Wood Fired Turkey Gravy

Instructions

1. Day 1—Roast the bones: Preheat wood fired oven to around 500°F(450°F for home oven). Preheat large cast iron pan in the oven. Toss the dry chicken carcass, wing pieces and giblets with olive oil. Roast for about 25 minutes, rotating to brown all sides. Add the carrots, celery and onions, roast for another 10 minutes continuing to rotate for even cooking.
2. Make the turkey stock: Transfer the roasted bones and vegetable to a large stockpot. Deglaze the hot cast iron with cold water, scrape with a wooden spoon to remove all the fond from the bottom of pan and pour into the stockpot. Fill the stockpot with enough cold water to cover everything, add bay leafs, peppercorns and parsley stems. Bring to a boil, strain off all the impurities and fat, simmer until reduced by half, about 6 hours. Drain the bones and larger vegetable pieces though a mesh strainer into a pot. Ladle the remaining liquid through the mesh strainer, reserve 2-3 cups of the stock for the stuffing. Should have roughly a quart and half of stock remaining.
3. Day 2—Make the turkey gravy: Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stir the garlic and shallot and sauté for a few minutes then add in the fresh herbs. Whisk in flour and continue whisking until it thickens a bit, about 2 minutes. There’s no need for any color in the roux so no crazy whisking times here. Pour in the Armagnac (if using), stir until alcohol is cooked out and roux has thickened, about a minute. Ladle two scoops of warm stock into the roux and whisk until no lumps remain. Continue whisking while adding the remaining stock. Once combined, simmer for half hour whisking occasionally.
4. Day 3—Reheat gravy: Now that the gravy is done in advance all you have to do is reheat, whisk in any drippings from the roasted turkey and serve. The gravy only gets better with time so make this, 2-3 days in advance.