simple cream gravy?

[ceile]

My honey had a bad day so he wants comfort food for dinner. So of course I must make mashed potatoes. I usually forgo the gravy but I have a wicked craving for it. Are there any simple recipes that won't up my cholesterol too much?

[Kali]

1. the best needs some oil or grease that has good meat fried in it

can you handle a little bacon fat?

basic cream gravy is just a med to thick white sauce, what makes it "gravy" is the flavor of the meat and the brown crust from frying it.

a piece or two of chicken, a minute steak, a bit of breakfast sausage etc then add a little vegetable oil, equal amount of flour, stir for a minute or so then milk or half and half and stir/simmer for a minute or two...
salt and (lots of) pepper. YUM! now I am craving!

[ceile]

2. I was trying to avoid fat, but what good is comfort food w/out a little fat?

I think I'll be doing some pork chops so there should a good bit of drippings to use...gosh I'm already getting hungry!
What was I thinking- lowfat gravy? HA!

[Kali]

6. I can make a good low fat gravy with roasted meat drippings and good broth

thickened with corn starch, but for me cream gravy has to be made with fat and flour

you could make a brown gravy with pork chop pan drippings by using chicken broth and corn starch. simmer the broth in the pan and scrap all the goodies up into it, add a tablespoon or two dissolved in a 1/4 cup of cold water for each cup or two of broth and bring back to simmer for another minute or so

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. I save filtered meat fat when cooking

and put it into labled small jars in the frieezer..you know, chicken fat, beef fat, pork fat...
it takes about 2 tablespoons of fat to make a decent gravy for 2, so the frozen stuff lasts a long time.
And use half and half for the milk, for a richer flavor ( but half and half seems to go sour if you freeze it).
You can add beef or chicken broth to the gravy for a stronger flavor if you like..I usually add one teas. of Better Than Boullion stock, the chicken version is really tasty.

[cbayer]

3. If you are not roasting something, I would just buy a jar of the stuff and heat it up.

[monmouth]

4. Boston Market has wonderful beef gravy...n/t

[Kali]

5. brown (broth or water) gravy for roasted, cream (milk) for fried

not sure why, but I can't mix them

[Warpy]

7. Even a French roux based sauce that uses butter

doesn't contain that much fat per serving. Boring broiled chicken breasts turn into an event with a tablespoonful of a good French cream sauce and the variations are endless.

Meat based gravies are easy, just pour most of the fat off pan drippings, deglaze with wine or water, and add either flour or buerre manie, a French shortcut to a rich sauce. Stir with a whisk to break up any lumps and keep on heat in the pan until it turns into gravy, thinning as necessary. A fat free meat gravy is pan drippings with all the fat poured off, deglazed, and thickened with a mixture of cornstarch and cold water. It tastes OK but lacks the richness of the fattier gravy.

A good veggie gravy can be made with mushrooms and a dark veggie oil roux, just cook the roux until it turns a light brown and smells nutty. Add the mushrooms and their juices and thin with water.

If you don't have a roast beast with pan drippings, adding Better than Bouillion to the water for the roux will make an acceptable tasting gravy (works better with chicken and you have to add more than you think you will), although the color will not be the same as with pan gravy.

ETA: All of this works really well with rice flour, if you're gluten free. Rice flour does have slightly more thickening power than flour, so you'll have to eyeball how much water you use.

[yellerpup]

9. Skinny gravy

Take 2 Tbsp. of fat from whatever kind of meat you will be having and cook it in a skillet (I use cast iron) with about the same amount of flour, stirring until all the fat is absorbed by the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes whisking constantly. If you burn it, start over. Once your roux is well blended, add either a pint of stock or a pint of skim milk or a pint of almond milk (unflavored) and keep whisking until it is thickened to your taste. Season with salt and pepper. I came up with this when I became allergic to milk. Whole milk, half-and-half, or heavy cream is typical of white gravy, but I like the flavor of the lower fat version just as well and have no 'hangover' from it afterward. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

[Warpy]

10. I keep powdered soy milk around for milk based things

It works fine in baking and sauces. For some weird reason, I can't get it to work well in puddings.

[yellerpup]

11. Hmmm...could be there isn't enough fat in it

for puddings. The pudding mixes always say to use whole milk, so maybe the soy isn't rich enough to make it right. The older I get the more haywire my body systems go -- I can't take soy anything because I take thyroid medication. Soy is evidently kryptonite to thyroid meds. You can have it but not within twelve hours of taking your medication and that leaves a very small window of opportunity. I use goats milk pretty well though because goat milk molecules are 100x larger than cows milk molecules and can't cross a membrane (in the bowel, I forget the pure science for it) that causes allergic reaction.

[ceile]

12. bookmarking my own thread

so many good ideas that I must save for future reference. Thanks everyone!
Didn't end up making any last night, but I know I will in the future.