Seasoned Gravy Makers

OverRated

I fear I my have bitten off more than I can chew. I have managed to get to 27 years of age without making beef gravy. Today I roasted the joint so have a nice little half-pan (think milk pan size) of beef fat/juice. What on earth do I do with it now??? I had visions of boiling it with 2 x beef stock cubes then adding a cornflour and water mix but mum says I shouldn't use all the fat for 2 peoples worth of gravy :eek: What quantities do I need to make gravy? Apologies in advance for being useless in the kitchen

good_advice

I have got to a lot older and I use Bisto and boiling water.

Buellguy

pour off as much of the fat as you can, place on stove add a tablespoon of flour, stir in, I add splash of worcestershire sauce, splash of soy sauce salt and pepper to taste, water to desired thickness cook out for 10 mins or so (to get rid of raw flour taste). That's it

whodathunkit

Take off as much fat as possible, add your cornflour and water mix/stock cubes and put it all back in the roasting tin. As it comes to the boil, scrape all the bits left in the pan into it and add any juice from the joint when you carve it. Boil for a couple of minutes, season and strain.

McKneff

You must boil it for a few minutes though, otherwise the cornflour or flour wont be cooked and it tastes blummin awful.


I have to admit, its usually gravy granules in my house, plus the meat juices.

OverRated

Thanks all. When you say take off as much of the fat as possible - do I not put the fat in the gravy?? Sorry if its a silly question x

peachyprice

No, no fat goes in the gravy, just the juice. If you put your juice.fat in the fridge the fat will solidify on the top and will be easy to remove, you then use the jelly stuff underneath, it will turn to liquid when you warm it up.

Ideally you would have made the gravy in the roasting pan after you removed the beef. You then deglaze the pan to get all the tastiness off by either making a roux with flour or bringing it to the boil with water/stock to get the tasty bits off.

When I do a roast I put all the vegetable trimmings in a saucepan to make a vegetable stock, then use that instead of water, you don't need stock cubes if you do that.

The same method works for any meat. I have't bought gravy granules for years, once you start making real gravy you won't want to go back!

tanith

A lot of the flavor is actually in the fat I always leave some of the fat in the pan if I am making a 'never mind the calories roast'. Always use the veg water ,no stock cubes deglaze the pan and use cornflour to thicken.

OverRated

Thanks everyone - I will have a go and let you know how I get on

PasturesNew

If you ever do this again .... there are even special fat removing jugs you can get that have a spout at the bottom, so you can pour the gravy from the bottom. About £5 on ebay, although posher varieties are available

http://www.prestige.co.uk/day-twenty-99884mo-gravy-separator-and-measuring-jug.html

sillysid

Here's my version if any use.

Skim off surface fat, if any, usually loads with chicken/lamb/turkey but little with beef. Heat up, taste, usually mine tastes quite salty, (think as i salt the surface of meat pre-cooking and this runs into the juices) so no need for additional stock cubes, rather one part juices to 2 parts boiling water, once boiling, add half a glass of wine, red or white, and a teasp brown sugar, boil again for couple of mins to burn off alcohol, then thicken with bisto gravy granules...I prefer bisto to flour/cornflour. Easy-peasy.