Carefully pour the pan drippings through a strainer into a fat separator. Now that all your turkey fat and juices are in the fat separator, pour the juices into a measuring cup. At this point, you will have to supplement those drippings with additional liquid to get a total of 3 cups of liquid to make your gravy. One great tip is to add some hot water to your roasting tray and deglaze it to make additional “broth” from the pan. You can also add a high-quality store-bought chicken or turkey stock to get your 3 cups of liquid.

Next, pour the fat left in the fat separator through the strainer into a measuring cup until you have ⅓ cup, and set aside. If you don’t have ⅓ cup of turkey fat, supplement with vegetable oil or melted butter until you reach ⅓ cup.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, add the turkey fat, 1 tablespoon of butter, the paprika, and the fresh ground black pepper. When the fat starts bubbling, gradually whisk in ⅓ cup of all-purpose flour until you have a roux. Continue to cook the roux on medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Cooking the roux longer will darken your gravy and add more flavor as the flour in the roux gets cooked.

Next, whisk in the 3 cups of turkey drippings/stock into the roux, turning up the heat to medium-high and whisking constantly. Continue to whisk the gravy for another 2 minutes until it has thickened enough to coat a spoon. At this point, you can whisk in minced giblets or a blended mixture of vegetables from the roasting pan, if desired. Add the soy sauces, salt, and more pepper to taste.

At this point, if the gravy is too thin, use a water and cornstarch slurry to thicken the gravy to your preference. If the gravy is too thick, add more stock. Remember that the gravy will always seem thinner when it is hot, and will thicken a bit as it cools.

Once you’ve reached your desired gravy consistency, pour it into a gravy boat, and serve immediately.