The encyclopaedia of gravy
During the Second World War, British gravy was less a separate luxury than a practical way to stretch meat, dripping, flour and vegetables. It accompanied sausages, stews, mince, pies and meat-free dishes, while stock cubes, yeast extract and browned onions supplied flavour when meat was scarce.
Gravy during the Second World War was principally an economy measure. It made a small amount of meat seem more substantial, carried flavour into potatoes and vegetables, and gave otherwise plain dishes a convincing finish. In Britain, where food rationing began in January 1940 and meat became increasingly restricted, the familiar roast-dinner gravy remained desirable but was no longer an everyday consequence of roasting a large joint.
Instead, households made gravy from whatever was available: a spoonful of dripping, plain flour, an onion, the juices from a small joint, and water or weak stock. It was not always brown. Vegetable gravies, pale flour-thickened sauces and gravies coloured with gravy salt or browning all belonged to wartime domestic cookery. The national ideal was not abundance but ingenuity, although ingenuity is easier to applaud after the war than during a queue for margarine.
Rationing and the domestic gravy¶
The British food system combined rationing, controlled prices, points schemes and Ministry of Food advice. Meat was rationed by value rather than supplied in unlimited quantities, while butter, sugar, bacon, cheese and cooking fats were also restricted. Fresh vegetables were not generally rationed in the same way, which made onions, carrots, potatoes, swedes and turnips important bulk ingredients for meals and their accompanying sauces.
A conventional gravy depended on two scarce or variable ingredients: meat juices and fat. A roast joint might be smaller, served less often, or replaced by sausages, mince or a meatless main course. The fat skimmed from a roasting tin was therefore saved carefully. Dripping spread on bread, fried onions and formed the basis of a roux; throwing it away was wasteful when a tablespoon could turn cooking liquid into several servings of gravy.
Where there were no useful roasting juices, cooks used water from boiled vegetables, the liquor from stewed meat, a stock cube, yeast extract or a little gravy powder. Stock cubes and pots compared explains the later distinction between concentrated stock products; during the war, the practical point was that a small manufactured seasoning could stand in for a quantity of bones and meat.
The ingredients of wartime gravy¶
| Ingredient | Wartime use | Practical purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Dripping or margarine | Fried with flour or onions | Supplied fat and savouriness |
| Plain flour | Cooked into a roux | Thickened water or stock |
| Onions | Fried until golden or simmered | Added sweetness and body |
| Carrots and swedes | Cooked in stews or puréed | Increased bulk and colour |
| Stock cube | Dissolved in hot water | Replaced part of a meat stock |
| Yeast extract | Used sparingly in liquid | Added a dark, savoury note |
| Gravy salt or browning | Added in small amounts | Supplied colour rather than nourishment |
The method was usually straightforward. Flour was cooked briefly in hot fat, then water or stock was added gradually to prevent lumps. Alternatively, flour was mixed with cold water and stirred into a simmering stew. Browning might come from well-cooked onions, the fond left in a roasting tin, or a proprietary colouring product. The principles are described in Thickening with flour vs cornflour and Why flour thickens liquid.
A darker gravy was not necessarily a stronger one. Long-cooked onions and browned flour supplied flavour, while gravy browning supplied mainly colour. In households short of meat, the distinction mattered: a dark jug could make a meal look more generous without pretending that it contained a roast.
Dishes served with gravy¶
Sausages and mash¶
Sausages were a dependable wartime main course when available, although their meat content and quality varied. Served with mashed potatoes, they were commonly accompanied by onion gravy made from dripping, flour and stock or water. The onions provided sweetness and volume, while the gravy carried seasoning through the potatoes. The modern idea of Best gravy for sausages and mash has a direct domestic predecessor in this economical combination.
Stews and hotpots¶
Stews made a small quantity of meat serve several people. Shin, scrag end, mutton, rabbit and cheaper cuts could be cooked slowly with potatoes, onions, carrots and other root vegetables. Their liquid was often only lightly thickened, or thickened by flour added at the beginning. In a hotpot, the potatoes absorbed the juices while cooking, producing something between a stew and a self-contained gravy.
Mince and cottage pie¶
Minced meat was stretched with onion, carrot, oatmeal, breadcrumbs or additional vegetables. The cooking liquid was thickened into a brown sauce before being covered with mashed potato. A cottage pie therefore contained its gravy beneath the crust rather than in a jug. The same principle applied to shepherd's pie made with mutton or lamb. The distinction between filling and gravy was practical rather than philosophical: if it stayed beneath the potato, it was less likely to be spilled or rationed separately.
Pies and savoury puddings¶
Meat-and-potato pies used gravy to bind a modest filling and prevent it drying in the oven. A hot-water crust or ordinary pastry could turn leftover meat and vegetables into a meal for several people. See Gravy pies and Pie gravy in the oven.
Suet puddings and steamed savoury puddings also made use of minced meat, onion and gravy. Their long cooking time suited tough cuts and allowed the filling to soften. Such dishes were filling, but their reliance on suet made them less universal than their later reputation suggests, since cooking fat was itself a managed resource.
Meat-free meals¶
Not every wartime gravy contained meat. A thick onion gravy could accompany potatoes, dumplings or vegetables. Mushroom gravy was possible when mushrooms were available, though mushrooms were not a universal substitute for meat. Root vegetables, lentils, beans and dried peas supplied bulk and protein, while yeast extract, browned onions and herbs gave the liquid more savoury character. Modern Vegetarian gravy and Vegan gravy often use more deliberate substitutions, but the underlying wartime aim was similar: make a plain plate taste complete.
📜 A wartime distinction
Ministry of Food recipes often presented thrift as good household management rather than deprivation. This was useful propaganda as well as sound cookery advice. It should not be read as evidence that rationing was comfortable; the ingenuity of a recipe records the shortage that made it necessary.
Gravy powder, cubes and substitutes¶
Commercial products had existed before the war. Bisto was already a familiar branded gravy aid, and stock cubes were increasingly important in domestic kitchens. Their value during rationing was consistency: a small quantity could provide salt, colour and a meat-like savoury note without requiring a joint or a stockpot full of bones.
They did not make every gravy equal. A cube could be salty, while flour, onions and vegetable water could produce a thin but useful sauce. Households also relied on Yeast extract, mustard, herbs and leftover cooking liquor. The result depended heavily on what had been saved from earlier meals.
The legacy¶
Wartime gravy strengthened the British habit of treating gravy as an essential accompaniment to filling food rather than merely the juices of a roast. Sausages, mash, mince, pies and vegetable dishes all benefited from the same basic technique: brown an aromatic, thicken a liquid, season carefully and serve it over a starchy food.
The period also helped normalise the make-ahead and emergency methods now described in Emergency gravy and Gravy without drippings. A roast made gravy naturally; rationing taught cooks to construct it when the roast, and often the meat, was absent. That distinction survived long after the coupons were gone.