Pan Gravy
271kcal2.5g protein26.5g fat6.8g carbs~$0.55/ serving*Estimates computed from the ingredient list; cost uses average US supermarket prices. Not a substitute for packaging measurements or your receipt.
Contains gluten, dairy · only in an optional ingredient: soy
Restrictions
Containsgluten · dairyIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.
Only if you add itsoy (soy sauce)Leave that ingredient out and the dish does not have it.
Diets
No porkNo alcohol · without one
Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.
Ingredients
Servings:
| 3 tbsp |  pan drippings (fat and browned juices from a roast) |
| 1 tbsp |  butter (only if drippings fall short) |
| 2 tbsp |  flour (all-purpose) |
| 1 ½ cup |  chicken stock (warm) |
| ½ tsp | salt |
| ¼ tsp |  black pepper (coarsely ground) |
Optional
Not counted above. The dish works without them.
| ¼ cup |  dry white wine (for deglazing) |
| 1 sprig |  thyme (sprig) |
| 2 tbsp |  heavy cream |
| ½ tsp |  soy sauce (for color and depth) |
Steps
- Measure3 mindrippings settledpour the roasting pan's contents into a cup and let it separate — spoon 3 tbsp of the clear fat back into the pan and reserve the dark juices below it for later. Fat is the roux's solvent; the juices are water and would turn the flour to paste on contact. Top up with butter if the roast gave less than 3 tbsp.
- Mix3 minmedium heat, whisking constantlyfat + flour, until the paste stops smelling like raw dough and goes the color of wet sand. Two to three minutes is the whole window: under-cooked flour tastes chalky in the finished sauce, and past a nut-brown its thickening power starts to drop off as the starch chains break.
- Deglaze2 minmedium-high, scraping+ wine (or a splash of the stock), scraping every brown patch off the pan floor with a flat-edged spoon. That fond is caramelized meat protein and sugar — it is the entire difference between gravy and thickened stock, and it will not dissolve once the sauce is thick.
- Whisk4 minmedium, adding in thirds+ warm stock + reserved pan juices, a third at a time, whisking each addition smooth before the next. Adding it all at once floats the roux in a cold pool and the flour clumps; adding warm liquid in stages keeps the starch dispersed as it swells.
- Simmer7 minlow, bare bubble+ thyme, uncovered, until the gravy coats a spoon and holds a line drawn through it. Flour starch does not reach full thickness until it has actually simmered — pull it at the first bubble and it will keep thickening in the boat and taste raw. Discard the sprig.
- Season1 minoff heat+ salt + black pepper (+ cream, + soy sauce), tasted last, because the reduction has already concentrated whatever salt the drippings and stock carried. Strain if the fond left grit.