Anne Morgan Unlike gravy from a packet, Delia Smith’s gravy is made in the roasting tin from the juices the joint leaves behind, with just a tablespoon or so of its fat. A rounded tablespoon of plain flour goes in first, then hot vegetable water is whisked in until it thickens at a simmer. It takes about 10 minutes and makes roughly 570ml, enough for 6.
The fat has been shrinking from one of her books to the next. Her Complete Cookery Course (1983) leaves 2 to 3 tablespoons in the tin, the 1992 edition 1 to 2, and Delia’s How to Cook Book One (1998) brings it down to the amount on the card.
The 1998 book even traces the word itself to a copying slip in the 14th century, when the n of an old French word was misread as a v. Cubes, packets and granules get no such charm, as she can’t stand them.
What you get tastes of the roast, because the crusty bits stuck to the tin go into it, and the same idea makes Delia Smith’s turkey gravy at Christmas with giblet stock. The questions below cover her twists for beef, lamb and pork, and her chicken giblet gravy.
Delia Smith’s Proper Gravy
Course: SauceCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings2
minutes10
minutes45
kcalSmooth, savoury and full of roast flavour, from her Gravy Training chapter.
Ingredients
- For the gravy:
the juices left in the roasting tin from roast meat or poultry
1 rounded tablespoon plain flour
about 570ml (1 pint) hot stock, such as the water from cooking potatoes or other vegetables
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Directions
- Skim: Lift the meat or poultry out of the tin and tilt the tin, so the fat separates from the darker juices. Spoon the fat into a bowl until only 1 to 1½ tablespoons are left.
- Scrape: With a wooden spoon, scrape the base and sides of the tin to loosen all the crusty bits.
- Paste: Set the tin over a fairly low direct heat. When the fat and juices start to sizzle, add the flour and stir it in fast with brisk circular movements until you have a smooth paste.
- Add the stock: Pour in the hot stock a little at a time, whisking well after each addition. Turn the heat up to medium, and the gravy thickens as it comes up to a simmer.
- Adjust: If it’s too thin, let it bubble and reduce a little. If it’s too thick, add a splash more liquid.
- Serve: Taste, season with salt and pepper, and pour it into a warmed jug.
Notes
- You need a solid-based roasting tin that can go straight on the hob.
- If an onion roasted in the tin with the meat, leave it in while you make the gravy for colour and flavour, then strain the pieces out, as she does on her TV demonstration.
FAQs
What stock should I use for gravy?
The water you’ve just blanched or boiled the potatoes in is what she uses. On her BBC How to Cook programme she says any vegetable water will do, carrot included, but not parsnip, which is a bit too sweet.
Her Cookery Course adds meat or chicken giblet stock to the list. If all you have is boiling water, she perks it up with a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and a dessertspoon of mushroom ketchup.
How do I make beef gravy?
Add a wineglass of Sercial Madeira, her own tip for beef in How to Cook, which she says brings out the beef flavour. An onion roasted under the joint gives the juices a deeper colour too.
For a red wine gravy, her Christmas roast rib of beef in Delia’s Happy Christmas (2009) uses 1 heaped tablespoon of flour, 570ml of stock from potatoes or other vegetables and 300ml of full-bodied red wine, added once the gravy is bubbling.
What goes in gravy for lamb?
A teaspoon of mustard powder with the flour, a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly melted in and some red wine for body. All three are her own additions for lamb, on the same page as the card.
How do I make pork gravy with cider?
Pork juices are pale, so she roasts an onion in the tin to colour them. Her Christmas loin of pork then makes its gravy with 1 tablespoon of flour, 275ml of dry cider and 275ml of vegetable stock.
Her Cookery Course suggests dry cider as a much cheaper alternative to wine in gravy. Even a couple of tablespoons of wine, she says, really enrich the flavour.
How do I make chicken gravy?
With giblet stock, in The Delia Collection: Chicken. The giblets simmer for 2 hours in 850ml of water with a carrot, half an onion, herbs and peppercorns, and the stock is chilled so the fat lifts off.
The gravy then keeps about 2 tablespoons of fat in the tin and takes 2 rounded tablespoons of flour to the 850ml of stock, enough for 6 to 8 people with a Sunday roast chicken.
Why is my gravy lumpy?
Check the flour first. Her Cookery Course always uses plain, having found that self-raising tends to go lumpy, and the flour has to be worked into the fat quickly before any liquid goes in.
If you’ve poured in too much liquid, she boils it briskly for a minute or two to thicken it again. For a pale gravy, a few drops of gravy browning, which is only burnt sugar, give it colour.
Can I make gravy without meat juices?
Yes, with her instant gravy from the Complete Cookery Course. Melt 25g of dripping or lard, fry half a finely chopped onion in it on a high heat until really brown, stir in 25g of plain flour and whisk in 425ml of stock.
Simmer it for 5 minutes and season to taste, and it’s ready for sausages, chops or anything else that leaves no juices behind, though by 1998 she was sending readers to her roasted-onion gravy instead.
