Chocolate Gravy

Ingredients

 2 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
pinch salt
1 can (12-ounce) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cup water (I fill the milk can with water)
3 cups milk
1-2 Tbs. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, flour, cocoa and salt. Whisk the dry ingredients together until well smooth and well combined.

Combine evaporated milk, water and milk and pour over the dry ingredients. Heat over medium heat and stir occasionally with a spoon (do not use a whisk as it adds too much air), ensuring the mixture doesn’t burn on the bottom. Heat until mixture boils.
Once mixture boils, remove from heat and add butter and vanilla and stir well.

Serve over fresh, warm biscuits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Sausage Gravy

Ingredients

1 pound roll of bulk pork breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean)
1/2 cup of butter, bacon fat or vegetable/canola oil
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
3 to 4 cups of milk, more or less, as needed
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, or to taste
Instructions

Brown sausage in a large skillet, breaking up and crumbling the meat as it cooks, then start your biscuits. By the time the sausage in browned up, you’ll be ready to pop the biscuits in the oven, and get the gravy going. Once the meat is fully browned, stir in the butter or bacon fat to the skillet until melted. Sprinkle the flour on top of the meat and bring the pan up to a medium high heat. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

Slowly begin whisking in the first two cups of milk until fully incorporated and mixture begins to bubble. This will provide a fairly thick gravy. Continue whisking in additional milk a little bit at a time, until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Grind plenty of pepper directly into the gravy, add salt to taste, mix well and serve over hot, split biscuits.

MAKE AHEAD THANKSGIVING GRAVY

Ingredients

Bone in turkey such as legs or wings. You’ll need about 6 wings. You can put the neck from a turkey in here as well and maybe some of the giblets if you would like.
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
1 cup water
2 quarts chicken broth, or home made stock divided
3/4 cup chopped carrot
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Put the turkey pieces a single layer in a large roasting pan. Place the onions over the top of the turkey meat.. Roast in the preheated oven for 1-1/4 hours or until turkey is browned.

Place browned turkey parts and onions in a large stockpot.

Add water to the roasting pan and stir. Scrape up any of those delicious brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Pour the the water from the pan into the stockpot. Stir in 6 cups of the broth, or stock, the carrot, and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 1-1/2 hours.

Remove the turkey from the pot and place on a cutting board. When the turkey has cooled, pull off the skin and meat. Discard the skin and save the meat for another use.

Strain contents of stockpot through a large strainer into a 3 quart saucepan. Press on the vegetables to extract any remaining liquid. Discard the vegetables and skim the fat off the liquid. Bring the contents of the pot to a gentle boil.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour into the remaining 2 cups chicken broth until smooth and a slurry is formed. Gradually whisk the flour mixture into the simmering turkey broth; simmer 3-4 minutes or until the gravy has thickened. Stir in the butter and pepper. You can serve it right away or refrigerate it. You can also put it into containers and freeze it if you make the gravy well in advance.