My roommate and I made dinner together on Saturday night, and my job was to make the cream sauce for our swedish meatballs. It was looking a little lumpy and my roommate asked the question, "Does your gravy turn out lumpy too?" I laughed and said "Actually, I've never made gravy".
What?!?! Camille has never made gravy!?!?!?
That's right friends, I have never made gravy from scratch (gravy packets don't count, do they?). My roommate couldn't believe I'd never made gravy before and I said,
"I know. Can you imagine what it will be like after I'm married and I have to call my mom and ask her how to make gravy?"
{I pretend to pick up the phone and dial my mom}
"Hi mom, can you tell me how to make gravy?" and she'll say "Camille, you are 35 years old. You should know how to do this by now."
I guess my roommate thought I was being too optimistic because she changed my mom's response to, "Camille, you are 60 years old, you should know how to do this by now!"
10 years ago
6 comments:
Camille, I have been married for almost 2 years, and I even have a stepson and a baby of my own, and I would have no idea how to even begin to make gravy. What? It doesn't come from packets? Who knew?! Good thing my husband and I don't really even like gravy, huh!
Ok ladies! I can TOTALLY sympathize! When I was in college I had the bright idea to invite a friend over for dinner...I don't remember what the complete menu was, but it included mashed potatoes and white gravy. Keep in mind, my cooking skills were just a smidge above beginner at this time. So my friend commented that you couldn't tell the difference between the two...and she was right! Which led to the call to Mom for directions...
Here's what I've found to work well:
Start with a frying pan with some grease in it...bacon or sausage...or just some butter...you decide. About enough to cover the bottom of the pan well. Add some flour....maybe a couple of tablespoons...you want about equal parts of fat to flour. Then "brown" the flour...you're cooking out the flour taste and adding some color to the gravy. Oh yeah, don't forget to add some salt and cracked black pepper. Now you're ready to add some milk. Maybe a quarter or half a skillet-full at first...and I love to use a whisk for this part (so a cast-iron or NON-nonstick skillet work best). Keep whisking until it's smooth, it will start to get thick. And you keep adding milk until you get it to the consistency you desire. Keep in mind, it will continue to get thick the longer you cook it.
So there's your cooking lesson for the day! Enjoy!
I am proud of you. I thought from a mix was from scratch? Shows how much I know. Hey, now I am paranoid and setting my blog to private. :) Send me your email address at mommymeliss@gmail.com and I'll invite you.
Gravy! It's as good from packets as it is from scratch, plus how often would you REALLY need to know how to make gravy. Once...Twice... a year tops?
Also, I think you roomate was being a lot too pesimistic!!
Now that you've mastered gravy, what's next?
Oh, I haven't mastered gravy. Remember, I've never made it! I made a cream sauce for our meatballs that consisted of a packet of mix and water. Should have been easy, but it was lumpy. It still tasted good.
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