How do you make proper gravy?

Evening all.

Picture the scene. It's sunday dinner time. A nice joint of beef has been cooking slowly for hours in the slow cooker and is now cooked to perfection. There is an inch of juice in the slow cooker, which is basically beef stock.

In the cupboard, there are the usual gravy granules but its such a shame to use them when there's all that juice from the beef. So you sieve the juice into a jug, add a small amount of cornflour to thicken it, and take a whisk to it. It doesn't thicken, keeping the consistency of water. You add more cornflour. Then more, no improvement. So you add gravy granules, 3 times as much as you'd use if you were just using granules and hot water, yet still it wont thicken. It just stays the consistency of water, but by now it is horrible anyway with loads of granules and cornflour just sort of in suspension in there, so you have to chuck the lot, and make instant gravy instead.

So how do I make proper beef gravy? Mine just wont thicken up.

 

I sautee some onions in an old iron frying pan just enough to leave a "deposit" on the pan. Remove from the pan and put in the strainer, turn the heat up on the pan and add some red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan all the time. Strain the cooking juices through the strainer, gently squeezing the onions with the back of a spoon to get as much juices out as you can without pushing them through. Either thicken by reducing with heat, or mix a heaped teaspoon of cornflower with a little cold water and slowly pour this into the simmering gravy (stirring all the time). Stop pouring when it reaches the desired thickness - not when the mixture is all gone! You may wish to add a drop or two of gravy browning for colour too.

 

dont use corn flour to thicken use plain flour

add a little water to 2 tablespoons of plain flour mix well so not to have lumps in then bring your stock to a boil then add your flour mix make sure that you stir all the time return to soil then simmer for a two mins to cook though flour continue to stir throughout

red wine can be added for extra flavour, gravy browning for colour

 

The way my mother taught me:
Lift your meat out of the roasting tin, onto a hot dish, and put it somewhere warm to rest or cover with a tent of foil.pour off most of the fat, leaving about 2 tablespoons,plus cooking juices. Add a tablespoon of plain flour to soak up the fat. Stir on the stove until bubbling, mind it doesn't burn. Add a stock cube, and some red wine if you have it. Thin down with water from cooking the veg so you use the vitamins. If you want, you can make it browner by cooking the flour/fat for longer. We never used gravy browning, and always had good dark gravy. For special meals, a slurp of port or Madeira/ Marsala goes down a treat. I think an onion put under the meat as it cooks helps make it brown also, as the onion care aliases a little.
My family have never liked the gloopy texture you get with corn flour gravy if we eat out.

 

I would go along with Ariadae, as this is pretty much how my mother makes it. I would just add that it's really important to stir the (plain, wheat) flour into the fat thoroughly, getting out all lumps at this stage, do this away from the heat. Then add the hot veg water slowly, stirring in thoroughly at each stage, again, take it off the heat while you do this. When this is all done, stir constantly as you bring it up to simmering point as if the flour starts to thicken unevenly you will get lumps appearing and the only way to get them out will be to liquidise it and that is a hassle. Also, we used to add gravy browning (but never Bisto) as a dark-coloured gravy seemed right, especially for beef.
I agree that cornflour gives too smooth a texture. My sister makes hers with chick pea flour (gram flour) and it has a slight graininess which I like - it's the only way she can get her kids to eat pulses as it's otherwise undetectable..

 

First, I am guessing that your cornflour is just like our regular white flour.

After a roast is done and there are juices to be used, I remove the meat to a bowl covering it with alumium foil and put back in oven to keep warn on low temp.

Then put the roasting pan on the stove, I put the heat under it and scrap up any good bits with a spoon or scraper. Then add red wine. Then take my small screw top jar, put some cold milk in it and flour, judging the amount needed from years of making gravey. Then lid the jar and shake like crazy, you will not get lumps this way. Then turn up the heat on the juices and slowly poor the milk flour in stirring at the same time. Check for salt, pepper. And that is my gravey.

Never use the cube ever.

 

I make mine this way

 

I always use granules as I don't have time to make the gravy from scratch but will have to get some of the new flavours to try out on Mr Kandy as he likes anything new

 

However you thicken the gravy you must add the thickener off the heat and then keep stirring over the heat. You originally said your juices were in a jug, I think it's the heat control which was your problem in the first place.

 

a teaspoon of Bovril ... the juices from the roast ... a bit of water (or water from veg that you have boiled or steamed) and a teaspoon of bisto... add a good dash of ground black pepper, and a knob of butter

boil till it thickens and strain

 

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. Is it that the thickener wont work if I add it when the juice is too hot? Ie, I have to let it cool, add thickener, then re-heat? I had thought maybe the heat is the cause but wasn't sure if it was too hot or too cold to thicken.

 

There mustn't be a big difference in heat between your thickener and the juices or it will end up lumpy. For a smooth gravy, or sauce, add the thickener slowly and keep stirring/blending so that it heats up to the same temperature gradually then once it's all incorporated increase the heat but keep stirring until it's the thickness you want. If it's too thin then you can increase the heat even more to reduce by evaporating off the excess water. Hope that helps.

 

Sorry, forgot to say, never add cornflour to a liquid without first of all slaking it (mixing with a little water). The more water you add to the cornflour when you slake it the thinner your gravy will be. For most people's taste slake it to the consistency of single cream with cold water. Let us all know how you get on

 

Thickener==cold stock or milk and some flour (amount of each depends on the amount of gravy to thicken). Put in small screw top jar, shake like crazy this will ensure no lumps. Get gravy into a rolling simmer. With one had slowing pooring the cold thickening jar stuff in a thin stream into the HOT gravy and the other hand stirring you continue. Then cook for at least one minute for the flour to cook. And it is done. I never have lumping gravy.
By the way you can thicken with rice flour, and corn starch. Corn starch is usually used to thicken up juices in Chinese cooking, they prefer that flavor than the flavor flour gives off.