Though essential during a holiday meal, gravy usually becomes an afterthought when overshadowed by the stress of cooking a 15-pound turkey. However, there’s good news. Remove one more item from your to-do list and opt for store-bought gravy instead of making it from scratch. With a few simple modifications and tweaks, you can easily transform store-bought gravy into a richer, tastier sauce—and fool everyone into thinking it was homemade. And, if you happen to have some extra, there’s no harm in transforming your leftover gravy into classic Canadian-style poutine or hearty brunch biscuits and gravy. To make the sauce even more flavorful, add the drippings from the bottom of the roasting pan while heating the gravy. The extra fat and flavorful little brown bits, also known as the “fond,” will help give the store-bought gravy depth and complexity. Adding ingredients like mushrooms, bacon lardons, prosciutto, caramelized onions, porcini mushrooms, truffle, or black garlic can give store-bought gravy the complexity it might be lacking.
