The encyclopaedia of gravy
The full method for roast-dinner gravy made from the juices in the tin, with a vegetable trivet, a wine deglaze and a strained finish.
Good roast gravy starts before the meat does. If you set the joint on a bed of vegetables, use a tin that fits it snugly, and resist the urge to add water part-way through, you will finish the roast with a tin full of concentrated flavour rather than a pale puddle.
Before the meat goes in¶
Build a trivet in the roasting tin: one onion in thick slices, one carrot, one celery stick, a few garlic cloves in their skins and a couple of bay leaves. Sit the joint directly on top. The vegetables lift the meat out of its own fat, roast and caramelise underneath it, and go into the gravy later.
Choose a tin that fits the joint with a couple of centimetres to spare. In too large a tin the juices spread thin and burn; in too small a tin the meat steams.
⚠️ Don't add water during roasting
It is tempting when the tin looks dry, but it dissolves the fond you are trying to build and steams the meat. If the tin is genuinely catching, turn the oven down 10 °C.
Ingredients¶
Serves 6 · 15 minutes once the meat is out
- The roasting tin, with its trivet vegetables and juices
- 2–3 tbsp of the fat from the tin
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 150 ml red or white wine (matched to the meat), or extra stock
- 600–700 ml hot stock
- The juices that collect under the resting meat
- Salt, pepper, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce
Method¶
- Lift the meat out onto a warm board or plate and cover it loosely with foil. It must rest — 25 minutes for a chicken, 30–45 for a large joint. Everything below happens while it does.
- Deal with the fat. Tilt the tin. The clear fat floats above the dark juices. Spoon the fat off into a bowl (keep it — it is dripping, and it roasts the best potatoes you will ever eat), leaving about 2 tbsp behind along with all of the dark liquid.
- Squash the vegetables into the tin with a fork or masher. They have absorbed juice and will give it back.
- Cook the flour. Set the tin across one or two hob rings on a medium-low heat. Scatter over the flour and stir it into the fat and vegetables for 2 minutes.
- Deglaze. Pour in the wine and scrape the base of the tin hard with a wooden spoon. Every dark patch should lift. Let the wine bubble down by about half.
- Add the stock gradually, a ladleful at a time, stirring smooth. Hot stock is easier than cold.
- Simmer for 10 minutes. This cooks out the flour and concentrates the flavour.
- Add the resting juices from the board — this is the most concentrated liquid in the kitchen and it goes in at the end so it is not boiled away.
- Strain through a sieve into a warm jug, pressing the vegetables firmly to extract everything. Taste, then season.
Timing it around everything else¶
| When | Do this |
|---|---|
| Meat comes out | Start the gravy; put potatoes back in to crisp |
| +5 min | Flour cooked, deglazed, stock going in |
| +10 min | Gravy simmering; Yorkshire puddings in the oven |
| +15 min | Strain, season, pour into a warmed jug |
| +20–25 min | Carve, plate, serve |
💡 Chef's tip
Warm the jug with boiling water first. A cold gravy boat drops the temperature by ten degrees before the gravy reaches the table — see keeping gravy warm.