Now that I've been in the business for so many years and learned the five mother sauces, there are no limits on how many sauce that can be created. I mean, there must be like thousands, eh?
I was making a simple roasted chicken the other night for the wife and I. I took some lime chili butter and spread it under the skin, stuffed the cavity with citrus, onions, garlic and a shit load of fresh herbs, olive oiled and salt and peppered the hell out of it all around. At the bottom of the roasting pan I put a pile of large diced mire poix to use as a "roasting rack". Roasted it in a 475 over for 30 minutes, finished it in a 350 oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes. The result was a bad ass crispy skin, juicy moist meat and a lot of really flavorful fond at the bottom of the pan.
So, now that I know the basics of a good sauce. Now that I know how to layer flavors and create flavor from flavor, that color and fat are flavor. That using a fat organic chicken instead of some little pullet they sell at the local grocery store. You know, the basics! Knowing all that, I thought, "How can I make the baddest gravy in the land?!
Sorry folks, I didnt take any pictures at all. I was just inspired to write about this after the wife and I just talked about that gravy. I mean, it was days ago and were still talking about it, lol. I promise, the next food related blog will have pics.
Anywho, so I look down at all this lovely goodness and remember watching the women in my life make gravy in the past. They would skim off all the fat, take all the lumps and goodies out and toss them, then thicken the remaining liquid with a corn starch slurry, maybe a little salt and pepper and poured into a gravy boat.
I wanted my gravy to be the baddest in the land, remember? So, I decided that it would be a shame to toss all those goodies and, of course, all that stuff still has great flavor, right? So, I took a little chiken stock, brought the roasting pan and all its goodness to a boil. Turned off the heat and pureed the entire thing with my stick blender until very smooth. Oddly enough, the vegetables acted like a natural thickener and I didn't even need to use slurry! (or a roux, which would have been preferred to make a proper sauce, in my opinion.)
I strained the puree, mounted it with a little whole butter, adjusted the seasoning and wham-o, the baddest gravy in the land :)
Yeah, the chicken came out so juicy, I barely needed gravy, but whatever. I put it on anyway along with everything else, Im such a fatty, lol.
I was making a simple roasted chicken the other night for the wife and I. I took some lime chili butter and spread it under the skin, stuffed the cavity with citrus, onions, garlic and a shit load of fresh herbs, olive oiled and salt and peppered the hell out of it all around. At the bottom of the roasting pan I put a pile of large diced mire poix to use as a "roasting rack". Roasted it in a 475 over for 30 minutes, finished it in a 350 oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes. The result was a bad ass crispy skin, juicy moist meat and a lot of really flavorful fond at the bottom of the pan.
So, now that I know the basics of a good sauce. Now that I know how to layer flavors and create flavor from flavor, that color and fat are flavor. That using a fat organic chicken instead of some little pullet they sell at the local grocery store. You know, the basics! Knowing all that, I thought, "How can I make the baddest gravy in the land?!
Sorry folks, I didnt take any pictures at all. I was just inspired to write about this after the wife and I just talked about that gravy. I mean, it was days ago and were still talking about it, lol. I promise, the next food related blog will have pics.
Anywho, so I look down at all this lovely goodness and remember watching the women in my life make gravy in the past. They would skim off all the fat, take all the lumps and goodies out and toss them, then thicken the remaining liquid with a corn starch slurry, maybe a little salt and pepper and poured into a gravy boat.
I wanted my gravy to be the baddest in the land, remember? So, I decided that it would be a shame to toss all those goodies and, of course, all that stuff still has great flavor, right? So, I took a little chiken stock, brought the roasting pan and all its goodness to a boil. Turned off the heat and pureed the entire thing with my stick blender until very smooth. Oddly enough, the vegetables acted like a natural thickener and I didn't even need to use slurry! (or a roux, which would have been preferred to make a proper sauce, in my opinion.)
I strained the puree, mounted it with a little whole butter, adjusted the seasoning and wham-o, the baddest gravy in the land :)
Yeah, the chicken came out so juicy, I barely needed gravy, but whatever. I put it on anyway along with everything else, Im such a fatty, lol.
