gravy sauces

2016-03-21 a.o.

Gravy is sauce made from cooking drippings that are thickened with flour. The base liquid can be any kind of meat, fish or vegetable stock, or even milk. The diluted drippings of a roast, the cooking liquid from a stew or soup all make an excellent base for gravy, because they will impart the flavor of the main dish to the sauce. Nothing enhances a meal better than a nice gravy from that very same meal.

There are several ways to make gravy, but the end result looks and tastes pretty much the same regardless how you made it.

The 2 main problems with gravy are lumps of flour and too much flour or excessive flour taste. That can be prevented by proper technique. Starting with a roux reduces that risk.

Remember:

The more ingredients you add, the less of the original flavor there will be in the sauce.
Sometimes simple is best. Sometimes it’s not.
When adding flour to liquids, (methods 2 and 3) go slowly and taste occasionally.
Flour can sometimes overpower the base flavor even before it thickens the liquid.
That is imo especially unpleasant with tomato soup or sauce.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 1 quart:

2 tbsp. butter (or oil or other fat)
2 tbsp. flour
1 qt. of your base liquid
S&P, other spices
Vegetables as desired

Pic1: beef gravy

Directions

1. Velouté (or béchamel when using milk for the base)

Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
Whisk in the flour until a smooth paste forms + simmer. This helps to destroy the flour taste.
For white sauces, simmer but do not allow to brown. Add some liquid to prevent browning.
For other sauces, simmer for a few minutes until the mixture turns golden to dark brown.
Remove from the heat.
Adding hot liquid to an even hotter dough may cause a steam explosion.
I've seen half the content of a pot blown to the ceiling that way.
Whisk in a small amount of HOT liquid.
The mixture will thicken very quickly.
Whisk in more liquid.
Bring back to a boil until the mixture thickens again.
Repeat adding small amounts of warm liquid until desired thickness is obtained.

2. Beurre manié / oil dough

Knead equal amounts of butter / olive oil and flour into a smooth paste without lumps
Bring the base liquid to a boil.
Whisk small lumps of the paste into the liquid until it thickens to the desired consistency.
Oil dough gives the sauce a glossy shine.

3. Flour dissolved in water, no added fat.

This third method is especially useful when there is already a good amount of fat floating on your base liquid and you don’t want to add more. However, it works just as good when there is no fat.
It is in my experience also the method that is most likely to cause lumps or dumping.
Heat your base liquid to boiling.
For meat drippings, you may have to add some liquid to deglaze first.
Dissolve flour in a glass of cold water.
Slowly pour a small amount of the dissolved flour in the sauce while whisking continuously.
Keep the sauce boiling, otherwise it won’t thicken.
Little by little add more flour until the liquid starts thickening.
PROBLEMS:
- The flour wasn't fully dissolved = flour lumps in the sauce.
- Dumping too much too fast risks thickening too much, most likely also with flour lumps.

4. Thicken with an egg

Instead of flour, whisk a beaten egg into the sauce to thicken it.
Add luke-warm milk or water before adding to reduce strings or lumps.

Pic2: beef roast
Pic3: drippings
Pic4: add water, boil

Pic5: flour
Pic6: dissolve in cold water
Pic7: gravy

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more and avemariasongs.org

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more
and avemariasongs.org