The encyclopaedia of gravy
Pie gravy is the sauce inside a meat pie. It keeps the filling moist and carries the flavour, and it is made thicker than pouring gravy because it has to stay inside the pastry.
Every meat pie contains gravy, and in most of them it is doing more work than the meat. It keeps the filling from drying out under an hour in the oven, it carries the seasoning into every forkful, and it is the thing that distinguishes a good pie from a dry one.
Pie gravy is a distinct kind of gravy with distinct requirements, and treating it like the stuff in the jug is the commonest reason home pies disappoint.
What it has to do¶
Stay inside the pastry. A pouring gravy runs out of a cut pie and floods the plate. Pie gravy has to hold a wall when the crust is broken, then relax.
Survive the oven. It goes in cold and spends an hour at 200 °C. It must not boil out of the seams or reduce to paste.
Moisten without sogging. Enough liquid to keep lean braised meat succulent, not so much that the base goes grey and wet.
Taste of the filling. Good pie gravy is the braising liquid, thickened — not a gravy made separately and poured over raw meat. That distinction is the whole game; see gravy pies.
Pie gravy versus ordinary gravy¶
| Pouring gravy | Pie gravy | |
|---|---|---|
| Consistency | Coats a spoon, runs off | Mounds on a spoon, holds a wall |
| Flour | ~30 g per 500 ml | 40–50 g per 500 ml |
| Made from | Roasting-tin juices and stock | The liquid the filling braised in |
| Reduction | Moderate | Heavy — concentrated before thickening |
| Seasoning | Season at the end | Season slightly under; it concentrates further in the oven |
| Temperature when used | As hot as possible | Completely cold |
| Typical additions | Wine, Worcestershire, herbs | Ale, stout, mushrooms, onions, kidney, worcestershire sauce |
The gelatin matters more here than in a jug of gravy. A filling braised from shin, chuck or oxtail releases enough gelatin that the cold filling sets almost solid — which is exactly what you want going into pastry, and it loosens again in the oven.
The right consistency¶
A pie gravy should be thick enough to coat the filling and stay contained when the pie is cut, while still being fluid enough that the filling never dries out.
In practice: when cold, the filling should be spoonable but not pourable, holding its shape in a mound. It will always be looser in the oven than it looks in the bowl — see pie gravy in the oven.
If the cold filling pours, it will leak. If you can stand a spoon in it, the pie will be dry.
Inside, beside, or over the top?¶
A genuine and cheerfully argued distinction.
| Approach | Where you meet it |
|---|---|
| Gravy inside only | A proper hand-raised or shortcrust pie, eaten in the hand |
| Gravy inside, more beside | The Sunday pub pie, with a jug on the side |
| Gravy poured over the top | Chip-shop pie, chips and gravy — see chip-shop gravy |
| Gravy over and a jug | The maximalist position, and hard to argue against |
| No gravy at all over | Australian pies, which get tomato sauce instead |
The one firm rule is that the two gravies are not the same gravy. The gravy inside should be thick; the gravy poured over should be thin. Making one batch and using it for both gives you a pie that leaks and a plate with a lump on it.
Classic combinations¶
| Pie | The gravy in it |
|---|---|
| Steak and ale | Beef stock, ale, onion |
| Steak and kidney | Beef gravy sharpened with worcestershire sauce |
| Chicken | Chicken stock, cream, herbs |
| Beef and onion | Rich onion gravy |
| Mushroom | Mushroom stock, or a cream gravy |
| Game | Rich stock with red wine or port |
| Meat and potato | Beef stock, thin enough for the potato to drink |
Each is covered in gravy pies.