Best gravy for roast pork

Pork is the fattiest common roast and the mildest in flavour, which makes the gravy a balancing act: remove the excess fat, then add something sharp.

The method in short¶

1. Rest the pork 25 minutes. Keep the crackling somewhere warm and dry — never under foil.
2. Skim hard. Pork fat is heavy and there will be a lot of it. Keep 2 tbsp and all the dark juices.
3. Cook 1½ tbsp flour with a few chopped sage leaves for 2 minutes.
4. Deglaze with 200 ml dry cider and reduce it by half. Unreduced cider tastes sour in gravy.
5. Add 400 ml chicken or pork stock. Simmer 8 minutes.
6. Stir in 1 tsp wholegrain mustard. Taste before adding any salt — crackling salt ends up in the tin.

Full version: pork gravy.

Apple: in the gravy or beside it?¶

Apple sauce is traditionally served alongside, not stirred in — it is sweet and textured and would make the gravy cloying. But half a cooking apple roasted under the joint, then squashed into the gravy and strained out, gives the acidity without the sweetness.

Gammon and ham¶

Gammon is heavily salted, so the pan residue is too salty for gravy on its own. Make a separate gravy with unsalted stock and use only a spoonful of the pan juices, tasting as you go. A parsley sauce or a white gravy is often the better answer with ham.

See also¶

• pork gravy · cider in gravy · mustard in gravy · straining and skimming gravy