The encyclopaedia of gravy
Roast chicken suits a light pan gravy from its own juices, deglazed with white wine and finished with tarragon or a spoon of cream.
A chicken gives up less fond than beef but more usable juice, and its flavour is delicate enough that a heavy gravy will bury it.
The method in short¶
- Rest the bird 20–25 minutes, breast down if you can — the juices run back into the breast.
- Tip the tin contents into a jug, let the fat rise, and skim. Keep 2 tbsp fat and all the juices.
- Cook 1½ tbsp flour in the fat for 2 minutes.
- Deglaze with 100 ml white wine (or the water your vegetables cooked in).
- Add 500 ml chicken stock, gradually. Simmer 5 minutes.
- Add chopped tarragon and, off the heat, a tablespoon of cream.
Full version: chicken gravy.
Making it better before the bird goes in¶
- Roast the chicken on a trivet of onion, lemon halves and garlic. All three end up in the gravy.
- Tuck a few thyme sprigs under the bird.
- If you have the carcass from a previous chicken, make stock with it. A chicken gravy made with proper chicken stock is a different dish from one made with a cube — see chicken stock.
💡 Chef's tip
Squeeze the roasted lemon halves into the gravy at the end. The acidity is exactly what a chicken gravy usually lacks.
If you want a white gravy instead¶
In the American South, roast or fried chicken is often served with a milk-based white gravy rather than a brown one. Both are traditional; they are just different traditions.