thanksgiving recap + my easy gravy method

a holiday cautionary tale of sorts

hello friends! i hope you all enjoyed your thanksgiving, and have since only had holiday movies on repeat. i thought i’d write a little recap from my thanksgiving at my parents house last week. it was eventful to say the least. i hope you learn from this and can be better equipped for the next big holiday meal you’re hosting.

i arrived at my parent’s house the saturday before thanksgiving. all seemed fine and well, but come sunday, my mom discovered her oven was broken when she completely torched some homemade dog treats ☹️. turns out, the oven doesn’t turn on except for when it’s on convection bake, but convection bake actually turns on the BROILER. you can imagine the stress felt throughout the house when you discover your oven is out of service the week of thanksgiving. even worse, it cannot be fixed that week. our solution? let’s turn the grill in the backyard into a makeshift oven!

i made focaccia on wednesday, the day before thanksgiving, and baked it in the grill-oven. due to some user error on my part, the bottom was completely scorched leading me to feel very frustrated and annoyed. i may have even mentioned that we should just forget about trying to make a turkey in there. thankfully we were able to salvage the focaccia and i quit being a drama queen. lesson learned! dont bake things over a direct flame! the mac n cheese we made came out great, and thanks to the broiler that still worked inside the house, we were able to get a niceeee and crispyyyy cheese crust on top. my mom made a bit of a rookie mistake and thawed her frozen mashed potatoes in the fridge the night before, which meant they were definitely still frozen on thanksgiving so you can imagine reheating them in our silly grill-oven took forever. once again, lesson learned!

the real diva in this story isn’t me, but the damn turkey. this turkey had to be cooked three times. that’s right. three. times. let me take you through what could happen to you if you decide to go forth with making a turkey on thanksgiving even though your oven no longer works. everything starts the day before with a big debate on whether or not the Butterball turkey should be brined. We landed on not since it’s injected with god knows what. on thanksgiving, my dad places two bluetooth thermometer probes into the turkey; one in the breast and one in the thigh. we say sweet dreams to our bird queen as she roasts in our grill-oven. little beeps go off and the probes say that ms. girl is done and ready to rest. my dad double checks the temps with a different thermometer just in case the probes are liars. all seems good so he takes the turkey out and lets it rest. now we’re looking around and inspecting, and it looks a little suspicious. it’s golden, but some pieces look a bit rubbery. airing on the side of caution we put the turkey back in the “oven.” goodnight! again! once more, we think it’s up to temp, double check, and we rest. now it’s time to carve! my dad starts to carve off the thigh and…… it’s pink. how is that even possible???? no clue. thermometers are liars and turkey is annoying. the breast is fine though. now we’re over it, and my dad says he’s going to break it down and just grill the bone-in pieces like it’s chicken. round 3 of cooking this chick, and finally we can guarantee she’s cooked through and ready to go. let’s eat!!

i think this was taken after the 2nd round in the oven

given the drama with the turkey, the gravy was one that’s quick and easy. every year for as long as i can remember, i’ve been on gravy duty. i don’t use a recipe, but i took the liberty to write one out for all of you. this is a nice gravy that can be made whenever, and will guarantee that even if you don’t have turkey at thanksgiving, you can still have gravy!

my dad complains that i didn’t make enough, so if you want a lot of gravy, double this. anyways, here’s how i make gravy on the fly (please be aware this wont be the best gravy ever, but it is good). melt 8 tbsp butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. you can brown the butter if you’re feeling frisky. once the butter is melted, sprinkle over 3 tbsp flour. whisk constantly until the mixture turns dark brown. this will take quite a few minutes so be patient, but please keep whisking. add in 24 oz stock a little bit at a time, whisking constantly until smooth and youve added all the stock. keep reducing this and whisking until your desired thickness is achieved. taste and season with more salt & pepper if needed.

there you have it, everyone. a basic gravy recipe, and my personal recommendation, once again, that turkey isn’t worth the stress and there are better, more delicious options. also, since i didnt say it last week, i’m very thankful for all of you!!! substack has been so fun and i really enjoy this little community. talk soon 😘