Waterfowl Gizzards and Bits Gravy
Corey Mulhair for SPLIT REED
Presented by Browning Firearms
Gravy. It’s simple, delicious, and made with a handful of stuff you’ve thrown away a thousand times. It’s got a variety of applications; on top of mashed potatoes, chicken fried steak (or duck), and smothered on poutine for our northern neighbors! Check it out and give it a go next time you bring a few birds home.
What you’ll need is:
around a half pound of critter bits [re: giblets] such as hearts, gizzards, necks, trimmings, etc.
some bird fat (oil or butter works too). waterfowl skin and fat off a bird is great, too.
some water (in place of water you can use a chicken broth if you’d like).
a cup of flour flour (total use will vary).
salt and pepper and/or any other seasonings you would like to use.
if possible I like to add in drippings from a whole roasted bird if I have any of that grease available.
Step 1: I like to use 2-4 birds worth of bits. I’m going to start with a few birds, removing hearts, gizzards, necks and some fat. Following removal, I like to brine the bits in a salt water bath in the refrigerator for two days to draw out as much blood as possible.
Step 2: Chop up the bits, you may leave any necks whole. Add fat to pan or sauce-pan and then add seasoned bits and start cooking down on medium-low heat. For this batch I used a few small duck hearts and gizzards, a mallard heart, neck and gizzard, a snow goose heart and gizzard, as well as four honker hearts; along with some fat from the body cavity of the birds. I season only with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Simmer until meat and bits are cooked down. Add some water and flour. This is where the personal preference comes into play. You may use broth instead of water for a more salty and brown gravy, and you can add flour to your own liking to bring consistency of gravy to desired thickness. Leave bits of meat in gravy while continuing to simmer. Add any ‘drippings’ from roasted birds, if you have them. I generally add water and flour twice to the mixture while simmering to bring total gravy production up and to end up with the thickness I want.
I use a locally grown and self ground Spring Wheat for my flour. It is a whole wheat, medium grind, with medium-high protein levels. If you want a lighter (whiter) gravy, use a bleached all purpose flour.
Step 4: After some time simmering, strain gravy through a mesh screen to separate any undissolved flour and the meat bits from the liquidy gravy. Store in a fridge. Gravy will gelatinize a bit but will return to a liquid consistency when re-heated. Use gravy as you would like. Keeps in fridge for a week or so without any issue.
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