Deglazing Your Pan With Wine Leads To The Best Thanksgiving Gravy

While gravy might not be the centerpiece of a Thanksgiving feast, it certainly sets the tone for the meal. As its humble boat sails around the table, diners add it to everything from the Thanksgiving turkey to the green beans, mashed potatoes, and other hot sides. Gravy is a pan sauce made with a process called deglazing. After you've cooked meat or vegetables in a pan on the stovetop, you typically add a little broth or other liquid and a thickener, such as corn starch. As it sizzles on high heat, the mixture melts into gravy. 

You can really turn heads this holiday season by deglazing your pan with wine instead of beer, broth, vinegar, or water. The alcohol will vaporize during the deglazing process, leaving you with a complex, unique, and flavorful gravy that complements the rest of your meal. Wine is one of the best liquids to use when you're deglazing because its result is somewhere in the middle of broth and vinegar. Its acidity adds depth and complexity to the sauce you're creating. Wine also breaks down fats, ensuring you get all of the flavor out of your deglazing process.

Each wine creates a different flavor profile when it's used to deglaze, and you can use any kind of wine you want for the process. When you're making a pan sauce for Thanksgiving gravy, you'll want to choose a wine that complements your main dish. Luckily, there are many kinds of wine that pair well with a traditional Thanksgiving turkey. Many of those same wines are great companions for other Thanksgiving mains. White wines in general pair best with turkey and are wonderful with ham, as well (try our honey mustard-glazed ham). Look for wines on the drier side with sweet, floral, or fruity notes to add depth and complexity to your Thanksgiving gravy.

Chardonnay and Pinot Noir bring fruity acidity to the mix, and a floral Viognier will add subtle honey notes to your pan sauce. Dry Riesling and Zinfandel wines both have more fruity and sugary tones. Beaujolais wines, an especially popular pairing for a Thanksgiving feast, bring sweet fruit notes. If you're having trouble choosing which wine to use, consider which wines would pair the best with the flavors that are waiting to be released from the bottom of the pan.