Here's one for Tom44 . . .
If you are making a gravy to serve on meat and mashed potatoes, it's really better to have a gravy that's more liquid. It's a sauce, and should not be the same consistency as the mashed potatoes.
A few years ago we had a neighbor with a habit of dropping by for a visit on weekends at dinner time. She really liked my pizza, and I made it on a regular basis. One weekend she dropped by and there was no pizza. I told her I was making something else, country fried steak (also known as chicken fried), with mashed potatoes and garden fresh green beans. She decided to stick around.
For this dish, the breading on the meat needs to puff out a bit and have a nice crispy outer layer. It also needs to have a really good gravy. Since the gravy is somewhat liquid, it needs to be served no more than 30 seconds after the gravy hits the meat. Otherwise the "crispy" becomes "soggy".
I made it with a brown gravy, with lots of sweet onion and mushrooms and beef stock and a smidgen of corn meal and, of course, bacon.
She took one look and said it was not how her mama made it. It was supposed to have a white gravy, like you would put on biscuits. We offered to take it away if it offended her, but she wanted to try a bite. And another. Snarf, snarf, snarf. Between mouthfuls she continued to state that this was not at all how it is "supposed" to be done. I asked if she would like seconds, since I made plenty. Yes, please. Halfway through the second helping she mentioned that she really doesn't like mushrooms (while wolfing them down). I mentioned that it all depends how they are cooked.
In the end she smiled and said I had permission to cook it for her again.
The basic recipe for gravy is to make a roux and add liquid and other stuff, not always in that order. Traditionally the roux is a 50/50 mixture of grease and flour, but don't let that handcuff you. If you need to make a thicker gravy, add more flour.
When I make a queso dip, I melt some butter (unsalted) and add enough flour to make the roux a little crumbly, a little less solid than play-doh. Add milk, stir a lot (maybe with a whisk) and then add peppers and cheese. To an extent, thicker dip means more flavor on the chip. Also, the real star of this show is the cheese (and peppers). A smaller amount of thick blonde roux de-emphasizes the flavor of the roux. (A blonde roux is just combining grease and flour, without cooking it until it becomes tan or brown.) Also keep in mind that the cheese will thicken the sauce. If in doubt, you probably need to use more cheese. My favorite is a very sharp cheddar. I like to use a fresh jalapeno (chopped fine) and crushed red pepper (the stuff you would sprinkle on pizza or spaghetti).
No matter what you do, make sure the roux is well mixed with no lumps of flour. When you add the liquid, take the time to bring it up to temperature and stir thoroughly to ensure there are no clumps of roux floating around. This is particularly important when you make a more solid roux (with more flour).
