Like we typically do, this year my family celebrated Thanksgiving in the beginning of December, since this is when we can get together most easily as siblings. We ladies all gathered in true holiday fashion to gab and gossip in the kitchen while the men watched sports on TV and wandered in occasionally to snag an olive or cracker before we could slap their hands away.
Who knew that our men could be so handy in the kitchen, however? With a 20 pound turkey in the oven ready to go (and just melting off the bone, it was cooked so well) and none of us women willing to tackle it, my sister’s husband sauntered into the kitchen (after being hollered at a million times by his wife) to retrieve the gigantic bird. Successfully out of the oven and only one oven mitt burned (it actually caught fire), the bird and all its juices was ready to be dismantled and turned into delicious sliced meat and even more delicious gravy.
Unfortunately, the gravy was swimming in grease, and we were ready to eat and didn’t know what to do. We also had no backup plan for making gravy besides what came out of the bird, but we weren’t too eager to slurp down straight grease. Enter my husband, who took his turn to shine in the kitchen by grabbing a cupful of ice from the refrigerator dispenser and then ceremoniously dumping the ice into the pan of turkey drippings. WTF?! All us ladies crammed around my crazy husband, which was no easy feat since out of 5 women, two of them are ready-to-burst pregnant. What was my husband doing pouring ice in our only gravy?
Turns out, as you stir the ice in the gravy, a miracle occurs. The fat in the gravy begins to coagulate in the pan and sticks to the ice, and as you scoop out fat-covered ice and throw it away, the gravy becomes more and more clear. Add another douse of ice and the fat begins to literally become a solid at the top of the gravy, allowing you to just scoop out the ice with the thick fat and throw it away in the garbage! My husband had the grease out of the gravy pan in less than 2 minutes, and my sisters and I were super impressed!
The ice doesn’t melt quickly enough to really affect the gravy, not by any means. Rather, the ice helps the fat to separate from the gravy into a tastier concoction, and the gravy simply needs heating and thickening additives (note: use cornstarch, not flour, just FYI) to make it just perfect! You know you are getting the fat out of the pan by the change in color of the gravy- it starts to look more pure rather than thick and creamy looking. A wonderful way to make great homemade gravy without all the fat! All you need is ice!
Another way to ‘fix’ fatty foods- when eating fried chicken, french fries, or pizza, take a napkin and dab off as much fat as you can. I have a rule for myself not to eat any fried foods until I have an entire napkin saturated in the fat I would have been eating. And after seeing that napkin, I’m less inclined to eat as much of that fatty food anyhow.