Glossary of gravy terms

Gravy borrows vocabulary from four places at once: the English kitchen, the French sauce tradition, food science, and the antiques trade. This glossary collects the lot.

Terms in bold within a definition have entries of their own. Links go to the full article.

A–Z¶

A¶

Argyll

Argyle

A covered gravy jug with a hot-water jacket, central tube or side compartment, designed to keep gravy hot between kitchen and table. British, from around the 1770s. See antique gravy jugs.

Armorial

An engraved coat of arms or crest on silver. One that has been scraped off leaves a thinned patch that reduces value — see antique gravy jugs.

Arrowroot

A starch thickener giving the clearest, glossiest finish of all. Thickens at a lower temperature than cornflour and dislikes reheating. See thickening with flour vs cornflour.

Au jus

French for "with juice". On American menus it describes meat served with its own unthickened cooking liquid. The common phrasing "with au jus" is, strictly, "with with juice". See jus.

B¶

Base gravy

The mild, smooth, onion-heavy sauce that British curry houses make in bulk and turn into every dish on the menu. Thin, deliberately bland, and the largest-volume gravy in British cooking. See BIR base gravy.

Béchamel

One of the French mother sauces: a white roux with milk. The direct ancestor of American white gravy.

Beurre manié

Soft butter and plain flour kneaded to a paste and whisked into a simmering sauce to thicken it at the last minute. Literally "kneaded butter". See fixing gravy that is too thin.

Bhuna

A curry-house dish cooked down until thick and clinging rather than saucy; also, the act of frying spices in oil. See cooking a BIR curry.

BIR

British Indian restaurant — the distinct British cuisine of the curry house, built on base gravy, mix powder and pre-cooked meat. See BIR base gravy.

Bisto

The British browning-and-thickening product launched in 1908, and the single largest influence on what British people expect gravy to look like. See bisto.

Bone broth

Stock, marketed for drinking. Usually well gelled and low in salt, which makes it a good gravy base. See stock cubes compared.

Bratensoße

German roast gravy, made from the roasting juices. Sometimes thickened with bread or gingerbread. See german and central european gravies.

Broth

Traditionally a liquid made by simmering meat and vegetables, often seasoned and drunk on its own — as opposed to stock, made from bones for its gelatin. The distinction is not rigorously observed on labels. See beef stock.

Brown sauce

Two quite different things. In classical cookery, espagnole and its descendants. In a British café, the bottled condiment. Context tells you which.

Browning

See gravy browning, and, for the chemistry, the Maillard reaction.

Brun sås · Brun saus · Brun sovs

Swedish, Norwegian and Danish brown sauce. Roux-based, often finished with cream. See scandinavian brown sauces.

C¶

Caramelisation

Sugar breaking down under heat. Distinct from the Maillard reaction, which needs protein as well, though the two usually happen together. See Maillard reaction.

Chinois

A fine conical sieve, for a very smooth finish. See straining and skimming gravy.

Chasing

Decorative work hammered into metal from the front. Victorian chasing added to a plain Georgian sauce boat reduces its value considerably. See antique gravy jugs.

Cold chain

The unbroken refrigeration a chilled product depends on from factory to fridge. Break it and the product is treated as spoiled whether or not it looks it. See the refrigeration failure.

Collagen

The connective-tissue protein in bones, skin and tendon that dissolves into gelatin during long simmering. See gelatin from bones.

Cornflour

Pure maize starch; cornstarch in American English. Roughly twice as strong as plain flour by weight, added as a slurry, and gives a glossy, slightly translucent sauce. See cornflour.

Crazing

The fine network of cracks in an old ceramic glaze, often stained brown by a couple of centuries of use. See antique gravy jugs.

D¶

Deglaze

To add liquid to a hot pan and scrape up the fond. The single most important step in a pan gravy. See deglazing a roasting tin.

Demi-glace

Espagnole reduced by half with additional brown stock. The base of most classical meat sauces. See french sauce tradition.

Dextrinisation

The breaking of long starch chains into shorter ones under dry heat. It is why a dark roux tastes better and thickens less than a pale one. See why flour thickens liquid.

Dripping

Rendered fat from roasting meat, skimmed from the tin. Beef dripping makes the best roast potatoes there are. See beef dripping.

E¶

Emulsion

Fat suspended through a liquid as droplets small enough to stay put. Emulsified fat reads as gloss and richness; a broken emulsion reads as grease. See emulsification in gravy.

EPNS

Electroplated nickel silver. A mark that dates a piece to 1840 at the very earliest. See antique gravy jugs.

Espagnole

The brown mother sauce of classical French cookery: brown roux, brown stock and tomato, simmered at length. See french sauce tradition.

F¶

Fat separator

A jug whose spout draws from the bottom, below the floating fat, so it pours juices and leaves the grease behind. See fat separators.

Fond

In English kitchens, the dark caramelised residue stuck to a roasting tin — the most concentrated flavour in the kitchen. Confusingly, French fond means a stock or base, and the browned residue is sucs. See fond.

G¶

Garam masala

An aromatic spice blend added at the end of a curry, off the heat. Not the same thing as mix powder, which is fried in oil at the start. See BIR mix powder.

Gelatin

The protein that collagen becomes when simmered. It gives stock its body, gloss and lip-sticking texture, and a stock cube contains none. Not to be confused with the next entry. See gelatin from bones.

Gelatinisation

A completely unrelated process: starch granules absorbing water and swelling when heated, which is how flour thickens gravy. See why flour thickens liquid.

Giblets

The neck, heart, gizzard and liver supplied inside a whole bird. Browned and simmered, they make the best poultry stock available. See giblets.

Glace de viande

Stock reduced to roughly a tenth of its volume — a syrup that sets solid when cold. A seasoning, not a sauce. See reducing stock.

Glutamate

The amino acid responsible for the savoury taste of umami. Abundant in meat, tomato, cheese, soy and yeast extract. See umami in gravy.

Gräddsås

Swedish cream sauce, the standard accompaniment to meatballs. See scandinavian brown sauces.

Grané · gravé

The Old French spiced sauce whose probable misreading in a medieval manuscript gave English the word gravy. See origins of the word gravy.

Granules

Pre-gelatinised starch with salt, fat, flavouring and colour, made to dissolve in boiling water. See instant gravy granules.

Gravy browning

Caramelised sugar dissolved in water. Adds colour and essentially nothing else. See gravy browning.

Guanylate

A nucleotide generated when mushrooms are dried. It has little taste alone but multiplies glutamate umami several times over. See why mushrooms taste savoury.

H¶

Hallmark

The set of punches on British silver giving the standard, assay office, date letter and maker. The most commonly forged feature of antique silver. See antique gravy jugs.

I¶

Inosinate

The nucleotide equivalent of guanylate, found in meat and fish. Combined with glutamate it amplifies savouriness. See umami in gravy.

J¶

Jus

An unthickened, heavily reduced meat cooking liquid, served in spoonfuls rather than jugfuls. Its body comes from gelatin, not starch. See jus.

Jus lié

A jus given a very light thickening, traditionally with arrowroot.

K¶

Kasoori methi

Dried fenugreek leaf, crushed between the palms and scattered into a curry in its last thirty seconds. The most recognisable curry-house aroma there is. Not to be confused with ground fenugreek seed, which is bitter and used by the teaspoon. See BIR mix powder.

L¶

Lumps

Parcels of dry flour sealed inside a skin of cooked starch, formed when dry starch meets hot liquid. Preventable, and curable with a sieve. See avoiding lumps in gravy.

M¶

Maillard reaction

The browning reaction between amino acids and sugars above about 140 °C that produces roasted flavour. Needs a dry surface, which is why crowded pans never brown. See Maillard reaction.

Married

Of a "pair" of sauce boats: two similar pieces of different date or maker, assembled to look like a set. Worth much less than a genuine pair. See antique gravy jugs.

Mirepoix

The standard aromatic base of roughly chopped onion, carrot and celery.

Mix powder

The house spice blend of a British curry house — coriander, cumin, turmeric and paprika with a little garam masala — used in the base gravy and in every dish made from it. See BIR mix powder.

Monter au beurre

Finishing a sauce by whisking in cold butter off the heat, for gloss and body. Boil it afterwards and it will split. See emulsification in gravy.

Mother sauce

One of the handful of base sauces from which the classical French repertoire is built — espagnole, velouté, béchamel and the rest. See french sauce tradition.

N¶

Nappé

The consistency at which a sauce coats the back of a spoon and holds a line drawn through it with a finger. The target for most gravies. See fixing gravy that is too thin.

O¶

Old Sheffield plate

Copper fused between sheets of silver and rolled, made from roughly the 1740s to the 1840s. Not electroplate. Recognised by seams and by pink copper "bleeding" through at wear points. See antique gravy jugs.

P¶

Pan gravy

Gravy made in the vessel the food was cooked in, using its fat and fond. A method rather than a flavour. See pan gravy.

Poutine

Chips, fresh cheese curds and hot brown sauce, from Québec. The gravy is traditionally half beef and half chicken stock. See poutine gravy.

R¶

Red-eye gravy

A thin southern American gravy of country-ham drippings deglazed with black coffee. No thickener. See red-eye gravy.

Reduction

Boiling off water to concentrate flavour, gelatin and, unhelpfully, salt. Season afterwards. See reducing stock.

Repoussé

Metal decoration raised by hammering from behind. See chasing.

Retrogradation

Starch chains re-associating as a sauce cools, which is why gravy stiffens in the jug and loosens again when reheated. See why flour thickens liquid.

Roux

Equal weights of fat and flour cooked together before liquid is added — white, blond or brown depending on how long. The foundation of most gravies. See making a roux.

S¶

Sauce boat

The older and more correct name for the low, long-lipped vessel gravy is served from. See gravy boats and antique gravy jugs.

Schmaltz

Rendered chicken fat. Excellent in a chicken gravy roux.

Skimming

Removing the fat that floats on roasting juices, leaving the dark liquid beneath. See straining and skimming gravy.

Slurry

Starch mixed smooth with cold liquid before being whisked into a hot one. The only safe way to add cornflour. See thickening with flour vs cornflour.

Stock

Liquid simmered from bones and aromatics, valued for its gelatin and left unsalted. Compare broth. See beef stock and chicken stock.

Sucs

French for the caramelised residue in a pan — what English kitchens call fond.

T¶

Tarka

Spices bloomed in hot fat and stirred into a dish, either at the start or poured over at the end. The same principle as frying the flour in a roux: fat carries flavour that water cannot.

Trivet

A bed of roughly chopped vegetables set under a roasting joint. It lifts the meat out of its fat, stops the juices scorching, and goes into the gravy afterwards. See roast-dinner gravy.

U¶

Umami

The savoury fifth taste, from glutamate, amplified by guanylate and inosinate. Identified by Kikunae Ikeda in 1908. See umami in gravy.

V¶

Velouté

The pale mother sauce: a blond roux with white stock. A close relative of a good chicken gravy.

Verjuice

The juice of unripe grapes, used as a souring agent in medieval sauces before lemons were common. See medieval sauces.

Vortex

The dip a spinning liquid forms in the middle as it climbs the sides of its container. Visible in any vigorously stirred pan of gravy.

W¶

Water activity

The water in a food available to bacteria. Gravy has a lot of it, which is one reason chilled gravy depends on the cold chain. See the refrigeration failure.

Y¶

Yeast extract

Concentrated spent brewer's yeast, very high in glutamate. Half a teaspoon per litre is the most effective savoury shortcut in meat-free gravy. See yeast extract.

British and American terms¶

Roughly half the subject matter on this site is American, and several everyday words differ.

See also¶

• about gravypedia · how gravypedia is written · gravy finder
• making a roux · umami in gravy · french sauce tradition