This is another America’s Test Kitchen special. This recipe uses a vegetable base and a brown roux to create a deep flavour. Note, I’ve dialed down the onions a bit in this as I found the original a bit too strong for my liking.

Ingredients

Amt Ingredient
1 Small carrot, chopped fine
1 Small celery rib, chopped fine
1/2 Medium onion, chopped fine
3 T Unsalted butter
1/4 C All purpose flour
2 C Low sodium chicken broth1
2 C Beef broth
1 Bay leaf
2 sprigs Fresh thyme
5 Black peppercorns
1 Defatted pan drippings from Roasted Turkey
pinch Table salt
pinch Ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
  2. Add vegetables and cook, stirring often, until softened and well browned, about 7 minutes.
  3. Reduce heat to medium, stir in flour, and cook, stirring constantly until well browned, about 5 minutes2.
  4. Gradually whisk in broths until smooth.
  5. Bring to a boil, skimming any foam that rises to the surface.
  6. Add bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns.
  7. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the gravy is thickened and reduces to about 3 C, 20 to 25 minutes.
  8. Stir in pan drippings and then continue to simmer to re-thicken gravy.
  9. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a serving pitcher, pressing on the solids to extract as much of the gravy as possible. Discard the solids.
  10. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  1. Even better, substitute the chicken broth for home made turkey broth. ↩

  2. At this stage you’re making a brown roux. If you’ve never done this before, be warned, once the roux starts to brown it goes very quickly, so pay close attention at this stage. ↩