basic brown gravy
vera moylan

-		pan drippings	available after meat has been roasted in the pan (hopefully an iron skillet); boil off any water, stirring the goodies up from the bottom of the pan; pour off excess fat first if necessary
-		flour, as required	add enough to make a creamy paste, cook until the flour starts to brown stirring constantly (add olive oil or butter if not enough grease in pan)
-		water, as required	pour in from full teakettle (nice if it's hot) a little at a time, stirring the while; keep adding the water until the gravy is the right consistency
-		angostura bitters	add a tsp or so for and flavor, color
-		salt to taste
-		pepper to taste
take the roast from the pan when almost done and put back in the oven on a suitable (non valuable) plate, thus making the pan avaliable for gravy if all the water is not boiled away before adding flour, the gravy will tend to lumps if the meat is cooked in an iron skillet, the gravy heats more evenly and later the pan is cleaned more easily (being round is a great advantage) at the cleanup simply scour the skillet with a stainless steel scouring pad and then use just enough soap to leave the pan not too greasy; rinse well in hot water and dry with a damp sponge