# I have achieved Gravy! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133 "2011-12-05T15:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/41 "2011-12-11T16:32:17Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I could hear my arteries harden just reading that. My cardiologist will thank you. The boat isn’t going to buy itself. Oh, I know. But comparing it to how most people make this dish is like comparing sex to masturbation. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/42 "2011-12-11T21:32:14Z")
> [@Slade](#): > > Some are born gravy, some achieve gravy and some have gravy thrust upon them. Some are born blonde roux, if I trust **Pulykamell**. They’re most desirable. [http://www.elle.fr/Beaute/Cheveux/Coiffure/Scarlett-Johansson-zoom-sur-ses-coiffures/cheveux-blond-roux](http://www.elle.fr/Beaute/Cheveux/Coiffure/Scarlett-Johansson-zoom-sur-ses-coiffures/cheveux-blond-roux) ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/43 "2011-12-18T16:00:44Z")
**Vow** and **Chefguy** , thanks, I did it! Well sort of. What ended up with looks like like sausage hash right now. I ran out of milk, but it was at least a 1/2 cup short, probably 1 cup. I used some discount sausage which resulted in a bunch of grease. (Didn’t want to waste too much money in case I screwed it up.) But the result was tasty But anyways, I got the fundamentals, and next time I will make sure I got plenty of everything. Thanks again NFM, who is no longer a gravy moron, just a wee bit gravy challenged! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/44 "2011-12-18T18:48:16Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > **Vow** and **Chefguy** , > > thanks, I did it! Well sort of. What ended up with looks like like sausage hash right now. I ran out of milk, but it was at least a 1/2 cup short, probably 1 cup. I used some discount sausage which resulted in a bunch of grease. (Didn’t want to waste too much money in case I screwed it up.) But the result was tasty > > But anyways, I got the fundamentals, and next time I will make sure I got plenty of everything. > > Thanks again > > NFM, who is no longer a gravy moron, just a wee bit gravy challenged! Perhaps if you were actually from Mensa, you would have remembered to buy milk. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/45 "2011-12-18T19:40:34Z")
To notfrommensa: Thanks for the update! Pat yourself on the back! Too many people are intimidated by roux gravy (cream gravy, white gravy, grease gravy) and it’s far too easy to be afraid of. And like I said, it’s “cheap eats” from way back when. One old joke I heard was about a guy who was the youngest in a huge family of kids. He said he was ten years old before he knew there was any other part to the chicken besides gravy! Your milk crisis can be avoided by using my suggestion of canned milk. #1 Canned milk sits on the shelf indefinitely, so you always have milk on hand, and #2 Canned milk is double strength, so you can dilute with water to the amount of gravy you need. So, are we having sausage gravy and biscuits every Sunday at your house for breakfast? Shall I bring orange juice? ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/46 "2011-12-18T21:08:23Z")
Next week is the real test. Time to make the gravy for the Rump roast & Yorkshire pudding. I can do it. Gravy is not a big, hairy spider. Gravy will not tie me up and throw me in the basement. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/47 "2011-12-18T21:50:49Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Next week is the real test. Time to make the gravy for the Rump roast & Yorkshire pudding. > > I can do it. Gravy is not a big, hairy spider. Gravy will not tie me up and throw me in the basement. Well for god’s sake don’t forget the. . .oops, there’s the doorbell. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/48 "2011-12-18T22:28:37Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > So, are we having sausage gravy and biscuits every Sunday at your house for breakfast? Shall I bring orange juice? > ~VOW Orange Juice? rather have Bloody Mary’s. If you want coffee, you better bring a full thermos because the house is a coffee free zone. I might be able to find a coffee filter back in the pantry if you wanted to bring a coffee maker and coffee. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/49 "2011-12-19T16:39:26Z")
And not one of you has poured some of this gravy over fries and cheese curds? For shame! I have a friend who is slowly perfecting her own poutine gravy recipe. Sadly, she lives far away from here, so I rarely get to see how far she’s come in her quest. I don’t cook, so I don’t make gravy. My husband cooks, but he needs more experience with sauce-making. This thread might help…! ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/50 "2011-12-20T04:00:37Z")
Achieving gravy is no small feat. Somebody give this man an award! I’ve been making gravy for forty years and occasionally mine still seperates. Don’t know why. Maybe I wasn’t holding my mouth right. World dominance? Pssshaw. On to the edge of the universe, and beyond! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/51 "2011-12-20T13:53:02Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Well for god’s sake don’t forget the. . .oops, there’s the doorbell. NO, no. I’ve got it right here. Right next to the - AAAHHH!!! Clown! Kill it! Kill it! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/52 "2011-12-20T15:06:44Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > I’ve been making gravy for forty years and occasionally mine still seperates. Don’t know why. Hmmm. Odd. Are you perhaps using too much fat? Or possibly overheating it? I’ve never had gravy separate, but with egg-and-oil emulsions that’s often the problem. ETA: If you just mean it thins out, that’s a problem of boiling/heating it for too long. Or overstirring it. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/53 "2011-12-26T01:09:11Z")
Gravy achieved!!! Again!!! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/54 "2011-12-26T03:39:11Z")
Orgasmic, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/55 "2011-12-26T05:46:49Z")
To Maus Magill: Heartfelt congratulations! Welcome to Gravy Land! To Chefguy: I saw my sister on Christmas Eve, and mentioned to her about my sausage gravy experience with chorizo. She said, “Hmmm,” and thought about it for fifteen seconds, and then a blissful look crossed her face. I think chorizo sausage gravy and biscuits will be on her menu very soon! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/56 "2011-12-26T17:05:59Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I just put flour and cold water in a covered dish, shake like mad, and then pour it in to the drippings while whisking. Works every time. Yep! You need all those lovely brown bits at the bottom of the roaster. Leave the entire mess in, even if there’s bones and meat glued on too. Put roaster on stove element, add water, turn up. Stir and scrape and stir and scrape until you’ve loosened all the goodness, and it’s almost at a boil. If I’ve got a lot of solid bits like bones and tinfoil (some stuck to the bottom, it was protecting the stuffing exit) I will use a strainer and then return the strained proto-gravy to the roasting pan. Leave the strainer dripping into a container–there’s more goodness slowly seeping out as you work. Shake like mad the flour/water mix–my mum always used cold water. Slowly drizzle it into the almost-gravy in the roaster, which is now on a lower heat, as you stir. Keep stirring as it thickens. Add the lovely flavour stuff that’s been seeping out of the strainer into your waiting bowl to the near-gravy. Continue stirring and cooking until thickened to desired level of ecstasy. Add salt and pepper. If you have a drooling relative nearby, beat them away with your wooden stirring spoon. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/57 "2011-12-27T01:00:18Z")
Gravy achieved once again!! Watched my de facto Sister in Law make gravy with Turkey dinner yesterday. Today I cooked a pork roast and I made some delicious pork gravy (with some mushrooms) for my scrumptuous mashed potatoes. wOOt!! wOOt!! Thanks everyone for their assistance. So much for the neighborhood dogs getting the leftover juices. That is mine now! ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/58 "2011-12-27T03:07:00Z")
We’re PROUD of ya, notfrommensa! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/59 "2011-12-27T03:27:51Z")
I will admit to two strategic errors on my part: 1 - I asked my father-in-law to carve the beef while I busied myself with the pudding. I had not realized that he’s never carved roast beef before. (Hell - this is only the fourth time he’s ever had it. Would you believe large Italian families don’t serve WASPish meals at Christmas?) We ended up with nearly slices of steak. 2 - I was so busy making the gravy, the Yorkshire pudding went into the oven late, so there was a bit of delay in service. Everything worked out in the end, though. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133/60 "2011-12-27T04:14:12Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > We’re PROUD of ya, notfrommensa! > ~VOW There was casuality. My ceramic casserole dish lid busted into smithereens when I took it off. Several large shards went down the drain into the grabage disposal. I have spending most of the last 45 minutes trying to fish them out. Is there a specific tool that is designed to fish things out of the garbage disposal? with a light? rather making do with Screw-driver, and other tools? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-achieved-gravy/605133.md?page=4)