Great gravy

daveed

Saturday, 25 April 2009

Let me take you down a controversial path. We all, at one point or another, have tried to cook a lovely roast for our friends, family or simply to impress last night's catch. Mothers and grandmothers alike rifle through dusty drawers to find the sacrosanct family gravy recipe, while the rest of us do what we do best on a hangover day... grab a box of bistro granules!

Now I’m no Gordon Ramsay, and I generally wake up on a Sunday with half my brain stuck on the pillow, begging for life to take it easy on me just for a day! But there is one thing that I will not compromise on, and that thing is real gravy. If I’m going to be bothered dragging myself down to the shop, carry bag-loads of shopping, slave for hours in the kitchen, peeling, chopping and stuffing then why on earth sabotage the lot with some insipid cement-like mixture that even my interior decorator wouldn’t use to fix the hole in my ceiling?

The principles are pretty simple. Some darkening, a bit of thickening and loads of flavours. So to make a final stand against flat gravy, lets have a step by step look at how you can make sure your guest will want to come back to your dinner parties (and ultimately ensure they bring a “nice” bottle of wine to it and not the usual cheap plonk on special offer at co-op).

So let’s see about darkening shall we? There is many different alternatives to achieve a rick brown colour. Some of them using sugar cooked to a dark caramel and mixed with water, but I personally think there's already enough sugar in food and besides - the caramel taste tends to cover up the delicate flavours - often making it more-ish, for sure, but not quite what I would call real and flavoursome.

Instead, you could try roasting some plain flour in the oven. Just place it on a roasting tray and cook it for a couple of hours on a medium heat. Beware though, to turn off the fan of your oven or you'll have your neighbours calling the drug squad when they see the cloud of white dust emanating from your kitchen.

Once darkened you can store your flour in a jar for ulterior use.

The thickening and flavouring process happens with the previous dark flour.

Most people know how to make a white sauce (and if not, for the love of god, check the internet or ask your mother - I’m only allowed 400 words here). So, using the same amount of butter and dark flour, make a roux and cool it. The secret of using roux is that it works better if you mix a cold item with a hot item. So as your meat juices will be hot (as well as the cooking water from your greens) you will need to cool the roux down, and making it in advance makes it so much easier.

And presto! A rich, brown, yummy gravy. Don't forget to season well, cracked pepper will go well for all red meats and a lighter coloured flour will work better for roast poultry. Make sure you have a practice run during the week with sausages and mash for example, and get ready to impress.

Now, what time to you want me over on Sunday then?!