Umami Gravy
Published Nov. 17, 2021
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- ½teaspoon granulated sugar
- Salt
- Pinch of dried oregano
- 2tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2cups vegetable stock
- ¼cup whole milk
- 1tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional, but very good)
- Freshly ground black pepper
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
97 calories; 6 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 377 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sugar, and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is browned and caramelized but not burnt, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Step 2
Add the oregano and flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the flour has been fully absorbed by the buttery onions, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Whisk in the vegetable stock and milk, raise the heat to high and, whisking occasionally, bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, still whisking occasionally, until the stock thickens into a loose gravy that thinly coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes.
- Step 3
Whisk in the nutritional yeast, if using, and taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot. (Alternatively, you can make this the night before Thanksgiving, cover and store it in the refrigerator, and reheat in the microwave or in a pot on the stove before serving.)
Private Notes
Comments
As to the rest of the food getting cold, while using the hot drippings from the turkey, to make gravy?? That turkey will be resting for approx. 30 minutes, so those drippings are the one and only way to make turkey gravy, and it's plenty of time to do so. I know because I have been doing it for over 60 years.
People sure do get all in a twist about gravy! For everyone who is so adamant that gravy has to have meat drippings (or broth), some of us don't eat any meat, so this recipe is helpful. I've made a similar gravy but added some mushrooms and a tablespoon of white miso for more depth, but gravy is just moisture for potatoes and other dry foods (like turkey) and I, for one, would like to thank the NYT Cooking crew for including the vegetarians in the holiday fixings.
Without the nutritional yeast (substitute any bouillon) the recipe's title will likely be a misnomer: the vegetable stock won't cut it (though 8 oz+ of chopped, browned mushrooms may). I dispute the recipe's premise, however. Making gravy, a technique born of frugality (like deglazing in French recipes), recycles flavor-rich meat drippings instead of discarding them. You can certainly make the roux+onion+sugar ahead if you're worried about time.
I made this for Thanksgiving and it tasted great but I would not recommend using red onion since the color of the sauteed red onion made the gravy a bluish-gray color, and everyone was turned off. I would recommend using yellow onions.
A couple other readers noted the off-putting color of the finished gravy. The gravy looked and tasted lovely immediately after cooking (I followed the recipe exactly, including adding the yeast) but because I made it ahead of our dinner, the color turned from a lovely tan to an awful purplish green! I am sure this was caused by the purple skin of the red onion. I’ll make this again but will use a white or yellow onion. We ate a bit of it with dinner but the rest went into the trash :( I would also grind the yeast flakes to a powder. The gravy was silky but was marred a bit by the larger yeast flakes. They didn’t dissolve as I expected. My mom is vegetarian so this is a lovely option for her!
My word, do people get ever so heated about gravy recipes! I made this /in addition to a turkey dripping gravy/ because I had a vegetarian guest for Thanksgiving dinner. He told me that he’d given up on finding veg gravy recipes, but was floored at how delicious this one was. As a former vegetarian myself, I was absolutely floored at how tasty, and how simple, the recipe was. Would happily make it again as needed.