[Sca-cooks] canned gravy??????

[Stefan li Rous]

  Christianna commented:
> Stephan pined:
(hey, that's a bit strong...)
> > For Thanksgiving we did have a good giblet gravy, but my
> > mother-in-law doesn't put hard boiled eggs in hers, ehich I like.
> > And there really wasn't that much and it ran out long before the
> > leftover turkey did.
>
> And then Adamantius wondered:
> You know, I don't seem to recall having heard of this one before. I
> assume, though (and have seen this in other contexts, such as sea
> turtle cookery) that it would be reasonable for someone processing an
> egg-laying female for the table to include any unlaid eggs among the
> giblets. I wonder if that's where that idea comes from.
I doubt it. Chicken eggs wouldn't be that uncommon. And this is using 
hard boiled chunks, not breaking the egg into the drippings/gravy.
> 	The first time I saw this was at Thanksgiving dinner at my soon-to-be
> in-law's house.  My M-I-L made the gravy with giblets (which I don't 
> care
> for, opting myself for a nice veloute sort of texture to my gravy) and
> then added chopped hard boiled eggs.  I was appalled.
This list *is* educational. I thought having hard-boiled egg chunks 
*was* standard in giblet gravy. And I mean chunks, quarter-inch to 3/8 
inch on a side. Or is that "chopped", as opposed to "diced"?
> I ate some to be nice, but
> never liked it, although I don't have anything against h.b. eggs.  They
> just don't belong in my gravy.
Ok. We've seen a wide variety of tastes on this list. :-)
> It was also the first time I'd ever
> seen anyone stringing celery stalks.  (Using a knife to cut away a 
> small
> section at one end, then pulling along the back to remove the fibers
> running lenghthwise.
Oh? Again, I thought this was pretty standard practice.
> 	As for skimming fat, the method Adamantius describes of a tall
> container in
> the fridge works best and most fool-proof, and it doesn't have to get
> completely cold to have the separation complete.  It only takes a few
> minutes for most poultry drippings to separate.  To get it congealed to
> be able to lift it off cleanly takes a while, but just getting it all 
> on
> top makes removal of the fat pretty easy.	
Okay, I'll try this. I was aware of the idea of cooling the drippings 
to solidify the fat, but the drippings are not usually available until 
the turkey (or other roasted meat) is done. At which point folks want 
to eat it while it is hot, not after the drippings have had time to 
cool off in the refrigerator. But perhaps the seperation alone can 
happen while the rest of the last minute things are getting done.

It's almost like you need to have a bottle of previously seperated 
stock to use. Then you refill that bottle with seperated stock from the 
current item the next day and put it in the freezer for the next meal.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****