Gravy

The technique: Whole-animal eating is trendy, but using all parts of the bird is nothing new when it comes to gravy. Giblets (the heart, liver, gizzard, and neck) really deepen a gravy's flavor. We recommend using only the neck, heart, and gizzard to make the gravy. The flavor of the liver can overwhelm the rest of the ingredients.
The payoff: You haven't wasted a thing, and you’ve added an earthy dimension to your gravy.

Editor's note: Serve this gravy with Diane Morgan's Juniper-Brined Roast Turkey This gravy can be made while the turkey roasts. If chanterelle mushrooms are not available, substitute other fresh wild mushrooms, use cremini mushrooms, or buy dried chanterelle mushrooms and soak them in warm water to rehydrate before adding to the gravy. If you are serving a few vegetarians for Thanksgiving, you could make an additional half-recipe of this gravy using a rich homemade or canned vegetable broth.

Most people seem to have a particular way they like their gravy. This one is of the thick, southern-style kinds that you serve on the side and is great for dipping your biscuit or potatoes in. Since everything is pureed, don't be too particular about how you chop the ingredients up. The thyme leaves don't have to be meticulously pulled from the stems; so long as the stems are tender enough to chop them up, too—that way everything comes together fast. An immersion blender comes in really handy here, but if you don't have one, a blender is just fine, too.

For too long, vegetarians have passed the turkey-gravy boat at the table and swallowed spuds plain. No longer. The rich accompaniment to these creamy smashed potatoes is bolstered by soy sauce, which adds a welcome dose of umami to the vegetable stock. Fragrant with roasted garlic, this gravy delivers.

Prepare the giblet gravy while the roasted turkey rests.

The giblets can be prepared early in the morning, and the gravy finished up with the pan juices just after the turkey comes out of the oven.

Be sure to rub the turkey with the spice mixture the day before roasting.

This uses store-bought gravy and can be done a day ahead.

The base for the sauce can be prepared two days ahead; the pan juices from the Roasted Double Rack of Pork are added to it before serving.

The roasting juices from the goose and balsamic vinegar make a lively sauce to accompany the rich meat.

This recipe for turkey gravy is part of the Thanksgiving menu Chef Kent Rathbun created for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program. He serves it with Rosemary-Roasted Turkey .

Ted Allen created this recipe for Epicurious as part of a Thanksgiving menu. For Allen's tips on throwing a Thanksgiving party, click here. You can marinate the turkey in brine, as specified here, or you can skip that step and just rub the pieces with butter, salt, pepper, and herbs. I wouldn't skip it, though — brining is the best thing ever to happen to turkey, producing lovely, moist meat, beautifully seasoned through and through.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. This recipe originally accompanied Basic Oven-Baked Marinated Tempeh and Lentil Croquettes. White wine, Dijon, miso, good vegetable stock — the flavors in this are incredibly good and fly in the face of anyone who thinks that something vegetarian and low-fat cannot be intensely delicious. Instead of the fat-intense roux technique that is typical of gravy making, the thickeners are buzzed in the food processor with some of the liquid. Countless entrees and entree plates would be sparked by this sauce — basic baked tempeh or tofu, for instance, with a grain side dish and some steamed broccoli.

If you aren't making the schmaltz manié ahead of time, there's no need to form the paste into balls. Simply add the paste by teaspoonfuls to the simmering stock until the gravy has reached the desired consistency.

A high roasting temperature caramelizes the pan drippings, adding fantastic flavor and color.

This vegetarian gravy is layered with bold flavors — from the onions to the roasted mushrooms and barley — each of which makes a real statement. Even our carnivorous food editors agree it's one of the best gravies they've ever tasted.

The milder flavor and softer aroma of Turkish bay leaves are preferable in this dish.