Wednesday, June 12, 2013

I'm Mad and I Eat Cranky's Food

My work is finished. Cranky made gravy.

Cranky Made Gravy.

I dashed into the kitchen at one point, to see if he needed any help. No. He was finished. (I will add here, though, that according to me, he wasn't finished. His gravy was too thick and floury, and needed more stock stirred in, with additional cooking time. He appreciated the fine tuning.)

We were both pleased with the results, and I have something to share: You can make beef gravy from hamburger. We discovered this when we made loco moco a while back. After the beef patties are fried in a skillet, the grease in the pan is really good; they say fat is where all the flavor is. Stir in some flour, and cook this roux to remove the raw flour taste. Then begin drizzling in your beef stock (we bought ours at a fabulous butcher we are patronizing; the hamburger, too).

The gravy will be pale, alas. We decided to cheat a little by stirring in a small spoonful of Bovril. And a splash of Worcestershire sauce. VoilĂ , color, and heightened flavor. The version in this picture was a bit paler than the one I concocted for my moco; for some reason, Cranky was pissed off at the Bovril jar and skimped, badly. But the flavor was so good.

I know, you're seriously grossed out. Doesn't matter. We're definitely making gravy this way whenever we cook up some of that superb ground beef, and you should be jealous. We even have a little gravy left over, in the fridge.

Somebody is going to make poutine soon. My work is finished.

5 comments:

Zoomie said...

For you from now on, it's all gravy. :-D

Greg said...

You had me at gravy! One item on my bucket list is poutine. We used to get fries and gravy at Hot Shoppes. I went to a spot in Canada last month. Sadly closed. A local poutine spot in your repertoire?

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie: We're trying to think of new ways to use gravy. Eh. I could eat it like soup.

Greg: There a few restaurants in SF with poutine on the menu. (Google.)
Better yet, make it at home. They sell cheese curds at the Marin farmers market. You are allowed to use canned gravy, and get your fries from McDonald's. I won't tell!

Chilebrown said...

I may be misquoting, but the Reverend Biggles used to say; "It’s all about the gravy, mang!"

cookiecrumb said...

Chilebrown: No, you got that exactly right. Yome sane?