How To Make Gravy

Gravy lies at the heart (body and soul too) of a roast dinner. It is the perfect sauce to serve with roasted meats and vegetables. Christmas, a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey or indeed any Sunday roast would not be the same without a classic meat sauce. Here we look at how to make gravy as opposed to its slightly less inspiring cousin, the ‘jus’. I think it is essential to have more than enough if that is feasible. Gravy should complement all the meat and trimmings on the plate. The other great feature is that so many variants are possible. 

The classic method is this one:-

(1) Remove the meat from the tin

Remove the meat from your heatproof roasting tin, cover with aluminium foil and set aside to rest.

Using oven gloves, tilt the roasting tin and spoon off all but 3 tbsp of fat from the meat juices. Just allow the discarded fat to set before throwing away. Please do not pour this down the sink unless you want to block it.

Place the roasting tin with the remnants of the meat over a low heat and use a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape off all the sticky meat pieces from the bottom of the tin.

(2) Add flour to make a roux

Sprinkle 3 tbsp plain flour into the tin and mix until well blended. Continue cooking, stirring continuously, for 2 minutes allowing the flour to cook through to make a ‘roux’  which becomes the thickening base for your gravy.

(3) Add the stock

Turn off the heat and gradually add 700ml (1 pint) hot vegetable stock, a little at a time, blending well as you go along. The principle is the same for all basic meat saouces.

(4) Thicken The Gravy

Turn the heat back on and bring the gravy to the boil, stirring constantly with a balloon whisk or your spatula until thickened. If you prefer a thicker gravy allow it to boil and reduce for around 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally – you can check the consistency using the back of a spoon. The meat incidentally should be resting anyway.

Once you feel the consistency is right, then season it well with pepper and possibly some salt. Mix all together and take off the heat. Pour carefully into a jug and serve.