What does everyone do for gravy when making roasts? My husband loves roasts with gravy. Any ideas?

Kristie

I make gravy the same way I always did. Just instead of flour or cornstarch, I use Thick 'n Thin, NotStarch. It is a mixture of vegetable gums in a powdered form made by Expert Foods. It is starting to show up in health food stores and most lc internet stores carry it.

I keep it in a shaker right by the stove to thicken any liquid I want. (It has no taste and works a lot like Wondra flour, in that you can sprinkle it right in and it won't lump up.)

HTH

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!

I use guar gum. I also keep it in a salt shaker. Like Maggie I make gravy the same way I always did - I add water or wine to the meat juices if needed. But then I sprinkle the guar gum into the juices and stir. I keep adding a bit more until I get the right consistancy.

CC

Sometimes I want gravy when I don't HAVE any drippings, so here's what I do - I use flavored stock pastes - beef, chicken, ham, seafood - which I can get at Smart & Final (aka Cash & Carry elsewhere) or can be purchased online at www.penzeys.com - I add a teaspoon to a cup and a half of water and microwave til hot. Then I stir in a pat of butter (to simulate the fat drippings I don't have!) and then use the Thicken Thin Not/Starch to thicken it to my liking, whisking the dickens out of it. I do all this in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, and just nuke it and whisk, whisk, whisk, and add more TNTN/S if needed, til thick enough. It thickens even more upon cooling so watch it though!

Works like a charm and tastes pretty good in the absence of those heavenly pan drippings....

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

Thanks. I will have to look for those products.

Kristie

I don't know what I did wrong! I totally ****ed up last Christmas's gravy using Thick'n'Thin. I kept adding it and adding it... ended up using about 1/4 cup in a pan of gravy, by the time I was done. I stirred it over the heat. It was still kind of thin by the time I gave up on it. I ate it, but it had a texture kind of like thin metamucil.

Any advice?

**************
"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door."

I never heard of it.

I am interested in trying it though, I was wondering myself what I could use to make a gravy when I have a roast beef or turkey.

My Wife tried using Soy flour once instead of regular flour, I didn't think it was so bad but she thought it was disgusting.

I know there is an Almond Flour out there, I was wondering how that would work.

Almond flour doesn't work for thickening. I tried it once. I sometimes temper an egg yolk with a few tbs hot drippings and then add the tempered yolk back to the pan drippings. a little heavy cream can be added to increase the consistency. But I prefer a less thick gravy.

Rob
310/232/180

Me, a skeptic? I trust you have proof.

I made turkey gravy tonight for us. WOW was it good! I missed so much. I used the guar gum.

My question is how do I find out the carb count and fiber? I looked on fitday but it did not come up.
Thanks!

Blessings,

Carol

I believe the carb count and the fiber cancel each other out on the guar, xanthan, and I know that for sure on the ThickenThin Not/Starch because I just looked at the package - 1 tsp = 2.3 grams each carbs and fiber. Since it's a blend of acacia, guar, carob and xanthan gums, it's probably pretty close to what EACH of them independently is!

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

Yep, finally found it on Vitacost.com - 1 tsp. guar gum - 3 grams carbs, 3 grams fiber, so ECC is 0.

HTH!

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

Thanks Char!! I was in gravy heaven last night!

Blessings,

Carol

I just wanted you to know that I'm not ignoring your question, but am still trying to puzzle out what happened to your Christmas gravy, Dr. I.

I know that a quarter of a cup is way overkill unless you're cooking gravy for an army.

I'm just stumped and wanted to sort of re-state the question further down in the thread to see if I can get some more input on it.

Can you sort of describe how you went about making your gravy? (Sorry if that sounds like a "post a menu" response, but I don't know how else to figure out where things got ****ed up.)

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Couch Fauxtato for Life, Redhead until further notice! ~~

Yeah, Dr. I, usually that stuff thickens stuff up like crazy!

I use xanthan gum, and add it by the 1/4 teaspoon. There is also a kind of delayed reaction; I add some, and then wait and stir to see how thick it gets before adding more.

Could it be that the thickener you got wasn't right? Have you tried it in anything else?

Trina

Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy.
And cooking done with care is an act of love.
- Craig Claiborne

I'm with Trina, I also us Xgum in 1/4 tsp amounts and it does have a delayed reaction. You have to blend it for a minute or two (at least) between additions otherwise you end up with too thick gravy.

Cream works well to thicken but once you've used cream, you really don't have gravy anymore, you have sauce. I know, that's splitting hairs!

As for your gravy, Dr. I, that's very strange. I would suggest that the thickener might have gone "bad" but then I don't think something like that can "go" bad. I'm not sure.

I must admit, I've never used that product as I also use Xgum.

Here's a link to my article on 7-bone roast and gravy. It probably won't help but you never know!

Recipe



Member since 2001

My Sunroof

[This message was edited by Maggie on 02-01-04 at 05:38 PM.]