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Should gravy be thick or runny in consistency?
Results so far:
| Thick | 81% | 459 votes | Total: 569 votes | |
| Runny | 19% | 110 votes |
Thick
by Bill Whitney
Created on: April 19, 2008 Last Updated: August 06, 2010
Whether you like your gravy thick or thin is a matter of personal preference in my opinion. I have always liked my gravy to be thick enough to stay on whatever it was that I put it on. Whether it be country fried steak, turkey, bread, or mashed potatoes, I would prefer my gravy to stay where I put it. If I want gravy on my carrots or green beans I would put it on it. Who wants thin gravy mixed in with their cranberry sauce or jello salad? Not me. I like a nice thick gravy with lots of sausage on my biscuits.
I always thought that thin gravy was called au jus. Really if you are going to call it gravy it needs to be fairly thick. I never hesitate to make my gravy pretty thick. It is a lot easier to thin a gravy that is too thick than it is to make a gravy thicker. Both can be done but all you have to do to thin the gravy is pour a little milk in it but to thicken it you have to add flour and be very careful not to make lumps. I would rather have it a little too thin than lumpy. Nobody likes lumpy gravy.
Making good gravy really isn't all that hard but when making gravy you need to stir and or whisk constantly once you add the flour and milk. I always brown the meat or sausage first and use added oil if you need to but the grease from the meat is what gives the gravy its flavor. If you are going to make gravy a little less lean sausage or hamburger will make a more flavorful gravy.
My mother was a good cook and always got good comments on her gravy and she taught my brother and I how to make good gravy. Her fried chicken gravy was the BEST. It always seemed to be just the right thickness for mashed potatoes and gravy. It was thick enough to stay on the potatoes but thin enough to get that gravy goodness in every bite.
Gravy is very starchy and not really very good for you but it is so good and what would a country fried steak be without country gravy on it? There are very few good restaurants that don't have sausage gravy and biscuits on the menu anymore. A good sausage gravy has to have a lot of sausage in it and not just a little sausage flavor. I have found a few that should stick to fried or scrambled eggs and forget about the gravy. There was a little restaurant in Edgerton Wyoming that I used to go to that had the best sausage and biscuit breakfast I have ever had other than my own. This was ten years ago but for $3.50 you got two BIG biscuits covered with sausage gravy and another whole plate of fresh grated hash browns and you got sausage gravy on them if you wanted it. And all for only $3.50. I am sure it has gone up by now but if the cafe is still there, I would bet you could still get the same breakfast for a good price.
I like my gravy to stay on what I put it on so my vote definitely has to go for thick gravy.
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Runny
by Jeannine Anderson
Created on: December 03, 2008 Last Updated: November 29, 2010
Thick and runny are subjective terms. In this context I'm going to take thick to mean gelatinous and, contained by its mass, immobile. I'll consider runny to mean flowing, able to be ladled or poured. I prefer, by these terms, runny gravy. Gravy should be able to flow into, under and around the food which it is garnishing. Yes, gravy is a garnish, not a side dish. You don't want your gravy to dilute or drown out whatever you are eating it with though, so it shouldn't be watery. Properly made gravy should be just right, not too thick and not too thin.
In effect what you are doing when making gravy is lifting out the flavor stuck to the pan, whether it's a roasting pan or a skillet. Pan drippings; sauted onions, garlic, mushrooms, mixed vegetables, herbs; and stock can all be the beginnings of gravy. You can start with fat and starch to make rue, or water, stock or milk and starch to make slurry. For fat I prefer pan drippings, but if you haven't been roasting something to get drippings from, butter or cooking oil will do, especially if you flavor it by sauting something in it first. Starch can be derived from wheat, corn, potatoes, beans and more. I make gravy from flours of each of them and they're all delicious. My favorite starch for gravy remains white, wheat flour, though I made gravy from a blend of bean flours for Thanksgiving this year and it was deemed "some of the best gravy ever made".
Whether you are making runny or thick gravy, you don't want it to taste pasty, so you have to cook the starch enough to avoid this. When making roux, use heated but not blazing hot, pan drippings, butter or oil. Add your starch to the fat in a couple of steps, whisking or stirring between each addition to ensure there are no lumps. If you start with lumps, you'll end with lumps and nobody likes lumpy gravy. Do they? Typically the fat will seemingly dissolve the starch and you'll end up with a very thick paste-like substance. Continue stirring and browning the roux for several minutes to allow the starch to absorb all of the fat, which will in turn eventually make the starch translucent instead of opaque. Now you can begin to add your liquid and now matter how much you use you won't have pasty tasting gravy.
Some starches, like corn starch and bean flours, are best added to fat in slurry. Put a couple of tablespoons of starch into a measuring cup or small bowl. Slowly add cool to warm, never hot, water or stock, whisking or stirring until all lumps have disappeared. You can continue to add more starch, then more liquid in the same manner until you have enough to thicken the amount of gravy you want to make. Once you have your slurry, you can add it to stock or pan drippings, whichever you have available. Again, you can use this method to make thick or runny gravy as you prefer. In either case, be sure to cook the gravy long enough to get rid of the pasty (uncooked) flavor, adding liquid and allowing it to cook away until you have the consistency you want. There's no room for debate here, uncooked gravy is just bad, and rather than enhancing a meal it can ruin it, no matter how well it started out.
Finally, I prefer runny gravy because I love to sop it up with biscuits, bread, mashed potatoes, rice; anything that will sop, and thick gravy is not sopable. End of debate.
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