When you think of the word “gravy,” what springs to mind? For me (and a lot of people, probably) the word is synonymous with Thanksgiving. Sitting there next to the turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and stuffing is a tureen full of rich, brown liquid gravy. But beyond its location on the Thanksgiving plate, I don’t know that much about the stuff. I also suspect that “gravy” might encompass more than just the liquid that goes on turkey. So what is gravy, exactly? How is it made? Is it different from sauce? Let’s find out.
Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with corn starch or other thickeners for added texture.
What is gravy made of?
If you want to know what is in gravy, you need only look at the very meat on which you put it. For a Thanksgiving meal, that would be turkey. The turkey’s juices are collected and thickened with cornstarch or flour, then combined with salt and pepper, and potentially other spices. Voila! That’s your gravy.
Now, if we’re talking instant gravy, the ingredients are a little more complicated. For example, the ingredients in a packet of McCormick Turkey Gravy Dry Mix include: Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Wheat Starch, Whey (Milk), Salt, Chicken Fat, Turkey Powder, Onion, Torula Yeast, Caramel Color, Disodium Inosinate And Guanylate (Flavor Enhancers), Spices (Including Celery Seed), Extractives Of Rosemary, Extractives Of Paprika, Extractives Of Sage, Butyric Acid & Natural Flavor. Voila! With some hot water, that’s your gravy.
What is gravy?
If we’re talking gravy in the Thanksgiving sense, the word refers to a sauce made from the drippings of the meat that collect during cooking. It is often thickened with cornstarch or a similar product. For most of this article, I will be using this definition, since this is what most people think of when they hear the word “gravy.”
That said, “gravy” is one of those terms that is quite broad and all-encompassing. For example, in Indian cuisine, there are a number of different sauces that are frequently called “gravies,” and in Italian cooking as well, it’s not uncommon to refer to sauce as gravy. So, keep in mind that gravy may mean different things to different people.
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