I have been the designated gravy maker for all our family gatherings ever since my great aunt taught me how to make perfect gravy every time one year at Thanksgiving when I was still in grade school (over 30 years ago).
She was getting older and told me it was time to pass the baton (her whisk) of “official family gravy maker” on to someone in the younger generation. She told me she picked me because she remembered as a small child I loved her gravy so much I would sometimes just pour a ladlefull of her gravy on a piece of white bread, just so I could enjoy her gravy!
For over 30 years now I have never had lumpy gravy as long as I stuck to her method. (We won’t talk about the times when I tried a different method. LOL! Thankfully, I only tried the other methods when I was just cooking something for myself, so it was a small enough batch I could just throw it out.) I knew better than to mess with her perfection when serving others gravy!
Another trick she taught me was to add a bit of coffee to the stock or drippings before thickening it. She said it made the gravy have a richer taste and didn’t change the over all flavor of the gravy. I agree with her that it does give the gravy even better flavor and it doesn’t take much coffee to do so. Just a splash of coffee left over from the morning’s pot of coffee is perfect for the normal pot of gravy. Even when I make huge batch of gravy for a crowd in my large stock pot I add less than a cup of coffee to the drippings and stock.
The only change I have made to her method over the years is that I sometimes use spelt flour instead of white flour to thicken a gravy. (I tried it the first time about 15 years ago when I had to make gravy for someone that was allergic to most types of flour but could use spelt flour.) The spelt flour adds a bit more depth to the flavor and a slightly nutty or meaty flavor to the gravy. It is especially good to use for biscuits and gravy. My family doesn’t like it made with regular flour any more, since it is so much better with the spelt flour.
Spelt flour does not thicken quite as well as regular flour so I use 2 heaping tablespoons of the spelt flour instead of the 2 tablespoons of regular flour for a cup of gravy.
One of the best ways to eat gravy! lol I like gravy on rice, potatoes, biscuits, bread, even had it on saltines, stuffing...
I'll have to remember that about the coffee. I have some leftover burrito meat that I thought could use a little moisture and some diluted coffee just might be a nice addition.