The Gravy of Roasts

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Snug heavy roasting pan
• •10-quart stockpot
• •5 to 6-quart wide heavy saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Muslin, cheesecloth, or clean lint-free kitchen towel
• •Shallow ladle
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Roast the bones

   Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Coat the bones and trimmings with the rendered fat, then spread them in one close layer in a heavy roasting pan. Roast for 45 to 60 minutes, turning once, until the meat and cut faces are a deep mahogany brown and the pan carries a firm brown glaze. Do not chase blackness. If the fat begins smoking or one corner scorches, lower the heat, move the bones, and wipe away the black patch before it spreads.

2. 2

   Draw the matching stock

   Transfer the roasted bones and trimmings to a 10-quart stockpot. Pour about 2 cups (480 ml / 480 g) of the tepid water into the roasting pan and scrape up every sound brown deposit, then add these swillings to the pot with the remaining water and salt. Bring to a full boil, skim the grey foam as it rises, then lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. Cook uncovered for 3 to 4 hours, adding a little tepid water only if the bones become exposed.

3. 3

   Strain and skim

   Pour the stock through a fine sieve lined with damp muslin, cheesecloth, or a clean lint-free kitchen towel. Let it drain without crushing the solids, then skim away almost all the surface grease with a shallow ladle. You want about 4 quarts (3.8 L) of prepared stock. If there is more, simmer it gently until it reaches that volume; if there is slightly less, use what you have and expect the finished yield to be half that amount.

4. 4

   Protect the roast fond

   When the roast is cooked, move it to a warm platter and let it rest. Tilt the roasting pan and spoon off a portion of the clear fat, leaving a thin glossy film and every brown, solidified juice behind. Examine the fond before adding liquid: chestnut and mahogany deposits are flavour, while black deposits are bitter. If only a patch has burned, drain the loose fat, wipe away the black area, and preserve the brown around it. If the entire pan is acrid, discard its contents and reduce the matching stock alone. Ça se rattrape, though the finished jus will carry less of the roast's particular character.

   A roasting pan only just large enough for the meat protects the drippings. In an oversized pan, exposed fat burns before enough juice collects around it.
5. 5

   Swill the pan

   Set a stovetop-safe roasting pan over medium heat and pour in about 2 cups (480 ml / 480 g) of the prepared stock. Déglacer means loosening the fond with liquid: scrape steadily with a wooden spoon until the pan floor is clean and the stock has taken on the roast's colour. For feathered game, add the optional brandy first, let it boil nearly away, then add the stock. If the roasting pan cannot sit safely over a burner, add the hot stock and return the pan to the 450°F (230°C) oven for 5 minutes before scraping.

6. 6

   Reduce by half

   Pour the swillings into a wide, heavy saucepan and add the remaining prepared stock. Bring to a lively but controlled boil and reduce the total volume by half, to about 2 quarts (1.9 L), skimming only coarse foam from the surface. The jus should taste concentrated and precisely of the roast, but it remains fluid rather than flour-thickened. If it becomes too salty before it reaches the proper strength, add unsalted water a little at a time. Ça se rattrape. Do not add flour, cream, wine, herbs, or vegetables; the roast and its matching stock are the whole flavour.

7. 7

   Strain, skim, serve

   Strain the reduced jus once more through damp muslin or a cloth-lined fine sieve. Let it settle for 2 minutes, then skim away most of the surface fat while deliberately leaving fine amber beads and a light sheen. Do not clarify it. Taste and add salt only if the roast itself has not supplied enough. Serve the jus very hot beside the rested roast, letting it pool around the carved meat rather than drowning its browned surface. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use bones and trimmings from the same animal as the roast. Beef with beef, lamb with lamb, poultry with poultry. The stock is there to extend the pan's small quantity of natural juice, not to replace its identity.
• •Ask the butcher to chop the bones into pieces that expose cut faces and joints. Those surfaces brown readily and give the stock more body; whole smooth bones take up room while offering very little.
• •Keep the stock plain. Mirepoix, herbs, wine, flour, and tomato may belong to other sauce families, but they blur the exact flavour this entry protects. Here the foundation is roasted bone, pan fond, water, salt, and reduction.
• •For feathered game, swill the pan with water or a small quantity of brandy when only a spoonful of intense gravy is needed. For a larger quantity, use stock made from the same game's bones; a neutral veal stock is the classical alternative when matching bones are scarce.
• •If the finished jus looks cloudy, leave it alone. Cloudiness is not failure here. Straining removes debris, but aggressive skimming and clarification remove the fat and dissolved roast juices that carry its savour.

Advance Preparation

• •The matching stock can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cool it promptly in shallow containers, refrigerate it, and remove the hardened top layer of fat before reheating; leave the final trace of fat to the fresh roast pan.
• •The stock can be frozen for up to 3 months in measured containers. Thaw and heat it before the roast leaves the oven so the pan can be swilled while its fond is still fresh.
• •Finished jus keeps for up to 4 days under refrigeration or 3 months frozen. Reheat it gently and whisk only enough to reunite the natural fat with the liquid; do not clarify it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)