Instructions: Lifesaver: Robert L. Wolke is your man. Wolke is professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and author of the Food 101 column that runs periodically in the Mercury News.

Wolke explains: When your turkey is done, you have two kinds of liquid in the pan: an oily liquid (the melted fat) and a watery liquid (the meat and vegetable juices). You want to incorporate both into your gravy. The trick is to get them to meld into a smooth, homogeneous mixture - no lumps, no puddles of grease.

Flour contains certain proteins that form a sticky substance - gluten - when the proteins get wet. If you just dump flour into the pan, these proteins will get together with the water to form a glutinous goop that the oil cant penetrate. Then youll wind up with little lumps of dough swimming in pools of grease.

Make sure to mix the flour first with some of the fat, which you have previously separated from the watery juices. That way, the individual, microscopic particles of flour become coated with oil, which the watery juices cant penetrate to gum things up. Result? Later, when you add the juices, supplemented as needed with broth or other watery liquids, these individual, oil-coated flour particles become widely scattered. And thats just what you want, because the thickening agent and the fat it carries are uniformly dispersed throughout the watery juices, giving you a smooth consistency.

You must keep the amounts of flour and fat just about equal. Use one part flour and one part fat to every eight parts of liquid or stock.

Sinker: Try as you might, your gravy remains horrible.

Lifesaver: Try these tips from Cook It Right by cooking school founder Anne Willan (Readers Digest, $29.95):
Gravy too thin? Simmer until reduced. Or thicken it by dissolving a little arrowroot or cornstarch in cold water and whisking that into the boiling sauce.

Too thick? Thin with water or stock.

Lumpy? Put it through a fine strainer.

No taste? Use salt and pepper, soy sauce, more pan drippings, chicken stock, or port, Madeira or bourbon.

Looks muddy, not glossy? Add cold stock or water, simmer, then skim often.

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