Let’s find out how to make gravy from roast juices? I have the best recipe for you!
Gravy is a staple for many cuisines and is a home cook’s favorite recipe. It’s not necessarily the healthiest choice, but definitely one of the tastiest!
And with moderate consumption, it’s absolutely a viable option in any balanced diet, especially ketogenic. But this amazing sauce is not just for meat; you can also add it to vegetables. A light plate of steamed veggies can be turned into a delish one with some gravy on top.
So if you’ve always been fond of some full-flavored gravy on your mashed potatoes but never got to know it more closely, what is really gravy?
Basically, it’s the juice from meats being cooked. Those tender roasts you have made have all provided amazing gravy, so it’s time to utilize them.
How long does it take to make gravy?
Making gravy is a very fast process, but the soul of it is the meat roasting.
Gravy requires collecting juices from roasted meat, which can take anywhere from 20 minutes to up to several hours, depending on the size and type of the meat you’re preparing. Creating the gravy from the meat juices takes 15-20 minutes maximum.
The easiest and fastest option is chicken because it needs the least amount of cooking time of all the meats while producing just as much gravy as the rest. Although the cooking time is faster, the taste is blander as well. If you want to make a strong and bold-tasting gravy, it’s best to use beef, pork, or duck, instead of chicken.
It’s hard to make gravy from roast juices?
Making gravy is one of the easiest sauces you can prepare, and one of the most delicious as well. All you have to do is collect the meat juice from your roast, allow it to sit for a while, and collect the fat sitting on the top.
Mix the juices with riddled flour and bring them to a boil. Some chefs suggest adding some stock to it as well, but that is optional. It can deepen the flavors, but you can make an excellent gravy without it!
The only pitfall known in making a smooth gravy is adding the flour in one bulk, and failing to mix it into an even consistency. That is why drizzling, and gradually stirring it in is a crucial step, so take your time.
How to Make Gravy From Roast Juices
Ingredients
- 1 cup Fresh meat juice of your choice
- 1 oz All-purpose flour
- 1 cup Stock (optional)
- 1 tbsp Meat fat
Instructions
- Start by collecting the juices of your fresh roast, be it chicken, beef, pork, or perhaps some other.
- For this recipe, you will need exactly 1 cup of juice.
- Let it rest for a while until the fats will collect on the top of it, and gently remove it with a spoon. This will create a clear base juice for the gravy. Also, if there are some pieces of spice in the meat juice, make sure to filter it through before resting it.
- Heat up the 1 tbsp of meat fat, and add it to the juice. The fat doesn’t necessarily have to be from the same meat as your roast was. The flavor won’t be noticeable in such a small quantity anyways.
- Pour the juice in a saucepan, and now it’s the time to ass the stock if you want to.
- If you decide to add some stock to the gravy, make sure to match the meat. It’s not terrible if, for example, the juice is from chicken, and the stock is from beef, but it’s better to match them.
- Heat them on medium for 5-10 minutes, and if you prefer to use the reduction method, instead of thickening with flour, just boil them on medium heat with stirring continuously until it reaches a perfect texture.
- If you prefer the flour method, slowly drizzle the flour into the heating mixture. Always stir it, because it can form bumps and lumps in your gravy. Stir it like you mean it all the way!
- Turn the heat to low, and simmer it for 5-10 minutes, until it’s smooth and shiny. Voila! Your gravy is ready to be served!
Tips and tricks for a better gravy
You can always substitute flour in almost every recipe. To make a flour-free gravy, you can use corn-starch, bamboo fiber, potato starch. Reduction is also a great technique that is used by top chefs to create condensed and strong-flavored recipes. Cooking the gravy until it reaches the perfect consistency is a perfect method, although, you will end up with way less gravy than otherwise.
Adding homemade stock always elevates savory dishes, but if the stock is not compatible in flavors or too diluted, it can take away too much from the taste. Be careful when adding stock, or reduce it by heating to a minimum.
Final words
Some chefs start the gravy process by browning some onions and cooking the juices like stock for a long time on low heat. After a while, they blend it in a mixer and simmer it until it’s thick.
That is a great solution, and it tastes amazing, albeit not a real gravy in a traditional sense. The onions, especially caramelized, can easily overpower any meat juice or stock, and you will end up with a fatty onion sauce with some meat undertones.
If you have in mind a traditional, restaurant-quality thick medium brown gravy for your roast meat and mashed potatoes, just follow this simple, but delicate recipe! You can’t miss it!
Be mindful of stirring while you mix in the flour, and remove the top layer of fats from the meat juice before you start the process, and you can’t go wrong.
So, do you already know how to make the perfect gravy from roast juices? Please, feel free to use the comments below to share your opinion with us!
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