"brooklyn1" wrote

> dish, or some other grain that would benefit from gravy yet there is
> no roasted meat from which to make a from scratch gravy... like how

More frequent than not in my cooking.

> cup or two of gravy and in a hurry, not even time to defrost that
> quart of gravy in your freezer and you don't want that much gravy
> ... canned cream of celery often goes well when doctored a bit, and
> many of the jarred gravies work well, are just the right amount, and

I though it was a joke on canned gravy, but now that it's explained, yes I
have done a few things like that where it might be thought of as 'gravy'.

The most common one, is a can of clam chowder (white or tomato depending on
what we want for a sauce) run through the blender then doctored with a few
herbs and spices to match what it is going with (minced onions and garlics
fried to sweet in butter then added with the butter is a common one). Since
we eat a seafood diet about 4 times a week, chicken/pork/beef/turkey 'gravy'
is rarely in the picture for us.

I'll often make a white sauce, dunno if it's classic. Roast flour a bit in
a pan for a tan 'roux', then add a combo of butter and flour stirring
constantly to make a paste, then add cream or dashi (or both). Add
seasonings and let simmer. Adjust thickness issues with arrowroot if
needed. You can also add grated cheese to this if the end desire is a
cheese sauce (use cream vice dashi then obviously).

It works for us. I agree that a jar of heinz meat gravy is a good thing to
have handy in the pantry.