Maple Bacon Butter Gravy
Maple Bacon Butter Gravy is a delicious savory and sweet gravy. Serve it with any roast meat, particularly a Thanksgiving turkey!
Servings: 4 servings, plus leftovers
Ingredients
- 3 slices bacon
- 1 sprig thyme, leaves stripped, stem discarded
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 tbsp flour more or less
- 2-4 cups low sodium stock turkey, chicken or vegetable
- drippings from your roast, fat separated this will vary based on your roast, see note #1
- 1/2 cup maple syrup more or less
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp browning sauce, optional like kitchen bouquet
Instructions
- Cook your bacon slices over medium heat until fat is rendered. Remove bacon. See note #2
- Add in the thyme leaves and the butter, stir together until butter is just melted.
- Add the flour, you'll want a thin paste like consistency. Cook over medium/medium low heat. The mixture should gently bubble, continue to stir and keep it moving until it is about two shades darker, or a tan/light caramel color. Add in some cracked pepper to your taste and allow to cook for about 30 seconds before moving on.
- Add in one cup of stock, whisk together and allow liquid to thicken and gently simmer. Add your pan drippings, start with one cup and increase slowly. Taste, if flour is not detectable cook for about 5 minutes, if you can taste the flour opt for about 10 more minutes. Add drippings or stock if needed as you go, thinning at the end once you can no longer taste flour.
- Add in about 1/4 cup of maple syrup to start. Add some salt. Taste and adjust to your liking with salt, pepper and maple syrup. Add in browning sauce if desired. Thin with additional stock as needed, remember gravy will thicken once it cools a bit.
Notes
#1 The amount of drippings you get from any roasted turkey or meat will vary based on several factors including size and brine. You can opt to make your gravy purely with drippings and the roux if desired. I like to us a combination of drippings and stock as I think it's easier to get the right consistency.
Also, straining the drippings is optional. Some like little turkey bits in the gravy, others do not.
I like to separate my drippings from the fat using a fat separator, but sometimes I don't, and it usually turns out fine if it's not too greasy.
#2 You can optionally add the bacon back into the gravy at the end, chopped up, I prefer a smoother gravy, so I don't do this. You can also use the bacon in a salad, or just eat it as a cook + cook's helper's treat.
#3 Fixing a thin gravy. You have three options: 1. boil it down until it gets to the right thickness. 2. Add in reserved water from boiling potatoes and cook it down some more (my mother swears by this). Make another roux and add the existing gravy to it (this is the most risky).