When it comes to comforting yourself with a go-to food, gravy is always at your service. Over the years, a simple thickened meat broth revolutionized into becoming a gravy. Now the gravy is one of the most versatile food items that can be taken alone or can be paired with steaks, mashed potatoes, stews, vegetables, steamed meat, or whatnot. The versatility with gravies is incredible. Now to your surprise, the gravy comes in various types as well, especially on the basis of colors. White gravy and brown gravy are the two most served gravies in many parts of the world especially America.
Both of the white and brown gravies are the thickened mixture of multiple food items that differ mainly in colors. However, apart from the coloration, there are several other differences between white and brown gravy as well. We will discuss them in detail in this post. Read on.
What Exactly Is A Gravy?
Gravy is a type of sauce made by thickening meat broth with an adequate amount of corn starch or flour. You simultaneously make gravy when you add the thickening item such as corn starch or flour into your in-process cooking pan. Gravies are paired with steaks, potatoes either mashed, or the French fried ones. There is also another food item you’d love to pair gravy with.
Different recipes require different gravies. You can’t substitute brown gravy with white gravy and vice versa. Let’s look into what white gravy and brown gravy exactly are and how they are made.
What Is Brown Gravy And How Is It Made?
Brown gravy is usually a brown thickened broth made from ground beef patties paired with mushy items such as mushrooms, mashed potatoes, rice starch or corn starch. Savory items such as onions are also used to add flavors to the meat grounded broth.
A lot of meatloaves grounded with tomato sauce also gives off a high end exceptionally tasty brown gravy.
Here is a call for action. Follow these steps to make a perfectly thick and tasty brown gravy:
- Melt any fat, oil, or butter in a burning pan. Preferably use butter for brown gravy.
- Add flour or corn starch to the piping butter.
- Make sure to stir and mix for not more than 2 minutes.
- Add the required amount of beef broth.
- Whisk until the content binds strongly.
- Keep the broth pouring and whisking actions each after another.
- Pinch pepper and salt.
- Simmer down the gravy for 3 minutes.
- Add heavy cream if you like it.
- Serve piping hot with your favorite seasonings.
What Is White Gravy And How Is It Made?
White gravy is basically a whitish mixture of mashed potatoes along with white sauce or the fried chicken paste or simply the chicken-fried steak.
Another type of white gravy stems from buttermilk biscuits, cream, and milk with other flavoring items.
White gravy has two varieties; a sweet one and a savory one.
Here is how you make a fresh batch of white gravy:
- Mix equal parts of flour/corn starch and butter in a saucepan over a medium flame.
- Stir the mixture until they both bind together.
- Melt the butter delicately.
- Add the BOILED cup of milk into the mixture.
- Whisk the milk and butter mixture until each lump is smoothened.
- Use seasonings of your choice and flavor.
- Serve piping hot.
White Gravy vs Brown Gravy: What’s The Difference?
Now that we have gone through the definition and preparation process of white and brown gravy, we have concluded that the main differences are color, texture, ingredients, and uses. We have already discussed that in the upper section.
Brown gravy is prepared with fresh meat fat. The meat usually used is beef because of the brownish color. So brown gravy is a thick and creamy combination of water or beef broth paired up with thickening items such as flour and cornstarch. On the other hand, the famous country-style white gravy is a combination of milk or cream with meat drippings paired with butter or oil, also with a thickening agent such as flour or cornstarch. White gravy can come by sweet as well while the brown gravy is always savory.