Brown Gravy
As times get tough, gravies and sauces assume a steadily increasing role in meals. Not only do they help to use the broth or drippings that result from cooking meat, but they can actually help make marginal meats more tasty. A flavorful gravy on an otherwise unpromising cut goes a long way toward keeping morale up when the family is facing one after another financial reverse and the sharp disappointments of diminishing horizons that often go with them.
Ingredients
Directions
In a small saucepan or skillet over low heat, add flour to meat drippings and stir until smooth. Slowly add water and stir as gravy thickens to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt or dried herbs.
Experienced cooks generally make gravy as much by observation as careful measuring. The usual method is to cook one's meat, then remove it to the serving dish and prepare the gravy directly from the meat drippings that remain. Of course this requires the ability to judge by eye the amount of fat that is spread out over the surface of the skillet, so the usual practice when making gravy is to sprinkle the flour into the fat slowly rather than add it all at once. Thus one is able to see the mixture of fat and flour thicken and judge just when to stop adding flour.
For example, when I had to leave early for a school activity and was not able to eat with the rest of the family, my mother made me a quick meal by cutting a couple of slices from a leftover roast and heating them in a skillet. When they were suitably warmed up, she made gravy from the fat that had dripped from the roast while it was heating. Spreading that gravy over the meat and some mashed potatoes turned an otherwise plain meal into a flavorful one that had me off to practice in much better spirits.
Posted October 10, 2010.
