Lower Fat Turkey Gravy
Turkey gravy is often mostly fat. It depends upon who makes it and how. It's tempting to include all the fat and drippings in your turkey gravy! Here is a basic way to make a low-fat tasty turkey gravy:
Put an onion in the cavity of the turkey. It makes the dripping very gravy-ready. Then, when the turkey is all done, keep the pan and get re=id of the pure fat portion of the drippings. Letting the drippings sit in the pan (still) for a while helps it to separate better. Then skim off as much fat as you can. (the clear oil portion) Estimate how much liquid is in the pan and prepare water to add that one cup less than is twice the amount of the dripping liquid, set aside but don't add the water yet. Heat the dripping pan with drippings on the stove top and stir with a wooden spoon to get all the tasty flavors into the liquid. When it comes to a boil, (Options: I like to add mushrooms here. Stems work well chopped for flavor if you like the taste. A splash of pale dry white sherry at this point helps a bit. The white wine adds some richness that will compensate for the lower fat well.) Add your salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder if you like that flavor and your personal preferences. Taste and add... Taste and add... It's better to add too little and adjust than the other way around. Thickener: Make one cup of cornstarch mixture or flour and water mixture... Generally cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour, but the traditional flavor of gravy uses flour, not cornstarch. Both work fine. Cornstarch produces a more translucent gravy than gravy thickened with flour. Add about 3 teaspoons of cornstarch or 6 teaspoons of flour per cup of gravy and pre-mix it with room temperature water to a smooth paste to avoid lumps.
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