Recipe > Sauces
Gravy Recipe
There are many different ways to make gravy, which ever recipe you choose always remember that any homemade gravy is infinitely better than a powdered substitute. In fact once you start making fresh gravy you'll more than likely throw out your powdered gravy with some choice swear words once you realise what you've been missing. This gravy version is suitable for pan-fried dishes.

A gravy is thickened with flour and fat. The fat used in this gravy recipe relies upon the juices and fats left in the saucepan after the prior cooking of the main ingredient.

Use a stock relative to the dish.
I.e.
Chicken dish; use chicken stock
Fish: use fish stock etc

Serves 4

Ingredients
25g / 1oz plain flour
290ml / .5 pint stock
Salt and pepper

Method:
Remove the meat, fish or poultry from the frying pan, keep warm
Return the frying pan to the heat
Add the flour, stir it into the fat and residual juices that remain in the frying pan, ensure you scrape all the sediment off the pan. (This sediment contains alot of extra flavour that should be incorporated into the gravy)
Cook for 1 minute until the flour gently browns
Add the stock, vigorously whisk until the flour dissolves into the liquid
Allow the gravy to boil and thicken
Season then serve

Adjust:
Don't forget that should you desire you can add fresh herbs to the gravy to change the flavour
Too bland: Add more stock, salt and pepper
Too thin: Heat the gravy so that the liquid content reduces through evaporation
Too thick: Add more stock

Chef Tip: Got lumps of flour in your gravy?
To fix: Pass the gravy through a sieve or chinois.
To prevent: If you haven't whisked the gravy fast enough the flour will cook into lumps that are very hard to break apart. If lumps still persist before the gravy has started to simmer remove the pan from the heat. Whisk off the heat until the flour disperses, only then return to the heat.

Science behind the dish: How flour thickens the gravy
Flour is largely constituted of starch molecules, as these are heated in water not only will the molecule swell but it will begin to unravel. It unravels in the form of elongated strands, these strands tangle with other similar, unraveling starch molecules to form a web or a lattice.
This web of molecules not only slows and traps the water molecules but also reduces the space that the water molecules can freely travel to and from. This is what causes the thickening of the gravy.