Any Guy's Food Blog

I didn't actually make a turkey for Thanksgiving because I ate at my father's house. However, I was gifted a 22-lb. turkey that I smoked two days later. I was very happy with how it turned out, but had to eat the whole thing myself. I decided yesterday that I wanted to make a turkey gravy with some of the leftovers and eat it with mashed potatoes. I did just that.

I would like to point out that my first choice for a turkey gravy would actually use the turkey stock from the turkey itself. However, it was chaos in my house the day that I smoked the turkey and I was a little absent-minded about saving the turkey stock after I carved her up. So I used bacon fat (which I always have on hand). You could also substitute vegetable oil, lard or shortening. However, I say go big and always make sure you save a can of bacon drippings in your fridge because it's so much better than lard or shortening.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp bacon fat
~1/2 lb. turkey meat (cut into bite-size pieces)
1 120z. bottle of pale ale
2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp flour (I used whole wheat)

Directions:

On medium-high heat, melt the bacon fat in a sauce pan. When the fat has melted down, add the turkey. Stir occasionally until the turkey meat begins to brown on outside.

Once the meat begins to get crispy brown marks, add the beer. Leave on medium-high heat until the beer is reduced to half, then reduce heat to medium.

In a separate bowl, thoroughly whisk flour into the milk. Add milk to the sauce pan and continue to cook, stirring frequently until gravy thickens. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

She isn't much to look at, but boy is she tasty. The photo up top shows the gravy on top of a bed of mashed potatoes that I made fresh. I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Personally, I feel that most gravy is WAY too salty, so I went light on the salt and a little heavier on the pepper.