The encyclopaedia of gravy
A pie needs a thick gravy inside to hold the filling and a thinner one outside to pour over. Getting the two the same way round is a common mistake.
Two gravies, two jobs¶
Inside the pie, the gravy is structural. It has to hold the filling together when cut, and it will thin as it heats in the oven. Make it noticeably thicker than you would pour — 40–50 g flour per 500 ml — and cool it completely before it goes into the pastry case. Hot filling makes soggy pastry.
Beside the pie, the gravy is a sauce. Thin, pourable, plenty of it.
The mistake is making one gravy and using it for both: too thin inside and the pie collapses; too thick outside and it sits on the crust in a lump.
Which gravy for which pie¶
| Pie | Gravy |
|---|---|
| Steak, or steak and ale | Dark beef gravy or stout onion gravy |
| Chicken and mushroom | Creamy chicken gravy or a velouté |
| Minced beef and onion | Onion gravy, generously |
| Pork pie | None. Do not pour gravy on a pork pie |
| Cottage or shepherd's pie | Gravy is in it, and more beside |
| Chip-shop pie | Chip-shop gravy, over both pie and chips |
Making the filling gravy¶
Braise the meat first, then thicken the braising liquid — do not make a separate gravy and pour it over raw filling. The braising liquid already tastes of the meat; a separate gravy tastes of stock. Cool it completely before it meets pastry.
The full method, pie by pie, is in gravy pies, and what happens to it once the pie is in the oven is in pie gravy in the oven.
Pie, chips and gravy¶
The chip-shop trinity. The gravy goes over everything, the pie is usually a mass-produced steak or meat-and-potato one, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. See chip-shop gravy.