White gravy is one of the most popular Southern dishes, and this Tastessence article brings to you some of the easiest ways to prepare white gravy at home.
White gravy is a staple breakfast dish in a number of households, especially in the South. It is used to top everything, inclusive of French fries, biscuits, or steaks. Normally every family has its own unique recipe of this gravy preparation. If you happen to speak to someone from the South and ask about the best white gravy, you will always get an answer that their family recipe is the best. We will see the various recipes for making white gravy from scratch in this article, but I will not vouch and say this is better than the rest.
Recipe #1
You may not believe, but making white gravy is indeed not a difficult task. Let’s see how can we make it the easiest way.
Ingredients
- Milk 2½ cups
- All-Purpose Flour, 3 tablespoons
- Drippings, 3 tablespoons
- Butter, 1 tablespoon
- Salt and Pepper as per taste
Method
- In a saucepan, bring 2 cups of milk to a boil.
- Once the milk comes to a soft boil, add drippings and butter to the milk and keep stirring till you see a mixture of even consistency.
- Till the mixture is boiling, add flour to the remaining ½ cup of cold milk and make sure there are no lumps formed.
- Then add pepper to cold milk mixture and mix well.
- Reduce the heat of the boiling milk and add the cold milk to it. Make sure you keep stirring constantly, so that no lumps are formed.
- Once the mixture comes to a boil turn the heat down to low and allow the gravy to thicken.
- When the gravy thickens, add salt to the gravy and your gravy is ready to be savored.
Recipe #2
In this recipe, we will not make use of animal fat or drippings, instead we will use butter. Hence, this recipe can also be called a restaurant-style white gravy, as the typical southern gravy often consists of animal fat or drippings.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter, 5 tablespoons
- All-purpose Flour, 4 tablespoons
- Milk 2 cups
- Salt to taste
- Freshly Ground Pepper as per taste
Method
- In a saucepan, melt butter over low heat.
- Once the heat melts, add flour, salt and pepper to it. Keep stirring, till the color of the flour changes to the color of peanut butter and smells nutty.
- Now add 1 cup of milk and increase the heat to medium, but make sure you constantly keep stirring to prevent the flour from sticking to the saucepan.
- You will notice that the gravy seizes, when this happens add ¼ cup of milk at a time and keep stirring. Once you have got the right consistency, add some more pepper and a pinch of salt.
Recipe #3
If you do not like the taste of milk in your gravy, then you try this recipe. There is no pepper in this recipe, but if you like the taste of pepper, then you can certainly add a dash of it.
Ingredients
- Drippings or Butter or Margarine, 2 tablespoons
- Wheat or All-purpose Flour, 2 tablespoons
- Cold Potato Water, 1 cup
- Salt to taste
Method
- In a skillet, melt the drippings or butter or margarine over medium heat.
- Once the fat melts, sprinkle little flour at a time into the fat and keep stirring constantly.
- Keep stirring till the mixture is lightly brown in color.
- Then add potato water and salt to the flour.
- Keep stirring till the gravy boils and is thick in consistency.
Now that you have a fair idea of the process of preparation, you can make the gravy of your choice depending on the availability of ingredients at home. Bon appétit!