Giblet Gravy

While waiting for my Chicken Foot Stock, I also tried a giblet gravy. The recipe I started with can be found here, but I'll walk you through my version.

I wanted to use the giblets from all 6 chickens, and only used what I had on hand, so here's my modified ingredients list :

Makes about 1 cup - Made about 4 pints or 20 cups 

• 1 tablespoon butter - to - 5 T butter (I actually ended up using a stick and a half)
• 1 celery rib, chopped - to - OMITTED (didn't have any on hand) 
• 1 small carrot stick, chopped - to - 2 large carrots peeled and chopped into sticks (don't forget to give your carrot peels to your chickens as a treat!)
• 1/2 small onion, chopped - to - 3/4 medium onion coarsely chopped
• a couple cracks of pepper - to - 6 cracks pepper
• giblets from a roasting chicken -to - Giblets from all 6 chickens, I also added a few chicken wings that I didn't cook with the rest of the chickens
• couple sprigs thyme - to - 1/2 t dried thyme
• drippings from a roasted chicken - to - the very thick and rich broth left over from pressure cooking the chicken meat (got about 2.5 pints, but only used 1.5 for the gravy)
• 1 tablespoon flour - to - 5 T flour (I actually ended up using about 15 T) 

I sauteed my carrots and onions in my butter for a few minutes until my onions were softening and turning brown around the edges. I added all my giblets, wings, pepper, and thyme and covered with water. Brought the pot to a boil and reduced to a simmer for 1 hour. 

Strain the broth into a bowl, separate the giblets and set aside, and the rest can go to the compost pile (you CAN feed these leftovers to your chickens, but remember they can make the eggs taste like onion. And just a reminder, onions are poisonous to dogs, cats, and many other domestic animals. Here's a quick tip to composting onions).

Pull as much meat off the neck(s) as possible - I may really suck at this, it looked like there was a lot of meat to pull off, but I couldn't get much of it to separate, some were easier than others though, maybe you will have better luck? Finely chop the giblets and neck meat. I tossed the neck bones and wings into the chicken feet stock pot, but if you aren't making the stock as well you can just throw those out. 

In lieu of roast chicken drippings, I poured my thick broth from the pressure cooking into a large pan and heated it up on medium heat. 

For cleaner looking jars (these have hard water stains), 

add a tablespoon of vinegar to your canning water

While you wait, make a roux (pronounced "roo" like kangaroo). If you haven't done this before, bear with me, this is my first time too. 

Add equal parts flour and butter to small frying pan on medium heat. As the butter melts whisk them together into a lumpy paste. Let this cook for a couple minutes, stirring as you go, while you move on. (if you want some more information on making and using a roux, here is where I got my information)

Too runny, added more flour

Just right!

          

Add your chopped giblets and neck meat to the heated drippings (broth for me) and saute for a couple minutes. Add your roux and broth (you strained and set aside),1/4 C at a time as the gravy cooks until it reaches the desired consistency. I like my gravy super thick, so I ended up using about 15 T of flour and 10 T of butter in my roux - made gravy a bit bland and flour-y tasting, could have settled for about half the roux instead of the whole thing. I took out one pint of giblet broth and set it aside to can, and used the rest in my gravy with the additional pint and a half from cooking the chickens.

Roux added and whisked in well

Broth added

I canned all my giblet gravy and got 4 pints.

It's not as flavorful as I was hoping, but I'm sure that's from the massive amount of flour lol. It's super thick though, so when I open it up I may just add a little more chicken broth or a scoop of my chicken foot stock for some more chicken flavor.