Terrific Turkey and Groovy Gravy

Hi everyone;
I hope everyone had a safe and joyous Easter. Let's not forget the reason for the holiday, and for the kids may they still be on the sugar high from chocolate bunnies and jelly bean Easter Eggs.

For me it was cooking for the family dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.
Today I just want to tell you about the turkey and the gravy.... For the first time I brined my turkey. I followed the recipe for the brining by Alton Brown -more or less I added some additional items but I have to say that if you haven't brined a turkey before, it really does add an amazing amount of moisture as well as some subtle flavor.

Here is the link.. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

I added an orange and lemon studded with cloves and used a 5 gallon cooler (like the kind that get dumped on coaches after they win the Superbowl) for about 20 hours. I was quite impressed with the level of juiciness and flavor it imparted. I also instead of using canola oil, I made a compound butter of rosemary, sage and Italian parsley and liberally massaged it in under the skin as well as on the top of it and it made a beautiful golden brown and crispy skin. It really was a "Terrific Turkey".

Now for the "Groovy Gravy" and I wanted to tell you about that. I have never had much luck with flour gravies, preferring cornstarch over flour, but traditional turkey gravy calls for flour so that is what I tried to use.
I started with about 4 cups of drippings from the turkey - de-fatted using a fat separator cup. it was very clear and flavorful looking liquid so I has a very good base from which to start.
I then took 1/3 cup each flour and unsalted butter, melted the butter and added the flour and stirred until a golden brown. (I was making a roux). I wanted to make sure I cooked the flour enough (always my problem I think) to remove the pasty, gummy taste. BUT you have to be very careful not to burn it a roux can go from golden brown to brick to BLACK in a very few minutes so pay attention :) One it got to the color I liked I added the 4 cups of drippings and stirred with a wooden spoon until the starch particles burst and turned the liquid into the best looking gravy I had ever made. Added a little salt and pepper to taste and removed from heat.

A hint for serving (or at least transporting to where your dinner is being served, if you have a good thermos, charge it with hot water for about 10 minutes pour out the water and then fill with your gravy. Mine stayed steaming hot for over 2 hours that way......

It really did turn out to be a great meal... Everyone participated and no one went hungry.
Happy Easter everyone!