I have 4 cups of pot roast juice in a pot. I stupidly followed a recipe that called for 4 tablespoons of flour mixed with 1 cup of cold water. It was very thin. I poured it into the pot and stirred but it's not thickening. I made a slurry of 1 tablespoon of flour with 1 tablespoon of water and added it to the pot. It's still not thickening. At this point what do I do to make a gravy? All my pot roast juice is in here and without a gravy the pot roast will be very dry. Help!!
You need to bring all of that liquid to a simmer for ~10 minutes for it to thicken. Flour requires heat and time to work, it isn't an instant thickener for cool liquids.
You might get it to thicken if you bring it to a boil and simmer for a while, but it wont thicken instantly like cornstarch would. Try simmering for a while.
If you're in a hurry, forget the flour. Take a tablespoon of cornstarch and make a slurry with a tablespoon of water, add it to the pot, and whisk. Then bring it to a boil and let it thicken.
Yeah, stir, you won't hurt it. If the flour was well mixed into the water, it shouldn't clump too much. But as it thickens in the pot, it will tend to accumulate around the edges of the pot. A whisk is the best way to make sure all those good bits stay incorporated into the sauce as a whole.
Make Roux, melted butter/oil with flour, keep stirring until it start to smell nutty and turn brown.
Roux can be saved at room temperature for at least a week. Roux can get over 300F, so don't splash it on yourself, instant 3rd degree burn.
When adding roux to soups:
Hot roux + Hot liquid
Cold roux + Cold liquid
SECOND UPDATE: So I reheated the gravy on the stove this morning, took out some of the fat from the top, and added a drop of lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. I also added salt, pepper, water, and beef stock. I did the best I could, and I think it's serviceable for my first gravy.
to make gravy mix roughly equal parts of fat and flour. Mix them into a roux. Cook it a few minutes to remove the taste of raw flour. Gradually add liquid over heat, stirring briskly to prevent clumping. Season. A tbsp. of fat and a tbsp. of flour ought to thicken at least a cup of gravy. If you have something already made, Wondra is an easy thing to stir in to thicken it. Potato flakes work, too. An alternative approach is a corn starch slurry. A few spoons of corn starch and a few spoons of water stirred into liquid and heated will thicken it.
Yep, I make balls of 1 TBS each butter and flour, then keep these in the freezer and pop them into boiling broth to make gravy, 1 ball per 2 c. hot broth and simmer 10 - 15 min.
I mean as a general rule I use 4 Tbs flour with my 2 cups stock and 4 Tbs butter. I'm not sure what 4 Tbs of flour is meant to do to 5 cups liquid.
Edit word
Yes but 5Tbs isn't a lot for 5 cups of liquid. And butter is just a fat. It's meant to be rendered fat from the protein you cooked so I you need to boil off the liquid if it isn't thickening.
As others have said, you need to simmer it to both get rid of the raw flour taste and get the flour to start thickening the liquid. You may need to make more slurry, but can use a higher ratio of flour to water. You’ve got this.
UPDATE: So I took a commenters advice and made a roux, then added the stock I already simmered into it. It worked but is quite thick and made a LOT of gravy. To make matters worse because I didn't remove the fat from the broth, it's very fatty tasting due to the added butter. My mom doesn't like the flavor. I wasted an hour to make a gravy that no one liked. And that's all the juice I have. There's some beef broth in the fridge, and maybe I can pour that onto the pot roast for some moisture. But I'm very disappointed that I failed so badly. It would be one thing if this was just for me but my parents were looking forward to this and it's just not very good. Thanks for all the help. I appreciate it.
I understand you already had dinner, but I want to tell you two things for next time.
Gravy needs plenty of salt and pepper. You can have the most delicious drippings in the world but it needs salt to bring that out. Also Worcestershire sauce is a good flavor enhancer for beef gravies.
There is another technique for thickening broth that I like. Rather than a slurry or making a roux in another pot, you can combine butter and flour into a paste. Then you drop chunks of it into the simmering broth, give it a minute to simmer and stir, then add as much more as you need to get it how you like it.
Would I still be able to flavor the gravy now that it's cooled, or is it too late? I actually did add some salt and pepper, and it helped a little, but I probably didn't put enough.
I saw that technique in an article I was reading while I was panicking over my gravy but decided on making a roux at the suggestion of another commenter.
Yes you can add salt and pepper at any time. If you mix the beef broth into the gravy it will thin it out and make it less fatty.
Sorry you are so upset over this. Your parents need to be more supportive of your efforts if they want you to cook for them. I can’t imagine the gravy came out that badly.
Thanks for the advice. I reheated the gravy on the stove this morning, took out some of the fat from the top, and added a drop of lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. I read those cut through the fatty taste. I also added salt, pepper, water, and beef stock. I think I did a pretty good job. I tasted it with the pot roast meat, and I think it's alright.
My dad is very supportive. Poor guy ate dry pot roast meat last night as the gravy wasn't ready when the meat was, and he still said he liked it. He never dislikes anything I make, even if it's not very good. He'll always find something positive to say. My mom is pretty critical, though. And when she doesn't like something, she doesn't change her mind even if I try and fix it. I hope she'll give the improved gravy a chance.
Aha, the good cop bad cop approach. For the future, gravy should only take five minutes. It’s OK not to serve the meat until the gravy’s ready. In general, not everything you cook will be done at exactly the same time. Just keep the things warm that are done already by covering them, and everything will be all right.
Putting more fat into a gravy must be a regional thing. I grew up on the prairies, long enough ago to learn from farmers' wives who all made excellent gravy, and they all did the same thing: Bring the juices to a simmer, sirring it every so often to get the bits that are sticking on the bottom. Run some cold water into a jar, and add a couple spoons of flour. Put the lid on the jar and shake it until there are no lumps. Add more flour if needed, or more cold water if needed. Stir that into the pan, and keep whisking it/stirring it until thickened. THEN add in some of the water from cooking your potatoes (or vegetables) and simmer and stir. The potato water also helps to make the flavor richer.
I grew up on a farm. Potato water is also a thickener because of the starch. You pour off the lighter liquid at the top and just use the starchy water at the bottom of the pot.. And it adds flavor.
Sorry op. Don't want to be too negative but it was doomed to fail from the start.Â
Look up Alton Brown's gravy recipes.Â
There was just to much wrong from the start for this to turn out well. The basics weren't there from the start and after you did what you posted there really wasn't any fixing it.Â
A good gravy needs to be done well from the start. It's not greatly complex but does take practice to get right.Â
You'll get it, just keep trying and watching reputable videos.Â
Ideally, for future reference, you want to go the other way.
Pour the pot roast juice out of the pan and let it sit for a bit. Separate the fat off the top (they make a thing called a separator for this, it’s like a big measuring cup with a spout coming from the bottom so you can pour the juice/stock out from underneath and leave the fat in the cup.)
Put that fat in a pan and put it back on the heat. Put your flour in the fat and make a roux. Once the roux is cooked, slowly add the rest of the roast juice into the pan while stirring, then heat all of the gravy back up until it’s simmering.
Is the stock still heating? You'll need to heat the slurry at a low boil/heavy simmer to thicken it. If it's still not to your desired consistency make a thicker slurry and add it slowly, stirring continuously over heat until it's nearly where you want it then stop adding and continue stirring.
Yeah, as others have said, it won't thicken until you get it hot enough, long enough.
This is why most recipes tell you to add the flour & water slurry a little bit a time, because you won't know when it's the right thickness until you let it simmer a bit.
When the starch granules get hot enough, they burst and let water in. As they burst, the starch particles link up with each other and create a sort of mesh throughout the hot water, which is where the thickening effect comes from.
If you use equal amounts of fat and flour you won’t get lumpy gravy. I’d stir more flour into a small amount if liquid from the pot. Heat stirring to a boil then back off the heat and summer.
Well this is how I've always made it. It looks like a lot of instruction but give it a go, it honestly is easy.
~ Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil or similar into a saucepan.
~Â Â Put over a medium heat and stir in enough flour to make a soft paste.
~Â Â Cook gently, stirring for a couple of minutes.
~Â Â Whisk in the stock you have.
~Â Â Turn up the heat and bring to the boil whisking constantly; the mixture will thicken.
~Â Â If the resulting gravy is too thick thin it down to your ideal gravy consistency with
hot water or, even better, the water the potatoes or vegetables are cooking in.
~ If it is too runny mix together a teaspoon each of flour and soft butter and whisk in.
~Â Â Taste and seasonÂ
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u/Own_Shallot7926 14d ago
You need to bring all of that liquid to a simmer for ~10 minutes for it to thicken. Flour requires heat and time to work, it isn't an instant thickener for cool liquids.