I second Carols opinion of the VitaMix being the gravy master. I used an old stainless 3600 super for years and recently upgraded to a newer model. Like Carol I debone and cut up whole fryer chickens then pressure cook the bones, and run everything through the VitaMix, along with all the other ingredients, see http://www.texasferret.org/gravy.shtml The kids all love it and it is great to watch the little eyes close and the tongue start going as soon as they get a whiff. I mostly follow Bob Church's recipe but with the VitaMix I can blend all the meat before cooking so I don't cook it as long as Bob's recipe, I just cook it until the pink start to gray. I bought my VitaMix machines on e-bay and if you are patient you can always get them used for less than $200. It is still expensive but I burned out 4 blenders at $25-$125 each, in one year before I got the first VitaMix that lasted 6 years and was still working when I got the newer one. Ken Nyren [Posted in FML 7468]