Giblet Gravy

I’ve never added more butter to my bird. The skin adds enough grease. If I need more gravy I’d use canned stock. Today on the chicken I poured a little olive oil, salt pepper, chef merito chicken seasoning, half a pack of fresh rosemary, dried sage and dried Italian seasoning. Cooked giblets in bacon fat, 1/4 red onion, 3 mushrooms,salt, pepper water. Added to drippings with flour. Added giblet meat. I liked it. I like hard boiled eggs but sometimes it’s too much hassle.

…but don’t ever boil the liver. Just sauté it in bacon fat, bird drippings or butter before adding it to the party.

As for the chopped eggs, one of my sisters-in-law wouldn’t eat it without them. Personally, I can take them or leave them. I don’t think they add all that much to the gravy.

My grandmother made her gravy much like this, but she added a couple of chopped boiled eggs. To me, that makes the gravy. RIP, Julia Gray.

Best gravy recipe ever!! I’ve made it for Thanksgiving and it was a hit. People were asking for a recipe. I’ll be doing this again and again.

I made this tonight, and it was delicious! My bird was seasoned with paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder, so my gravy came out spicy (especially with Dijon mustard), and ohh so good. Poured the gravy over everything- even my fried potatoes, much to hubby’s dismay (his food can’t touch, as a rule). Will be writing this down in my little cookbook to keep forever.

I learned to make giblet gravy from watching and oh yes, eating my Grandmother’s giblet gravy. Each year she would put on quite the spread for Thanksgiving and Christmas but when we walked through her door, the wonderful auroma of that gibet gravy caused immediate mouth watering. I made it for my own family and I’m still making it. I wouldn’t dare lay out a holiday spread without it. My grandmother cut the giblets and also hard boilded eggs. She started her base with bacon grease. She added celery,onios, green onions, and sweet peppers as well. The best! We all loved it and we still do.

I’m so happy you posted this. My daughter has celiacs and this will be a great way to make gravy for her. I’m thinking I could do it with chicken parts too:) Thanks!

Elise, thank you for this recipe. My boyfriend loves to mince the giblets etc. then saute them in a lot of butter and add them in the dressing. I begged him to let me make this gravy, and after a lot of back and forth, he finally let me! It was perhaps the best tasting gravy I think I have ever had! Everyone else agreed with me. (As I was reading some of the other comments however, I remembered that I forgot the mustard! I’ll just have to roast a chicken and make the gravy again!) Again, thank you for all of your recipes. (I made your moms roasted turkey and the honey thyme ham also! SSOOO GOOD!)

I made this, my first time cooking organ meats at all and one of my first times eating them too! It came out great, it was my favourite dish of the night and I was proud of my tiny culinary adventure. I even shared some with the dog, very special treat. I will be making this every year!

We made this gravy for Thanksgiving, and it was the highlight of the meal. We pureed it, as non of us wanted a chunky gravy. It was such a beautiful brown color and the flavor was out of this world. Thank you for sharing this recipe!

I use a very simple recipe that my family has used for many years.

The gravy is a great job for someone who wants to help but you want out of the way or staying in one place.

First you must buy a turkey much larger than the number of people you are going to feed because we make gravy by the vat, or so it seems, and you need a lot of drippings to make a huge pot of gravy. Be sure to baste the tureky a few times with butter so the butter will mix with the turkey fat. The giblets simmer in plain water all day while the turkey cooks.

1. Discard the heart and gizzard. Pull off and shred the neck meat. Slice the liver into small thin slices or pieces. Set aside.

2. Thinly slice all boiled eggs (including yolks) that have been discarded as being visually inferior from shelling for deviled eggs. We usually have about 4 eggs that weren’t deemed good enough in looks. Set aside with giblets.

3. Dump ALL of the fat and drippings from the turkey into a large pot. Add however much flour is necessary to make a thin paste. Stir constantly with a whisk until all flour lumps are gone.

4. Add a few ladles of the hot giblet water to the paste. Stir for a minute or so.

5. Add some milk, a little at a time while whisking until the gravy is the consistency you want it to be. You can use whatever kind of milk you like. If you like a thinner, less creamy gravy, use skim or 2%. Tastes the same, just has a different consistency.

6. Keep stirring, adding milk. As it thickens, add more milk and more milk. Then add a few ladles of the giblet stock. Keep adding milk and stock until you think the gravy looks the way you want it.

7. Add the giblets and boiled eggs and stir until they are heated again. Add more stock and milk if necessary.

Do not add any seasoning. People can add the salt and pepper to taste at the table. The seasoning for the gravy cmes from the seasonings that were in the stuffing baked inside the turkey and the turkey drippings.

Leftover gravy can be thinned with more milk the next day, just be sure to wait until it has heated before adding any liquid though because it will thin out as it reheats.

Elise,

I am so in love with giblet gravy. Though, not because we don’t like the flavor of liver, but because I want to make a pâté (by the way, thanks for the Twitter feedback – your recipe is in the top 3 running) out of the big beautiful livers we got from the two turkey we butchered yesterday.

After butchering our own turkey, I will never be able to look at the sorry sack of giblets in a store bought turkey the same. Our home grown turkey necks are HUGE, the liver is giant, the gizzard so beautiful, the heart, so big and fresh. The store bag just looks like a cheap knock-off.

I think I’m going to purée part of the gravy this year. I feel like a mix, a little chunk and a little smooth. Haha, the beauty of being able to do anything.

Glad to see that giblet gravy is a big hit..At our house I have to make “Northern” turkey gravy and “Southern ” Turkey gravy, which is the giblet kind. I cook the liver, gizzard, heart and neck in a 2 qt sauce pan with a stock made from 2-3 chicken boullion cubes. When the meat is tender after an hour or so, I debone the neck meat, chop the liver, heart and gizzard and add back to the stock. Add a little pepper and thicken it with cornstarch mixed with cold water. Bring back to a boil and add 2 chopped hard boiled eggs…( Which by the way is a southern thing!) My mom is from Tennessee and this is how they did it. The Northern gravy is made with a little turkey broth, drippings etc and seasoned and thickened with a flour roue. ( Flour and warm water mixed and slowly stirred in the hot turkey mix.) And then everyone is happy!!!

I love giblet gravy and that combined with cornbread dressing is what my Thanksgiving meal is all about. ;)

I make it as my grandmother did. I boil the giblets in chicken or turkey broth, with onions & celery if you want. I always eat the heart, but everything else gets chopped up fine & put back in the broth.
We add cream of chicken soup to the broth to make the gravy and chop up a couple boiled eggs in it as well.

My grandmother often would make a roux and add the broth & giblets to it for her gravy, but often extended it with the cream of chicken soup and over the years, I just make it with cream of chicken soup.
ITs fast, its easy & its tasty!

What interesting comments – especially those who’ve never heard of “giblet gravy.” I have never known any other way to make gravy…we have always just called this “gravy”! I don’t understand how one *would* make gravy without the giblets! I always use all of the giblets (unless my father would ask me to fish out a part of the liver for him to hide in a corner and eat by himself) as well as the neck meat. For the past 15 years or so, I’ve been adding 1/2 to 1 c. of cooking Sherry — everyone raves when I do; gives a lovely flavor. I have never used boiled eggs and think I’ll pass on this suggestion. I also use Roux (butter and flour), heated together until smooth to thicken instead of corn starch or flour and water. Makes it a bit richer. I pour off the pan drippings into a gravy/fat separator so I use little of the turkey fat. I like the butter taste – it is less greasy. One idea from this recipe I’m going to try is to puree the mixture. I love the idea of a smooth gravy with all this flavor! Happy Thanksgiving!