - 404] First thing I taste in the gravy
[405 - 406] is that it's roasty and delicious.
[406 - 408] It's got a really great consistency.
[408 - 411] It's luxurious, it's silky, it's not thick and lumpy,
[411 - 414] and it sticks to the meat, and that's what I want.
[414 - 416] We've taken a lot of care to make this gravy.
[416 - 418] We roasted a turkey, we made the mirepoix,
[418 - 419] we made a roux out of the fat.
[419 - 422] We made it so it was the right consistency.
[422 - 423] And the thing that a good gravy does
[423 - 425] is it raises everything up.
[425 - 428] It takes this turkey that could be a little dry and bland
[428 - 429] and makes it that much better.
[429 - 432] Take your time and your gravy will be as good as mine.