Ingredient

Gravy

Real gravy is made from what is stuck to the bottom of the roasting tin. Those browned deposits — the fond — are concentrated Maillard products, and dissolving them into liquid is most of what makes gravy taste of the roast it came from.

The fond is the flavour

When meat roasts, juices drip onto the hot tin, the water boils off, and what remains browns and sticks. That crust is intensely savoury and almost entirely responsible for the difference between gravy and thickened stock.

It dissolves readily in liquid — that is what deglazing is. Pour in wine, stock or even water, and scrape hard with a wooden spoon while it bubbles. The tin should come clean and the liquid should go dark.

A tin with nothing stuck to it is a tin that has not roasted anything at a high enough temperature, or one where the meat sat in liquid. Both are worth correcting for next time.

Gravy from a roast

1. Lift the meat out to rest and tip most of the fat off the tin, leaving the dark juices and about a tablespoon of fat.
2. Put the tin over a low heat and stir in a tablespoon or two of plain flour. Cook it, stirring, for a full minute or two — raw flour tastes of raw flour.
3. Add liquid gradually, a splash at a time, stirring hard between each addition until smooth before adding more. This is what prevents lumps.
4. Once it is loose enough, add the rest of the stock and any resting juices and bring to a simmer.
5. Simmer for at least five minutes. Gravy needs time for the starch to gelatinise fully and for the raw flour taste to go.
6. Taste and adjust: salt, pepper, and a splash of something sharp — wine, vinegar, mustard — to stop it tasting flat.
7. Strain if you want it smooth. There is no shame in it.

Fixing gravy

• Lumpy — whisk hard, or blend it, or pass it through a sieve. Any of the three works. See lumpy gravy.
• Too thin — simmer it down, or stir in a little cornflour slaked in cold water. Never tip dry flour into hot liquid.
• Too thick — let it down with stock, or with the water the vegetables were cooked in.
• Greasy — too much fat left in the tin. Skim it, or drop in an ice cube and lift the fat off as it congeals around it.
• Pale and weak — no fond, or not enough. Brown a little tomato purée or a spoonful of marmite in the tin, or caramelise an onion separately.
• Bitter — the fond was burnt rather than browned. Not recoverable; start with stock in a separate pan.

Variations

Onion gravy

Onions cooked slowly to deep brown first. The best gravy for sausages, and it needs no meat at all.

Red wine gravy

Deglaze with wine and reduce it almost to nothing before the stock goes in, or it tastes raw and sharp.

Vegetarian

Browned onions, mushrooms, tomato purée, soy sauce and marmite between them give plenty of savoury depth.

Cream gravy

Finished with cream rather than reduced. Common with chicken and pork.

Cornflour instead of a roux

Clearer and glossier, and gluten-free. Slake it in cold water first, always.

Common questions