World's Best Gravy

My mom makes this gravy every Thanksgiving and there is tons for everyone and enough for leftovers, too! You make it ahead of time, unlike traditional Thanksgiving gravies that you can't make until the bird is done. This is one of those family recipes that you kinda feel like you should lock up in a vault somewhere, but something this good just shouldn't be kept from anyone! You will be the QUEEN of Thanksgiving if you bring this to the table (or the King, if you're a dude).

This gravy is made using turkey wings. When you make this you can have a little private pre-Thanksgiving when you have the turkey wings for dinner, like my folks do. You can make this up to one month ahead of time and freeze it; thaw it for two days in the refrigerator. When reheating, whisk it often in the saucepan. When your Thanksgiving turkey is done you can skim the fat from it's pan and add in the fresh pan drippings to the gravy.

This recipe is from a magazine, my mom has the photocopied page in her big recipe binder. That binder, by the way, is one of those things you go back into a burning house for! Lots of gems in there. I took a picture of the recipe so I could type it here for you. I don't know what mag this is from, so next time I'm in Richmond I'll get that info and edit this post to give it credit. World's Best Gravy
Makes 8 cups
Prep: 10 minutes
Roast: 1 1/2 hours
Cook: 1 hour 40 minutes

4 turkey wings (about 3-4 lbs)
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
1 cup water
8 cups chicken broth
2 medium carrots, cut into chunks
2 medium ribs celery (with leaves), cut into chunks
4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 t. dried
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 T. butter
1 t. pepper

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Put wings in a large roasting pan; add onions. Roast 1 1/4 hours or until wings are browned.
3. Put wings and onions in a 5-6 quart pot. Add the 1 cup water to the roasting pand and stir to scrape up any brown bits, then add to the pot. Add 6 cups of the chicken broth (refrigerate remaining 2 cups for later), the carrots, celery, and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Remove wings from pot and eat them for dinner!
5. Pour the rest of the contents of the pot through a strainer into a 3 quart saucepan. Discard vegetables and skim off the fat (to help skim the fat, refrigerate for a while and the fat will solidify on top).
6. Whisk the flour into the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth until blended and smooth.
7. Bring the gravy in the saucepan to a gentle boil. Whisk in flour mixture and boil for 4-5 minutes to thicken. Stir in butter and pepper, and check seasonings to see if you need to add salt. Serve, refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to a month.