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

ifonlyitwaseasier

no shame in bisto! i use it for convenience as never had the big joint to cook and use the juices from (catering for two)

my fave gravy if the powder (not granules) mixed with a little water to make a paste, add to a pan of veg cooking water (to keep the nutrients!) and stir constantly, i add worcestershire (sp?) sauce and hp brown sauce as well, this is my grandma's gravy way.

davetrousers

Many Gravies, including Bisto and OXO contain Monosodium Glutamate. If you're concerned about it.

Pink.

Hi RuthieB.

There's an earlier thread with lots of recipes for making gravy without meat that should help so I've added your thread to it to keep the replies together.

If you have meat this thread has more recipes:

Decent gravy please.

Pink

Chuzzle

Thanks Pink, couldn't find it for toffee!!

Reverbe

I hate gravy but thought that was what oxos were for?

juliapenguin

Don't all jump on me about the salt content.... but I make up Bisto Best Roast Beef gravy granules using the veg water, then add Knorr chicken stock powder bit by bit until I have just the right taste. It sounds horrible, I know, and it does contain all sorts of terrible things, but I generally don't eat much prepared food, or crisps or salted nuts, and this gravy is a good substitute for 'real' gravy.

stokefan

quickly???

i have used granuals but there not the same as good homemade gravy.

i dont roast meat or anything like that, so i was wondering if anyone had any recipes for acceptable gravy to put on my veg or chips etc (versitile stuff )

thanks in advance

ChapelGirl

In my experience, there is no such thing as acceptable quick gravy!

Every time you buy a joint on the bone stick the leftover bones in a stock pot. Alternatively, if you have a local butcher or supermarket counter that knows you, ask them to save you some bones. The best ones are the thigh bones, as they have lots of tasty marrow in them. You can always pretend you have a dog! If you end up with a bone which is too long to go in a stock pot (as sometimes happens) you can cut it with a clean hacksaw.

For a brown stock the best thing is to roast the bones first in a roasting tin in the oven, as this caremelises the juices and melts the marrow. To save energy you could try to time it so that your delivery of stock bones co-incides with an oven dish you were going to make anyway, or vice-versa. Remember to de-glaze the roasting tin, which basically means you boil up the kettle and use the hot water and a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the tin and into your jug of stock. These are the best and tastiest bits.

But if you cannot do this you can still make an acceptable stock with the raw bones.

You need to do what they call "investment cooking", which basically means you need to make a good stock or 3, which you then cool and freeze, ready for when you need sauce or gravy. Label them well, because one stock looks and smells exactly like another once it is frozen.

For brown meat stock you need as a minumum beef or veal bones, onions, onion skins, a stick of celery, a carrot, and the top of a leek (the bit you would probably normally throw away). Although you do need to wash your veg. you don't need to be super careful about peeling the carrot or making sure the leek leaves have no tough bits or specks of grit on them because you are going to strain the stock afterwards anyway. Ideally also a bouquet garni, which is bay leaves, thyme and maybe a bit of sage. Add all this to a big pan with 3 or 4 pints of water to cover the bones and simmer for several hours until the goodness from the bones is in the water. Strain. You can reduce the liquid down to make it more concentrated if you want. Cool, divide into portions and freeze.

Duck or chicken stock can be brown and cooked as above but with a chicken carcasse and the skin, wing tips etc., or white, with the carcasse cooked from raw and minus the onion skins.

Fish - white fish frames. These are the heads and skeletons left behind when they fillet the turbot , plaice, dabs, flounders, halibut etc. Do not roast, but use raw. Salmon heads and bones are OK to make a salmon stock but oily fish bones such as mackerel and herring are no good for stock. If you are dead lucky you will have a local fishmonger. If you are just lucky you will have a supermarket fish counter who doesn't look at you as if you were an alien when you talk about fish frames. If you buy a white fish on the bone for goodness sake don't put the bones in the bin but make stock from them.
Recipe as per chicken.

If you freeze in portions for however many are in your household all you have to do is to remember to defrost the stock in time for the meal. If you leave it a bit late you could always microwave defrost it, put the container in a bowl of hot water or tip the ice cube straight into a smal saucepan, but this might give you a less pleasing result.

For "gravy" you might need to thicken with a beurre manie, which is a teaspoon of flour well-mixed into a knob or 2 of butter, and stirred in. Don't overdo the flour, and make sure you cook it well to get rid of the flour" taste.

For a fish or chicken sauce I would add a tablespoon of creme fraiche or double cream. Make sure the stock is not boiling when you add the cream or it might curdle.

Chicken stock can be used for pork chops etc. too, and I have even used it in a sauce for salmon before now and it worked fine.

Salmon is excellent with a sauce made of fish stock, chopped sorrel leaves and cream. Chicken is transformed by a sauce of chicken stock with chopped French tarragon, and a dash of cream at the end. A brown meat stock will make a good gravy for beef or lamb.

Always add salt at the very end or it might end up too salty, as you will be boiling off water all the time the stock is cooking.

Add pepper, salt etc. to taste before serving.

Generali

stokefan wrote: »

quickly???

i have used granuals but there not the same as good homemade gravy.

i dont roast meat or anything like that, so i was wondering if anyone had any recipes for acceptable gravy to put on my veg or chips etc (versitile stuff )

thanks in advance

It is better to use home made stock but otherwise, this is my quick(ish) onion gravy, basically nicked from Delia.

Peel an onion, cut it in half and cut each half into 3 slices. Toss the onion in veg oil and sprinkle over flour and a little salt and pepper. Bake in the oven until golden with some brown bits.

Put the onion in a pan with a large glass of wine and some stock (home made or from a cube or even just water) and bring to the boil, stirring all the time so it doesn't go lumpy. Simmer for a few minutes and you're ready to go.

bunny_too

Stokefan,

my son loves gravy over chips and toad in the hole.

The best recipe we have tried is from Saturday Kitchen by James Martin.I think you could find it on his web site. Here are the ingredients

1oz of butter
3 onions
5floz red wine
1 pint hot water
4 tablespoon gravy granules
1 teaspoon marmite
3/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon cornflour

I normally make up double so that i can freeze some.

Hope you like it as much as my son does.:j