The ultimate gravy recipe

Chef's Gravy

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cooking Time

4 hours

Serves

450ml

Ingredients

2 organic or free-range chicken or duck carcasses or 4 kilos of fresh beef or lamb or venison or pork bones
Roughly chopped: 4 carrots, 2 sticks celery, 4 large onions
450ml red wine with 2 litres of water if you are using chicken or duck or 1 bottle of red wine for red meat gravies
4 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
Few sprigs of fresh thyme
4 tsp grated cacao. Willie suggests Venezuelan Black 100% Carenero Cacao
Optional for lamb and venison gravy: 1-2 tbsp of quince or redcurrant jelly

Equipment:
Oven dish
Saucepan

 

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
  2. Roast the bones / carcasses until sizzling and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and place in a large pan with the carrots, celery, onion, red wine, peppercorns, bay leaves and thyme.
  3. Add enough water to cover the ingredients, and simmer gently for 4 hours. For the first 2 hours or until the scum is clean looking, skim off the scum every 30 minutes
  4. Strain the stock and return to a clean pan.
  5. Reduce to 450ml by boiling fairly rapidly until rich and concentrated
  6. Remove any fat from the surface. Add the grated cacao and stir until melted into the gravy. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. At this point you can also add redcurrant or quince jelly to your lamb or venison gravies

Ingredients

2 organic or free-range chicken or duck carcasses or 4 kilos of fresh beef or lamb or venison or pork bones
Roughly chopped: 4 carrots, 2 sticks celery, 4 large onions
450ml red wine with 2 litres of water if you are using chicken or duck or 1 bottle of red wine for red meat gravies
4 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
Few sprigs of fresh thyme
4 tsp grated cacao. Willie suggests Venezuelan Black 100% Carenero Cacao
Optional for lamb and venison gravy: 1-2 tbsp of quince or redcurrant jelly

Equipment:
Oven dish
Saucepan

 

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
  2. Roast the bones / carcasses until sizzling and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and place in a large pan with the carrots, celery, onion, red wine, peppercorns, bay leaves and thyme.
  3. Add enough water to cover the ingredients, and simmer gently for 4 hours. For the first 2 hours or until the scum is clean looking, skim off the scum every 30 minutes
  4. Strain the stock and return to a clean pan.
  5. Reduce to 450ml by boiling fairly rapidly until rich and concentrated
  6. Remove any fat from the surface. Add the grated cacao and stir until melted into the gravy. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. At this point you can also add redcurrant or quince jelly to your lamb or venison gravies
Be inspired

Be inspired

Our single estate couverture chocolates all have distinctive flavour profiles. Choose the one that best suits your recipe. ​
Room temperature

Room temperature

Melted chocolate hates coming into contact with cold ingredients. If you are making a mousse for example, take the eggs and cream out of the fridge an hour or so before and use them when the chill has gone off them. ​
Melting chocolate

Melting chocolate

Never let your bowl touch the water. Always melt chocolate very slowly, and stir constantly. Take even more care to go slowly with milk and white chocolates.​
Cool your chocolate

Cool your chocolate

Don’t try folding cream or beaten egg whites into melted chocolate that you have just taken off the heat. Cool it for a few minutes first.​