Giblet gravy

What it is¶

Giblet gravy is a poultry gravy made from the bag of offal tucked inside a whole bird: the neck, the heart, the gizzard and — treated separately — the liver. Simmered for a couple of hours with aromatics, they produce a stock far more flavourful than anything from a cube, rich in gelatin and naturally full-bodied.

Two schools exist. The first strains the giblets out and uses only the stock. The second chops the cooked heart, gizzard and neck meat finely and stirs them back through the finished gravy, giving a texture somewhere between gravy and a loose ragù. In the American South the second version often also includes chopped hard-boiled egg.

History¶

Using the giblets is simply what cooks did before anything was thrown away. English cookery books from the seventeenth century onwards include giblet soups, giblet pies and giblet sauces; the modern gravy is the survivor of that family.

The tradition is strongest where a whole bird is a special occasion — Christmas in Britain, Thanksgiving in the United States — which is why the giblet bag is still supplied with a turkey when it has long since disappeared from everyday chicken.

Typical ingredients¶

Flavour profile¶

Deeper and more mineral than plain chicken gravy or turkey gravy, with the faint iron note that offal gives. Gelatin from the neck gives it a lip-sticking body no stock cube can replicate.

What to serve it with¶

Roast turkey at Christmas and Thanksgiving, roast chicken any Sunday, and over stuffing and mash. See gravy for christmas dinner.

The traditional recipe¶

Serves 8 · 2¼ hours

You need

• Giblets from one turkey or two chickens (neck, heart, gizzard)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, all roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves, 6 peppercorns
• 1.5 litres water
• 3 tbsp plain flour and 3 tbsp fat from the roasting tin
• The bird's roasting juices
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Brown the neck, heart and gizzard in the oil in a heavy pan until well coloured — 8 minutes. Keep the liver aside.
2. Add the vegetables, bay and peppercorns and the water. Bring to a bare simmer.
3. Simmer gently, uncovered, for two hours, skimming occasionally. Add the liver for the last 20 minutes only.
4. Strain, keeping the liquid. If you want giblets in the gravy, pick the meat off the neck and finely chop the heart, gizzard and liver.
5. On the day: stir the flour into 3 tbsp of hot fat in the roasting tin, cook 2 minutes, then whisk in the giblet stock gradually.
6. Simmer 10 minutes, add the resting juices and the chopped giblets if using, and season.

The quick version¶

Serves 6 · 45 minutes

You need

• Giblets from one bird
• 1 onion, halved
• 1 litre water
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp fat

Method

1. Brown the giblets, add the onion and water, and simmer hard for 35 minutes rather than two hours. You lose some depth and gain your afternoon back.
2. Strain, then make a roux with the fat and flour and whisk in the stock.
3. Simmer 8 minutes and season.

Vegetarian and vegan versions¶

No vegetarian equivalent exists, and pretending otherwise would be silly. For a meat-free Christmas gravy of comparable depth, use mushroom gravy with dried porcini and a splash of port.

Common mistakes¶

Simmering the liver for hours — it turns bitter and grainy. Add it in the last 20 minutes, or cook it separately.

Boiling the stock hard — a hard boil makes giblet stock cloudy and muddy-tasting. Keep it at a bare tremble.

Not browning the giblets first — raw-simmered giblets give a pale, flat stock. Colour is flavour.

Throwing the bag away — the single most common mistake, made every Christmas Eve.

See also¶

• turkey gravy
• giblets
• gravy for christmas dinner
• chicken stock