Shirley Ekstein
03-06-2002, 03:48 PM
Have just noticed thread below on gravy - have seen others during the time I've been talking to people on this board - have finally realised that what you mean by 'gravy' in the US is very different from what we mean by it.
Our gravy is always and invariably made from a roast, (be it whatever animal.) No roast - no gravy. (And real English gravy needs a paragraph of its own to explain properly.)
Anyway - if we cook pork chops or lamb chops or whatever, we might make a separate sauce, or, more commonly, a de-glazed reduction with the pan juices, using a couple of slugs of booze and maybe a bit of stock that's then mounted with a knob of butter - but we'd never call it 'gravy'.
Not that nomenclature matters - but would recommend that if you've fried a couple of pork chops (or whatever) you ditch the cornflour additions and try this:-
Once you've removed meat from pan to plates, leave plates aside to rest for a minute while you throw in a glass of whatever wine you may have on hand (colour doesn't really matter), reduce it by approx. a half then remove pan from heat and add a couple tiny knobs of butter - stir and swirl your pan - you'll find the wine reduction takes on a gloss - at this point, pour it over your meat - et voilá! a beautiful sauce - not much of it, but it'll be concentrated - it'll taste of your meat juices and wine and butter - what else do you need?
Our gravy is always and invariably made from a roast, (be it whatever animal.) No roast - no gravy. (And real English gravy needs a paragraph of its own to explain properly.)
Anyway - if we cook pork chops or lamb chops or whatever, we might make a separate sauce, or, more commonly, a de-glazed reduction with the pan juices, using a couple of slugs of booze and maybe a bit of stock that's then mounted with a knob of butter - but we'd never call it 'gravy'.
Not that nomenclature matters - but would recommend that if you've fried a couple of pork chops (or whatever) you ditch the cornflour additions and try this:-
Once you've removed meat from pan to plates, leave plates aside to rest for a minute while you throw in a glass of whatever wine you may have on hand (colour doesn't really matter), reduce it by approx. a half then remove pan from heat and add a couple tiny knobs of butter - stir and swirl your pan - you'll find the wine reduction takes on a gloss - at this point, pour it over your meat - et voilá! a beautiful sauce - not much of it, but it'll be concentrated - it'll taste of your meat juices and wine and butter - what else do you need?