Making gravy when you haven't had a roast. How?

recovering_spendaholic

I sometimes make gravy when I haven't got meat juices and I use a little flour and oil or marg to make a roux. I make up a pint of stock with Kallo cubes (chicken or beef depending on what I am having it with) and dissolve about a half inch cube of Comptons gravy salt in the stock. I whisk the stock into the roux and you get lovely meaty gravy with no nasties in it. Comptons gravy salt is just caramel and salt and Kallo cubes have no MSG or hydrogenated fats in them. If I want onion, or onion and mushroom gravy I just saute the onions and/or mushrooms in the fat before I add the flour and proceed as above.

[Deleted User]

Where can you buy the Comptons gravy salt?

recovering_spendaholic

Deleted_User wrote:

Where can you buy the Comptons gravy salt?

You can get it in my Tesco's and lots of little shops sell it too, also some butchers. It's pretty easy to get hold of - it's always by the stock cubes and gravy mixes. It's really cheap too!

Badgergal

Morrisons do it too

Chucksmum

Best way for 3 people is, 1 tbls Bisto with 1 dstsp vegetable stock granules mixed with 5 Tbls of cold water, fill jug to desired quantity with veg or plain water, bung in microwave to boil and voila!

chorlton

Bit of effort required but well worth it - I make a big batch of this and freeze it. Needs a good whisk to get it smooth when you reheat.

Chop 2 x red onions, mix with 2tbs veg oil and 2 tsp sugar, spread on a flat tray and roast at about 200C until caramelised. (stir round a couple of times - I have never tried but don't see why you shouldn't get same result if you caramelise in a pan)

Tip onions into a saucepan, add about 2tbs flour and mix up over low heat into a gooey mess (you might need to add a bit more oil)
Add 1.5 to 2 pints of veg stock (Marigold Vegetable Bouillon is best by miles!)
Stir like mad to avoid getting lumps!
Add
1 or 2 tsp of Mustard (I use french)
1 or 2 tbs of brown sauce
Pepper to taste (i don't add salt but you might want to)

and voila delicious gravy - adjust flavouring quantities to your own taste and if you want it thicker boil it a bit to reduce it this time, and next time add more flour or less stock!

Horasio

belleooo wrote:

Juices from the vegetables that have been simmering away and Bisto (proper Bisto gravy salts in the box, remember to mix a bit with some water to form a paste before adding it to the juices). Or, never tried this before, an Oxo with the Bisto. Proper Bisto is an essential item in anyones kitchen cupboard. And yes, you can freeze homemade gravy. Remember to drain any fats if using meat juices.

I wish they would make gravy mixes without the MSG - my husband has an allergy to it and it is a cheap way of adding flavour. I can tolerate it but it does have an odd after taste. We used to use Tesco gravy granules, then they added MSG to it. I didn't like the taste and my husband refused to have it.

We have to make ours from scratch. To my basic Bisto gravy, made up by making a paste with cold water added to boiling water (even better with boiling veg water as the OP says), I add bouquet garni, a shot of port and a tsp of cranberry jelly, mix till melted. Very natural and smells divine

sarahs999

I suspect you were looking for something other than instant gravy!
I'm a veggie and make onion gravy all the time. Try this - it sounds like a good one:
http://www.jill.net/recipes/recipes/browned_onion_gravy.html

kittiwoz

I used to be veggie and make Rose Elliot's veggie version of gravy. Basically you fry some onion and garlic in a tbsp butter over a low heat til the butter is nut brown. Then you stir in a tbsp flour and gradually add in water, just like making a white sauce. Add in whatever flavourings you want. I add a bayleaf, some marmite, mustard and pepper, a splosh of red wine is a very good addition too. Let it simmer for 10 mins to absorb the flavours. You can freeze that fine.

I used to buy veggie mince cornish pasties and quorn and mushroom pies and I would just make up a cupful vegetable bouillon to slosh over them. It is tasty but very thin so only suitable for things likes pies, or maybe yorkies that will soak it up. You probably could freeze it but there'd really be no point since it is only a case of putting a tspn of bouillon powder in a mug and topping up from the kettle.

Also you sould think about alternate sauces and condiments you could serve instead of gravy such as mustard, mint sauce, apple sauce, cumberland sauce, and bread sauce. In opposition to the bouillon non of these are any good for soaking your spuds or yorkshire pud but they make good accompaniments to meat. Maybe serving up something like this for the meat and also some bouillon (which is basically just vegtable stock) for the spuds/yorkies would be a good idea.

Mirtos

I can't stand instant grazy - isn't it just water, salt and colouring? Yuck! From scratch every time for me - make a roux with meat juices or butter/olive oil and flour. Add vegetable water (or plain water if no veggies!) stock (or oxo cubes - I use 4 to the pint to make it tasty) a good glug of wine, a spoon of honey and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce. You can also add things like redcurrant jelly, cranberry sauce, horseradish, mustard, mint sauce etc.. to gravy to make it extra tasty - just plop in a dollop and stir in. Hope that helps - typing in a hurry!