The encyclopaedia of gravy
A guide to the British gravy-filled pies — steak and ale, steak and kidney, beef and onion, chicken, minced beef, meat and potato, game and mushroom — and the gravy each one wants.
The method below is the same for nearly all of them. What changes is the liquid, the aromatics and what goes in alongside the meat.
The universal method¶
- Brown the meat hard, in batches, in a heavy pan. Crowding steams it and you lose the fond that the gravy is built on.
- Soften onions in the same pan.
- Deglaze with ale, wine or stock, scraping everything up.
- Braise at a bare simmer for 2–3 hours until the meat is properly tender.
- Lift the meat out. Reduce the liquid hard, then thicken it with a beurre manié or a cornflour slurry to a consistency that mounds on a spoon.
- Return the meat. Cool completely — ideally overnight in the fridge.
- Fill the pastry and bake.
Step 6 is not optional. See pie gravy in the oven.
The pies¶
Steak and ale¶
The benchmark. Beef shin or chuck, browned, braised with onion and a dark ale, thyme and a bay leaf. Reduce the ale by half before the stock goes in or the gravy turns bitter — see beer in gravy. A pinch of sugar or a spoon of redcurrant jelly balances it.
Stout and porter give the deepest result; a hoppy IPA will make the whole pie bitter.
Steak and kidney¶
Beef with ox or lamb kidney, which brings a distinct mineral depth. Soak the kidney briefly and trim the core hard, as that is where the ammoniac edge lives. The gravy is a plain rich beef gravy, and almost always gets a good dash of worcestershire sauce.
Its close relative is steak and kidney pudding — the same filling in suet pastry, steamed rather than baked, which produces a far wetter, more gravy-heavy result.
Beef and onion¶
The simplest and, done well, among the best. A very large quantity of onions cooked down until they almost dissolve, so the gravy is thickened as much by onion purée as by flour — the same principle as onion gravy and, at a wholly different scale, BIR base gravy.
Minced beef¶
Faster, and the pie of school dinners and football grounds. Mince releases a lot of fat, so skim it before thickening — see straining and skimming gravy. It needs more seasoning than braised steak, because mince has less connective tissue and therefore less body.
Meat and potato¶
A northern English staple, and the one pie where the gravy is deliberately thinner. Diced potato goes in raw or part-cooked and drinks a surprising amount of liquid as it bakes, so a filling that looks slightly too wet going in comes out correct. See regional pie traditions.
Chicken¶
Chicken thigh, leek, and a stock-and-cream gravy — closer to a velouté than a brown gravy. Tarragon is the classic herb. See chicken gravy. Cream goes in at the end, off the heat, and the filling must be cold before it meets pastry or the cream can split under a hot oven.
Turkey¶
The Boxing Day pie. Leftover turkey, leftover turkey gravy, leftover ham if there is any. The gravy is already made, which makes this the easiest pie of the year; loosen it with stock if it has set too firmly in the fridge.
Game¶
Venison, pheasant, pigeon or a mixture, braised with red wine or port, juniper and thyme. The gravy is the richest of any pie, and needs the sweet-sharp balance that redcurrant jelly provides.
Cold raised game pies, set with jelly rather than gravy, are a different tradition altogether.
Mushroom¶
The best meat-free gravy pie, because mushrooms bring their own savoury depth. Brown them hard, use dried mushrooms and their soaking liquid, and finish with either a dark stock gravy or cream. See mushroom gravy and dried mushrooms.
Quantities¶
For a pie serving four to six: about 700–800 g of meat and 300–400 ml of finished gravy. Less gravy than that and it will be dry; much more and the pastry cannot contain it.