Right - I want to know how many of you make your own gravy when you cook a roast dinner

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

I just can't make home-made gravy. DH can, it's lovely and thick and tasty and we use the same method.

I'm not keen on using Bisto. Only for stretching home made gravy out to go further. On it's own it just tastes fake and has a wierd texture, to me.

So come on, own up. If you do a roast for just your immediate family, what type of gravy do you make?

I made Jamie Oliver's Get Ahead Gravy for Christmas one year and it was so good I make it fairly regularly now and freeze it in batches. If the roast hasn't got much juice and scrapings with it, I add a portion of my ready-made gravy.

Yes, I do that gravy every Christmas and make double so there is some to spare. I also buy a load of chicken wings and cook them in the slowcooker every now and then, this produces a pot of delicious juices for the freezer and the wings can be marinated/sprinkled and crisped up in the normal oven for 20 mins, delicious.

I made home made gravy last night with slow roast pork.Pork was roasted on the top of some carrots,celery ,red onion ,garlic whole cloves and several bayleaves.I pour off the meat juices before the last hour of cooking and place in a bowl in the freezer.
This hardens the fat so you can separate off the meat juices and add to the pan.Along with the deglazed roasting juices and cornflower and squished up veggies.Too much garlic makes the gravy bitter though.

I love home made gravy but I'm shit at making it too. My mum makes lovely gravy :( I'll have to get her to show me (again!) some time.

I didn't know about separating the fat, that's always the problem with mine too. I'm sure my mum doesn't do that but will definitely try.

I always used to use granules but then I tried the Delia method from her original how to cook book. First time was awful but I'm slowly getting better, I haven't done any fancy veg adding like other posters, have just used plain flour and boiled water.

Always homemade, jamie oliver recipe from Ministry of food. Really easy and never fails.

I do half and half. Meat juices thickened with gravy granules. I don't like the taste/texture of homemade gravy (I'm not really a fan of gravy in general).

I hate packet, powder, granules and cubes.

For beef gravy, I use the fat from the roasting (not all of it if there is a lot, perhaps a tablespoonful or so) mixed with flour to make a roux, which I then cook, before taking off the heat and stirring in red wine, separated meat juices, pan scrapings, seasoning, returning to the heat, and gradually adding vegetable water, boiling up, throwing in odd bits from the carving, burnt bits etc, strain into a bucket jug to serve.

Can also do gravy for steaks like this, but in much smaller quantity as there is so little fat and juice.

My beef gravy is splendid.

Turkey and chicken gravy not so good, unless I have recently done one and boiled up the carcase for stock. I throw in skin, stuffing, feet and ears etc. Turkey is better as I have simmered the neck and giblets.

Lamb gravy needs much more additives, I think because the fat is not tasty, and the meat juices are watery, so it is certainly not so good. DP moans a lot and insists on granules

Homemade here.

Always homemade, though not to yer classic British recipe.

I do boost it with a stock cube, though. Unless I've roasted lamb on the bone, in which case the flavour of the meat juices is so intense that they need little more than a bit of thickening.

For fat separation you need something like this jug.... Mix the roasting tin contents with some boiling water, scraping up all the bits and then tip into the jug and allow to settle. Mix a spoon or two of the fat from the top with some plain flour to make a roux either back in the roasting tin or in a saucepan, then gradually in pour some of the juices from the bottom of the jug to make the gravy.

We use this kind. Not very high-tech, but works a treat.

When I'm lazy (most of the time) I use Aunt Bessie's gravy, which is fairly tasty. I often cook a dark meat (lamb, pheasant, duck, etc) in a foil parcel with garlic and red wine - it makes a delicious rich sauce that really makes the meal, IMO.

I make a sort of half and half mash-up.

Put pan with meat juices on the stove. Add boiling water and a spoon of gravy granules (or a big squeeze of the gravy paste that comes in tubes). Splash of red wine. Dollop of something sweet (redcurrant jelly or cranberry sauce - or red onion chutney for sausages). Bit of black pepper. Let it all bubble up and reduce down. Pour into jug and skim off fat.

Trick is not yo overdo it with the granules, so you dont get that synthetic taste.

Yum! Gonna try this next time I make a roast.

Bisto for chicken and pork.
Home made for beef and lamb

Bisto powder, meat juices, veg cooking water (or I use giblet stock at Christmas). I tried granules once and didn't like the result. Bisto powder contains (pasted from the Bisto website! that's devotion for you):

Potato Starch, Salt, Wheat Starch, Colour (E150c), Yeast Powder (contains Barley), Onion Powder.

Colour 150c is caramel.

PS Now thinking wistfully about gravy and mashed potatoes but we are having tuna steaks and salad tonight. Oh well.

Home made here too.

I do find that super duper non stick roasting pans with a rack for the meat are not the best for a good gravy. You need all the stuck on caramelised meaty bits left behind for a good flavour.

I use a clapped out scratched pan for my roast just to get a good gravy. Flour in, scrape like mad, add wine, let it bubble. Add potato water or other veg water. Bring to boil, bubble, season.

dh just doesnt understand

I much prefer homemade but like you op, I'm still trying to get mine to a decent standard! DH can do it and fil manages to make the best I've ever tasted but even following his instructions mines nowhere near as good!

I never had gravy till I tasted MIL's when I was 20 - and that was Bisto! The version I grew up with involved masses of onions and red peppers roasted under the meat and then blitzed. It was flipping gorgeous but not really gravy, more roasted pepper puree.

If I'm not doing the masses-of-veg version, I'll usually use Bisto but add the meat juices and some onion relish, mint jelly, mustard, redcurrant jelly, wine, herbs, spices or whatever to complement the roast.

I make real stuff at christmas.

Homemade here too! Glass of wine/stock over the meat after 15 minutes in the oven, then baste regularly. I always put my joint of a layer of roughly sliced onions as well (skin left on for colour). The onions go in the slow cooker with the bones/carcass to make stock afterwards, too. Then I just stain the juice left in the roasting pan into a saucepan and simmer to reduce it, seasoning it and adding a tsp of cornflour mixed with a tbsp of water to thicken it slightly.

Usually do, but if I'm feeling lazy then it's bisto.

I make veggie gravy from scratch usually but do it with meat juices at Christmas or if there are lots of us.