Thread: Gravy

What's the proper way to cook gravy? On Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares I saw him make a vegetable broth, which was then stained and mixed with something else.

How much water and starch should one add to roast dripping?

Au Jus? Mushroom? Peppercorn? Chicken gravy (good one over-baked french fries)?

^ Starch? NEVER. (It just congeals into goop.) I had a gravy wars thread on TV that was going well until I got banned. Sigh. Maybe it was because I called makers of gravy who use Bisto poofie hooligan short order cooks. Or something to that effect.
You can make gravy out of any meat, be it roasted, braised or pan-fried.
Cook the meat and then slap the roaster, pot or pan on the stove over pretty high heat so it's bubbling. Sprinkle FLOUR into the drippings to make a "roux". You have to stir constantly with a fork to ensure it doesn't go lumpy; alternatively, you can mix flour with COLD water and add it to the drippings in a slow steady stream while also stirring constantly. I never measure, Hootad, but start with a few tablespoons of flour for a roast or a turkey. If there are lots of drippings, add a bit more. Brown the flour (a few minutes or five) and then add some HOT water or broth and keep stirring. If you boiled potatoes, always use that HOT water for the broth. Stir, stir, stir is the key factor. If it's too thin, cook it longer; if it's too thick, add more HOT liquid. Taste and add salt and pepper accordingly.
You can also make milk gravy, but I reckon you need a gravy for your Canadian Thanksgiving dinner this Sunday. Use the spud water. Get somebody to keep stirring the gravy while you serve up everything else.
Always save the leftover gravy; add cut up meat, boil gently and pour over bread or mashed spuds. Yummy.

What Jet said, but you also need to roast some onions and whole garlic cloves along with the meat in the bottom of the pan. When you mash them up after the meat's done, they give extra ooomph and a richer brown colour to the gravy.

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or something to that effect.

Here you go...

Come off that shit Marmers,, You only use that shit if you are short of dog food and need some additive for the pooch.

^ I rarely cook at home, so I never even have gravy.

I must admit to using it back in the UK, but I didn't have time to fuck about making proper gravy.

No sweat on Proper gravy,, 2 tablespoons of Bacon grease in a pan, heat it, add 2 spoons of flour, make sure it is not to dry, if it is add more grease, when the grease is soaked into the flour but still mostly fluid, salt and pepper and cook and stir for a few minutes, I don't like the flour burnt or to brown, add a pint of milk, stir all the while, it will start to thicken, add more milk a little at a time, or water which ever you want, keep stirring and it will thicken, when it is the thickness to suit you, lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes, scoop it on some mashed spuds or a Bisquit, not a fukin cookie, but a bisquit of a slice of bread and eat it.
and I like to add some onion and brown with the meat, and add some frozen peas to it and then the 5 min cook..

Can cook some hamburger or sausage and add the flour to that and make the gravy,, and that is really cool for supper on bisquits,[not cookies] or breakfast.

Thanks all for the recipes! I will certainly try them. Gravy is a pleasant memory from childhood (my mother still has the original silver gravy-server-thingy - what's the name?) and lately I often cook roast chicken and mashed potatoes or oven-roasted chips or even rice, I've found that something's missing and that's gravy. But the packaged stuff is awful and can ruin a meal.

I'm soon going to cook believe it or not my first roast beef soon and I want to do it with roast potatoes. Now that I've got some gravy recipes how does one do roast potatoes so they come out as golden wedges crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside?

And any ideas on the best way to do a roast so it's almost black and crunchy on the outside and medium-rare on the inside?

Cheers!

I'm getting hungry just thinking about it... (next: yorkshire pudding! yeah!)

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Canadian Thanksgiving dinner this Sunday. Use the spud water.

True enough. I like the spud water idea.

^ Gravy boat.

Roast Beef. Wow. So many recipes. Get a 5lb rump or sirloin roast. You can sear it in olive oil on the stove top first for extra crispy. But, we often dust the roast with onion soup mix and add a bit of water to the pan. Cover for the first half hour. But we usually cook it at about 350F -- maybe there's one for higher heat so you can cook the spuds and pudding at the same time.

Roasted Potatoes
Preheat oven to 450F
peel some big white skinned spuds. About one per person and then a couple more
Cut into four, golf ball size
Put in pot and fill with cold water about half inch above the spuds, add salt
Bring the potatoes to a boil and cook about 10 minutes
Drain water to a separate pan for your meat gravy
Put a shallow pan coated with drippings or olive oil into the oven while you shake the spuds in a colander or scrape them with a fork to get a rough edge. Sprinkle with salt, and bung in the hot pan for one hour; turn them at the half-hour stage to get them crispy on all sides.

Yorkshire pud: so many recipes, too. The key tho is to put some drippings or olive oil in each well in a muffin tin, put in the oven when the spuds have been in about 20 minutes for about ten minutes until the muffin pan is really hot. (Turn your spuds first, then take the pudding pan out.) Then add the pud batter, slide in the oven and do not peek (they will fall if you do). About 30 minutes to crispy golden.

^ Cookbook classic that one.

Hootad, I forgot to mention you can buy flour shakers in Safeway's or whatever supermarket. They've got a twist top with a shaker part and a spoon out part (like spices or dry mustard containers). I think Robin Hood brand makes one. Much easier to use and less wasteful, especially as I believe you don't make cookies, cakes or bread that often.

Tried your recipe, worked great! Thanks.

You're right, cornstarch creates goop.

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

^ Starch? NEVER. (It just congeals into goop.) I had a gravy wars thread on TV that was going well until I got banned. Sigh. Maybe it was because I called makers of gravy who use Bisto poofie hooligan short order cooks. Or something to that effect.
You can make gravy out of any meat, be it roasted, braised or pan-fried.
Cook the meat and then slap the roaster, pot or pan on the stove over pretty high heat so it's bubbling. Sprinkle FLOUR into the drippings to make a "roux". You have to stir constantly with a fork to ensure it doesn't go lumpy; alternatively, you can mix flour with COLD water and add it to the drippings in a slow steady stream while also stirring constantly. I never measure, Hootad, but start with a few tablespoons of flour for a roast or a turkey. If there are lots of drippings, add a bit more. Brown the flour (a few minutes or five) and then add some HOT water or broth and keep stirring. If you boiled potatoes, always use that HOT water for the broth. Stir, stir, stir is the key factor. If it's too thin, cook it longer; if it's too thick, add more HOT liquid. Taste and add salt and pepper accordingly.
You can also make milk gravy, but I reckon you need a gravy for your Canadian Thanksgiving dinner this Sunday. Use the spud water. Get somebody to keep stirring the gravy while you serve up everything else.
Always save the leftover gravy; add cut up meat, boil gently and pour over bread or mashed spuds. Yummy.

You got banned over the freaking gravy thread?
So much evil doing, vile abuse and injustice in the world and you get yourself banned over the gravy thread?
Tell me why I'm not surprised.
No potato water in the gravy for me, A little off the carrots, a little off the beans.

^ Nah, I got banned for questioning p1p's intelligence in Bedlam. My gravy war thread was good, I thought. But, even had some wanklette on there questioning the importance of a gravy thread when there are people killing each other in wars. Fek, read the forum heading, moron.

Potato water adds natural thickening to the gravy. Of course veg water is good, too. You want to start fisticuffs already, Shifter?

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

^ Nah, I got banned for questioning p1p's intelligence in Bedlam. My gravy war thread was good, I thought. But, even had some wanklette on there questioning the importance of a gravy thread when there are people killing each other in wars. Fek, read the forum heading, moron.

Potato water adds natural thickening to the gravy. Of course veg water is good, too. You want to start fisticuffs already, Shifter?

Sceadugenga grovels obligingly, wagging tail.
Never fisticuffs with you Jet, a little animated discussion is always welcome though.

There ain't enough starch in potato water to thicken anything, if there was it would already be thick,, and besides that you told HB not to use corn starch as it made goop, and now you say to add starch,It's good, jesus woman make up your mind.

But the turkey breast I roasted a couple days ago sure as hell made some fine gravy,, great on mashed taters and on the Hot Turkey dinner samiches the next day.

^ Don't get me started, BG. Potato starch ain't nothing like corn starch, you dumpling. It adds flavour. You gotta add flour to the sizzling drippings to get the thickening. The spud and veg water adds more flavour and consistency.
Rolling pins at dawn?

What ever you say darlin,, just pulling your chain a tad.

^ Wanklamonger. I'm gonna make noodle soup now. And I have other fish to fry.

Fried fish noodle soup, I don't think I would like that, but I did make turkey veg. soup today too from the carcass and it is always good.

sometimes chop up a couple of ribeye steaks[thats the only beef I have] and make a nice beef based soup, veg or noodle, and some times braise some and have like tips and noodles, which I have to make as they have no egg noodles in this country.
Will try to find some pearl barley when I next go to CM.

^ hehehe. You inviting me for dinner since you missed the metaphor, BG?
K, I made veg noodle soup with chick stock broth (carrots, celery, onion, butternut squash, then precooked noodles, and then fresh parsley and then some soya sauce). And then I made stir-fried prawns in butter, garlic and chives. And then I fed my Sis and had a glass of wine, cleaned her living room windows betweens Viking-Cowboy plays (love those Cowboys), played fetch outside with the dog in the rain, cleaned the floors, washed the dishes, and then feked off in the rain to donate some books to the library and come home. Then my landlady was pulling out and we went to catholic church together. Something about a bothersome widow in the Luke chapters, then they filed up to get bread and wine, and then everybody shook each others hands and tried to HUG me, And then they sang Hymns 606 and 616. I gave five bucks. Cheaper than a Dylan concert.

So, no one got layed,, damn hell of a sunday.

^ Ya, I didn't see even one looker at church. And do you know, they don't even dress up to attend service anymore? Blasphemy, I say. Or maybe sacrilege? And I got the sniffles this morning. Probably infected by one of those folks who tried to breathe on me.

Lom, soup pans for oil changes on your bike? Now that is sacrilege. What if you got food bits in the engine?

For the record, I can endorse Jet's gravy recipe!