Making homemade gravy - too much effort?

[fifteenmillionmerits]

Once every three/four weeks, me and DP do a roast. I take care of the meat and he does the vegetables. Last Christmas we went round to stay with my parents (in our support bubble); when we there we helped them cook the turkey on the day.

A few hours after getting back to our home, DP asked me why I hadn't just used shop bought gravy granules or the like. I explained (as I've tried to before) that it was traditional for me and my parents to make our own gravy - we boil the bones in a pressure cooker to make the stock. At Christmas I add the turkey neck, giblets, etc to the mix, as I don't like throwing them away when they can be used. When I've got the time I cook more for fun than just necessity, so I enjoy seeing what comes out of leftovers that might have otherwise gone to the bin.

Am I really the only one who makes their own gravy?

We rarely have a roast but I use granules and at Christmas the ready made from places like M&S or Cook. It’s not important enough to spend the time making it from scratch although I make little from scratch if I can buy a good substitute or easier way.

I love homemade gravey, never used granules until I had kids and then I took every shortcut going. When I can though I still make my own stock and gravey. It's about more than the taste, it's about the memory of being a little girl and loitering in the kitchen while my dad made the gravey. As a side effect though I feel rather mournful if I ever have to chuck a carcass without first making stock, lol.

I use both homemade gravy and granules. Depends on the meat I’m cooking.
If I’m doing a chicken or pork/gammon joint it’s granules. If it’s beef or lamb I cook the joint on veg, take the joint off, pick out the roasted veg (onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips) I put the pan on the large ring in my cooker, add flour to make a roux. I then slowly add beef stock using stick cubes. Makes lovely gravy.

I make the Jamie gravy at Christmas but today I cooked beef and just added bisto best. I don't like the other bisto. But I must try some of these ideas.

I never use granules, but neither do I make my own stock. I very slowly caramelise some finely chopped onion in rapeseed oil, then add a spoon of redcurrant jelly and allow that to begin to caramelise before adding a glass of red wine. Then I add stock made from concentrate. Finally I thicken, either with butter and flour cooked together, or, for "school gravy", with Bisto powder.

Oh, and if I've done a roast, I pour off the fat and deglaze the roasting dish with more wine, then add that as well.

Gravy from meat juice for roasts or onion gravy for mid week pie or sausages. Tastes far better than granules

It's really easy to make your own gravy if you have a constant supply of home made stock on the go or in the fridge. It improves soups, gravy, every thing!

If we ever have a roast (once in a blue moon, usually a chicken) I'll make gravy the way my gran would recognise and the way my mum still does: in the roasting tin with the juices from the meat (fat strained off in a gravy jug if there's enough to make it worthwhile, hopefully some of the juice will have caught a little on the tin and caramelised), a spoonful or so of plain flour and a bit of the water from boiling the potatoes. Let it bubble for 5-8 mins to cook out the flour. If there's giblets in the chicken (not often these days) I'll boil those up for a bit extra stock while the bird is cooking. Mum used to add gravy browning back in the 1980s and 90s but even she rarely bothers these days. This is what gravy is to me, it feels very post-war, not wasting a drop.

We never had gravy with anything that didn't leave enough juice, so I don't get sausages with gravy (I mean I know what people mean but to me something like onion gravy that is made separately rather than with juices from the meat isn't actually gravy, just a random sauce). DP is foreign so doesn't get gravy at all! When I was a kid we did use to have Bisto powder to thicken/flavour stewed meat (mince or stewing beef), which I use very occasionally and I still love the taste done like that.

DD2 loves gravy and wants it any time she has mash, so I just make that with granules for her. Haven't grown to like it yet, though I do lick the spoon every time just to check!

I hate chicken gravy made with stock etc. We use bistro granules and if we are having beef we add a bit of meat juice to it. I’ve used cornflour and gravy powder The past but bistro granules are nicer.

My name is Sheldonesque and it has been 4 days since my last bisto usage.

4 hail gravies will be said (gravy only done ‘proper’ when I do a roast.)

@SheldonesqueIsAlmostHuman

My name is Sheldonesque and it has been 4 days since my last bisto usage.

4 hail gravies will be said (gravy only done ‘proper’ when I do a roast.)

🤣

Do whatever works for you. I like flavour so will always do my own gravy which takes about 5 mins.
@MrsMcTats
If you're doing a roast sit the meat on top of rough chopped carrots, onions, celery, add a bay leaf, thyme if you have them but no worries if not. This will flavour the juices from the meat which you'll use in the gravy.

Make a flour paste by heating in a pot about 2 tablespoons of oil and adding about 1.5 tablespoons of flour and mixing to a smooth paste; add the meat juices from the roasting pan - you'll need about a cup of liquid for the amount of paste. If you don't have enough liquid top up with boiled water. How much flour paste you use and how much liquid needed will be determined by how much gravy you need so work that out first.

Whisk vigorously for about a minute and leave on a medium flame for a couple of minutes to thicken. I will check for taste and add salt, pepper if needed or bit of stock cube, perhaps a teaspoon of sugar, dash of worcester sauce. If the colour is too pale I'll add a couple of drops of gravy browning.

If you're making a gravy without a roast, follow the steps above but fry some sliced onion first until softened then add the flour. Use boiled water in place of the roasting juice and add a bay leaf, thyme, seasoning or stock cube - whatever flavours you like.

If you find that your gravy is too thick just add hot water. If too thin you can add a bit of flour mixed with water and give a good whisk but you may end up with some lumps but don't worry - after you get the thickness you need just strain your gravy.

A good gravy is a thing of joy and doesn't have to be a faff!

@maggiethecat amazing - thank you

It needn't be complicated.
Meat juices, gravy powder mixed with water (just to thicken & colour), NEVER granules, a splash of wine, small dollop of redcurrant jelly & veg cooking water.

@jollyandbright I'd love your vegetarian gravy recipe please.

@jollyandbright I'd love your vegetarian gravy recipe please.

I make my own gravy. I've never used Bisto or anything else.

For a turkey dinner I boil the neck along with celery, onion, carrots. For any other roast I use veggie stock - I keep the veggie water - from green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes and parsnips, or whatever other veg I'm serving. Some of the stock (if turkey) and veggie broth go into the gravy. The rest gets frozen for soup making at a later date.

I strain off most of the fat from my roasting pan (leaving the juices), turn on the heat under the pan, add some flour, whisk to make a roux, add a splash of dry white wine, add the stock/broth, and whisk over heat until it all starts to thicken. Then season. I usually wind up with a gravy boat full plus some more.