Best gravy for roast lamb

Lamb is the most strongly flavoured of the common roasts and its fat sets fast on a warm plate. Both facts shape the gravy.

The method in short¶

1. Rest the lamb 25–30 minutes.
2. Skim thoroughly — lamb fat is waxy and congeals visibly. Keep 2 tbsp and the dark juices.
3. Add a rosemary sprig and a crushed garlic clove to the tin over a low heat for a minute.
4. Cook 2 tbsp flour for 2 minutes.
5. Deglaze with 150 ml red wine; reduce by half.
6. Add 500 ml lamb or beef stock. Simmer 8 minutes.
7. Melt in 1 tsp redcurrant jelly. Fish out the rosemary. Season.

Full version: lamb gravy.

The anchovy trick¶

One anchovy fillet, melted into the fat before the flour goes in, is a classic British trick with lamb. It does not taste of fish — the salt and glutamates read purely as depth. Cooks have been doing it since at least the eighteenth century, and it is the single easiest improvement to a lamb gravy.

Mint sauce: the argument¶

Stirring mint sauce into the whole jug divides households. The case against: vinegar and sugar overwhelm a carefully made gravy, and guests who dislike it have no escape. The case for: it is delicious.

The diplomatic answer is to serve mint sauce separately and let people combine them on the plate.

Slow-roast shoulder¶

A seven-hour shoulder produces a large amount of liquid and fat rather than fond. Pour it all into a jug, let it separate, skim the fat, and reduce the remaining liquid hard — it needs little or no flour because it is already full of gelatin. See reducing stock.

See also¶

• lamb gravy · redcurrant jelly in gravy · mint sauce · straining and skimming gravy