Gravy is the liquid portion of a dish. It can be either of meat or vegetables. It can be made thick and saucy or much diluted. In the west, gravy means the sauce that is poured on top of a dish and is made after the dish is prepared. But in some parts of the world, gravy is simply the curry form of a dish. It is made along with the preparation of the dish. Whatsoever, all you need to know is, if you have delicious gravy, whatever dish you prepare will be relished with the utmost taste. Hereâs how you can make a mouth-watering gravy. Read on.
Complexity Level: Moderate
Time required: 15-25 minutes
Resources Required:
1. Roast beef drippings (or any drippings of which ever dish you just roast)
2. Saucepan
3. Flour/ cornstarch
4. Butter
5. 2 cups milk (optional)
Instructions:
1. Measure the drippings
- Once youâve roasted your beef (or chicken or turkey or vegetables) make sure you donât discard the drippings away.
- Scrape off every bit of the dripping into a measuring cup.
- Leave it still for a minute so that it can settle and the fat can rise to the top and float.
2. Scoop out the fat
- You can now see the fat has formed a layer on top of your cup.
- With a spoon, scoop out as much fat as you can into a saucepan.
3. Heat butter and fat
- Keep the saucepan on a medium to high flame.
- Take about 2 tablespoon of butter and put it into the saucepan along with fat.
- Mix the fat and butter.
- Once the butter gets melted, remove it from heat.
4. Mix the flour
- Take the same measurement of flour as that of the fat and sprinkle on top of the melted butter.
- Stir well and continuously so that lumps do not form.
- On medium to high flame, keep stirring till the paste gets smooth and turns golden brown.
5. Pour the rest of the broth
- Once the paste has become golden brown in color, turn the flame on low heat.
- Pour the broth that was kept aside slowly and cautiously all the while stirring.
- Now, turn the flame on high again so everything gets cooked together and the broth becomes thicker.
6. Gently ladle it on the dish
- Your gravy is ready.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour into a clean bowl and serve with the delicious roast beef.
- Let the aroma and the flavor tickle your craving taste buds.
Frequently asked questions:
1. How to make potato gravy?
It is true that you wonât get much or rather any dripping out of most vegetables especially from potatoes. But what you can do is, once the potato is well cooked in water, reserve the water so that you can use this as the base for your gravy. Then, you can follow the same steps as given in the instructions by replacing the beef broth with the potato broth.
2. I get a lot of flour lumps in my gravy. How do I get rid of them to make it into a smooth sauce?
The key to the perfect smooth sauce is to keep stirring while you sprinkle flour into the recipe. But if you have to add corn flour, make sure that you take the required amount of corn flour in another cup or bowl and mix it well with a little cold water. If corn flour is used directly into hot mixtures, it tends to form lump.
3. The sauce that I made tastes of raw flour. Why did that happen?
The reason why your sauce tastes raw is because it wasnât cooked properly. You need to stir it till the sauce changes its color to almost a brownish shade. Keep a check on the color of the sauce so that you can be sure that the flour is cooked well.
4. What is a roux?
Roux is a mixture of butter and fat mixed with the same amount of flour. This is the best method to produce smooth textured gravy and avoid lump formation. The roux mixture is cooked for about 3 to 5 min on a medium to high flame so that the flour is cooked well and it doesnât taste of raw flour flavor.
Quick Tips:
- Make sure you make a paste out of corn flour using cold water. When corn flour is used directly into the hot sauce, it will develop lumps and will be hard to melt down.
- Keep a watch on the heat. If the flame is constantly on high, you might end up burning the sauce.
- Key to perfectly smooth gravy is to keep stirring all the way.
- If you do not have enough dripping or none at all, use butter, flour and milk. This is the most conventional gravy type.
Things To Watch Out For:
- Let the gravy cool down before use. The sauce takes time to cool and you might burn your tongue.
- Be on a safe distance while you pour the broth into the fat and butter mixture.
