Gravy

I've made this gravy recipes from every kind of stock, drippings, or broth imaginable. It works just as well with the broth from the pot roast as with reconstituted bullion, chicken stock (canned and fresh), vegetable broth, meatloaf drippings (with some extra beef stock), sausage drippings (with milk)... the list goes on and on.

The important elements are flavorful liquid and a little bit of fat. Unlike the pan-gravy my mother makes, this does not depend solely on the fat from the food and take a lot of the proportion guesswork out of the process. For pan-gravy, make the roux as described and add it to the pan (with the meat removed) and then continue with the pan over heat (don't do this with a glass pan!, Just scrape the pan contents into the roux and continue.) The important thing is to clean the pan in the process of making gravy.

2 Tbs butter
1/3 cup flour (more or less, the proportions have to do with a variety of different factors like the humidity)
Broth, stock, or bullion. (All called broth here)

Make a roux (the basis for all good gravy) by melting the butter over medium heat until it foams, then add the flour a little at a time until it the resulting mush pulls away from the pan when you stir but "melts" down into a slurry when you stop. Lumpy roux at this point will make lumpy gravy so work it in slowly.


Butter foaming in the pan.


The roux paste. This is pretty good but I was a bit overzellous with the flour so it's a bit dry. I added another pat of butter and stired it in. No harm done.


Just perfect. You want every particle of flour covered in fat so it's can't clump when the liquid is added.

Stir often but non constantly until the roux smells nutty and is golden brown all the way through. This should take only a minute or two and will start bringing family member into the kitchen to investigate. Then start whisking in broth slowly. Use a metal whisk for this, any non-stick pan not bought at the dollar store should be able to handle a moderate whisking, don't forget the corners of the pan. Keep adding broth until either you run out of or you have as much gravy as you wanted. Keep whisking until it's a little runnier than you want the gravy (it will continue to thicken for another minute after it comes of the heat) pour it into a waiting bowl and season to taste.

Unlike other gravy recipes this does not need to be boiled to take out the flour-y taste. The flour should have been cooked through while making the roux. If you are short on time you can make the roux ahead. In the fridge it will last a couple of days. If you are really daring make a large batch with a whole stick of butter and pour it on to a sheet pan and pop it in the freezer. When frozen break the sheet into shards and keep in a plastic bag in the freezer. To make gravy just sprinkle shards into hot broth letting each melt before adding another.

My Kitchen

So people have been bugging me to see pictures of my apartment so here's a quick tour of the kitchen at least.


I'll try to go counter-clockwise around the kitchen. Believe it or not this was one of the largest kitchens we saw while apartment hunting. The fact that the stove was not directly behind the sink was one of the biggest selling points for me. It's small enough that you're not running all over the place but big enough not to feel cramped. Unfortunately it is not at all suited to two people cooking at once so Sean and I often run into snags.



Here's the wonderful counter space and "coffee area". The window into the living room is nice and you can see my cookbook collection. We don't own a microwave so that toaster oven gets plenty of use.




I don't know why I wanted this close up on the sink except that I'd just finished doing dishes and so it had been my focus for a while. Note the great spice rack my Aunt Martha bought me when for Christmas a few years ago when I was living in an apartment in PA. Don't been fooled by the full bottles, I use this a -lot- and am constantly refilling the bottles. I've swapped some of the spices it came with out for ones I use more but it remains constant. I want to get a second set of small shelves for things like the tea ball and other of those little things that would get lost in a drawer but that will have to wait.

As you can see I have two cutting boards. The bamboo one in front is strictly vegi's and cooked meats, the plastic one behind it is raw meat on one side (you can see the label) and vegi on the other.



Here's the (annoyingly electric) stove. You can see my great timer/thermometer on top of the hood. It's totally the best $20 I've spent so far in kitchen gear. The glass dish sitting on the stove is full of kosher salt (my everyday cooking salt) and the grinder is for pepper (pre-ground pepper is disgusting!) The vegetable oil is only out because it doesn't fit in any of my cabinets . I use olive oil for most of my cooking when I bother to use oil at all. I have some great non-stick cookware which makes it all optional.





Here is my "pantry corner". The knife block was another thrift store find that has been a bit modified with a hack-saw to fit my knives well. It will be needing surgery again soon for those kitchen shears. The crock pot is currently making pot roast. The thing taped to the cabinet in the upper left hand corner is the recipe for whole wheat bread in the bread machine. I got tired of looking it up every night.



Finally here's a shot of the fridge with a bit of the kitchen bulletin board. It's the same board I've been toting around for years. My aunt gave it to me to help be scrap book when I was in high-school. Now it helps me keep track of all the little pieces of paper life seems to come equipped with these days. My fridge seems to be mainly for keeping the printouts of the different recipes I've tried. I've thrown far too many of them away and now I have to go looking for them again.

Pot roast in a crock pot

My grandfather made this with a (single serving) can of V8 and the can filled again with red wine. I hate having to buy an ingredient like V8 that I only use for one recipes so I use another flavorful liquid that's more readily available around my house, beer. Since he worked in a brewery I think he might have enjoyed this version too.

Pot roast as a cut of meat is odd. It is the cheapest cut available because it is made up of a lot of different individual muscles and so has a lot of connective tissue. To make it edible we have to cook it with low, moist heat for a long time. Long past the point of "done" and to where the connective tissue falls apart leaving the individual muscle fibers. The benefit is that this long cooking gives us a rest from the dangers of overcooking and is is a great chance to infuse the meat with flavors. I use a crock-pot to achieve this type of cooking. Alton Brown wraps the meat and juice in a double-layer of aluminum foil in the oven, my grandfather made it a casserole with a tight fitting lid in the oven at 250F.

I used to make pot roast with potatoes and carrots right in it but I discovered I didn't like how everything came out tasting the same, so now I cook them separately (look for their recipes later). Most recipes call for browning the meat over high-heat before the cooking begins. I do and don't alternatively, it just depends on how long I'm leaving it in the crock pot. My rule is that if I'm cooking it on low (12-14 hours) I don't bother but if I'm cooking it on high (5-6 hours) I'll brown it first.

1 pot roast (2-4 lbs, more depending on the size of your crock-pot)
4 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
1-2 bottles of your favorite beer-anything that isn't "light" (Or 12-20 oz of Beef Broth)
salt and pepper

Slice onions and thinly and put in the bottom of the crock. Rub the meat with salt and pepper. If you are going to brown it rub with high-smoke point oil (like safflower) and brown 30-45 seconds per-side in a pre-heated pan over high-heat. Place the meat on top of the onions and garlic in the crock. Pour beer over everything. Don't worry if the beer doesn't cover the meat right away, the onions will soften and the meat will release juices and wind up covered in broth. Set your crock-pot on high for 5-6 hours or low for 12-14 (great if you're going to be out all day and then need to feed people). ALternatively you can put this is a tightly covered oven-proof cassarole at 250F for 5 hours. Now take a fork a poke the meat. If it feels stiff or hard put the cover back on and wait half an hour. You want all the connective tissue to disintegrate so look for meat that falls apart when poked. The idea is to get something that holds together just until touched by a fork at the table.


Ready to go!


Half-way through cooking and the broth now covers well. Looks a little blah but smells great!


There's that falling-apart texture we want!


After the meat is cooked I remove the meat to a plate, strain broth into a bowl, replace the meat into the crock pot and turn the crock pot to warm or low, top with the onions, garlic and meaty bits you strained out the broth. Make gravy from the broth if you would like and then pour back on top of the meat and onions. This will wait indefinitely for people to eat it. I serve this with potatoes and some kind of hearty vegetable like carrots or winter squash.

Unbearably Simple Rice

This rice is perfect for prety much anything that needs rice. Fried rice, side dishes, rice pudding, etc.

1c Long Grain rice (don't rinse!)
1 Tbs Butter
2c water
3 saffron threads (optional, gives a nice golden color and a great scent but it's not a necessity)

Put all the ingredients in a covered pot on high until just boiling. Stir a few times and then turn down to medium low and let cook at a simmer for 15-20 minutes depending on altitude (I live in Denver so it takes 20-25 really). Don't take the lid off unless you are really worried about it. The more the lid stays on the faster it will cook and the better off your rice will be. When the time is up just turn off the burner, by this . If you need the burner back just take the pot off and set it aside. Wait another 10 minutes and up to 45 minutes and then open and fluff the rice and serve.

If you want something slightly fancier soften half an onion chopped small in the butter before adding the rice and water to the pan. You can also stir between 1/2 and 1 cup of frozen vegetables (like the peas and carrots mix available practically everywhere)

What is this?

This blog will be a repository for all the recipes that I'm discovering as a new housewife/cook. I don't expect to be a housewife for too long so I'm sure I'm going to need these recipes in the future. The recipes found in this blog are often borrowed from other sources such as my mother, Aunt Martha, Elise the Food Blogger at Simply Recipes and from Alton Brown on the The Food Network.

My best friend from Pennsylvania Naomi will also be helping out posting the recipies she does. She's got a great pool to work from so I'll let her talk about that.