My son’s girlfriend doesn’t tolerate wheat well, so I’m trying to come up with something to thicken up the turkey stock and hopefully make it look like gravy, as in somewhat opaque and slightly thicker than the stock. I don’t think I want to use cornstarch, it may tend to make it slimy. I have some King Arthur “thickener”, it’s probably better for fruit pies than gravy. Rice flour or potato flour, maybe? Any information pro or con is appreciated.
I always use cornstarch, it makes perfect gravy. Maybe potato starch, I have never used it.
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I use corn starch for a lot of things… both thickening and frying. “Slimy” is not something I have ever associated with it.
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SIL has celiacs. Corn starch slurry. My mil isn’t much of a cook but her gravy is delicious
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I would suggest simmer and reduce.
And if that doesn’t thicken your gravy enough use an egg yolk. Just temper it first (whisk over double broiler, slowly incorporate some of the gravy a bit at a time, etc.); otherwise you’ll have scrambled eggs with your turkey dinner.
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I use potato starch in a few recipes… Good suggestion!!
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Celiac here - thank you for doing this for her!
Cornstarch will work, potato starch and arrowroot work well too. Make a slurry in a little cold water before adding it to the broth. Here’s a recipe that you could use for proportions: https://www.glutenfreepalate.com/5-minute-gravy-4-ingredients/ (I used this as a guide recently and it turned out very well.)
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Potato flour also works well. 100% ground potatoes. Bob’s Red Mill sells it.
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I have made fantastic GF turkey gravy using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF flour. Honestly it was better than the regular gravy I made from the same turkey stock. I decided to just make GF turkey gravy from now on. Really the key is good turkey stock.
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Thanks- that’s probably what I meant.
I saw some King Arthur GF flour at the store yesterday. Now I have options- thanks very much
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Gumbo filé is also a very effective thickener. Our standard post-Thanksgiving Day meal(s) is turkey gumbo made from the carcass and leftover scraps of meat.
As much as I love the T-day meal, the gumbo afterward might be the best part.
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FYI: King Arthur has several different GF flour blends, but some include wheat starch - which is gluten free, but is generally not suitable for someone with a wheat allergy/sensitivity.
GF Measure for Measure and GF All Purpose do not contain wheat.
GF Bread and GF Pizza flours contain wheat starch.
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Following up on what @truman said, I think GF flours vary quite a bit. My good experience was specifically with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1. I believe it is widely available.
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Good information- thanks
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I’ve made a note of it and will get some tomorrow, thanks for your input
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My SIL is celiac so I’ve been experimenting with GF gravy for several years.
My current, favorite process is to make a roux using fat (butter, oil, etc) and white rice flour or glutinous rice flour (Mochiko). I usually get the flours at an Asian-focused market, but I have seen Mochiko at regular supermarkets.
I brown the rice flour in fat as I do when making a roux with wheat flour, and then proceed with the broth, giblets, herbs, etc. This gives the roasty-toasty taste that I like in a roux-based gravy and prefer to just cornstarch (or other starch) thickened gravies.
But, the rice flour doesn’t thicken the gravy in the same way as wheat, especially not if it’s reheated, so I add a light slurry of cornstarch at the end of the process (or when I reheat) to thicken it (or re-thicken in reheating).
I’ve come to really like this two part approach and I think it gets me the closest to a standard wheat roux-based gravy as I can.
Seeing the other posts, I may try this using a standard GF flour mix as well…
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