The Best Gravy You'll Ever Taste

The best gravy is also a very simple recipe. Please note that the ingredients listed, except the onion and butter, are what I assume you are going to be eating for your roast dinner, not what actually goes in the gravy. You'll understand why in the recipe.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1  chicken (or other meat joint)
• 1  white onion
• 1  tablespoon butter
• 1  kg potato
• 1  leek
• 1  kg Brussels sprout
• 500  g chestnuts
• 1 (500 g) packet  seasoned stuffing mix (or home made stuffing)
• 2  large head broccoli (or carrots or other vegetables of choice)

Directions

1. Prepare your meat joint in the usual manner. When trimming away any grissly or fatty parts, reserve these. Reserve the giblets if preparing a chicken or other bird, or rabbit. If cutting away any bone that is sufficiently small, snap in half and reserve.
2. Finely chop the white onion. Add to a deep pot with the butter and brown over the stove.
3. Add the reserved meat cut-offs and fill pot with water for desired gravy quantity. Sit over stove on a medium heat.
4. Peel the potatoes, reserving at least 1 cup of peel. Add the reserved peel to the gravy pot.
5. Top and tail the leek, chopping the discarded dark top and adding a cup of this to the gravy pot.
6. Top and tail the brussel sprouts, remove dark outer leaves. Add the leaves and tails to the gravy pot.
7. Reserve some shelled chestnuts to add to the gravy pot whilst roasting the rest.
8. When preparing any other veg, such as broccoli or carrots, reserve the peel, if peeling, and the stalks. Add these to the stock pot. Do not use the leafy parts of carrots.
9. Add a tablespoon of any stuffing used to the gravy pot.
10. The gravy stock pot should cook for the duration that the roast is cooked, including the meat. Top up with a cupfull of any drained water from boiled vegetables and periodically drain juices from the roasting meat into the gravy pot.
11. When the meat is ready, pour a cup of the cooking gravy into the meat pan and scrape the bottom with a spatula to deglaze. Pour into the gravy pot.
12. When ready to serve the roast, check gravy consistently. If you prefera thicker gravy, add a little flour and cook a few minutes longer until thickened. Drain gravy through a sieve before serving to remove the discarded giblets and vegetable matter.
13. If desired, slice and brown another onion and add this to the sieved gravy, cooking a further 5 minutes, to add texture.