When preparing meat and gravy, you always have to decide whether you want most of the taste to be in the meat or in the gravy.  It is very simple really: all the flavor that goes into the gravy, will go out of the meat. You can’t have both, unless you cheat a little by using other meat to flavor your gravy. And that’s exactly what this recipe is for, or for cases when you just want the gravy and don’t need the meat. Of course you can buy gravy in the store, but home-made is so much better and really not that hard to make. If you make a lot, you can also freeze it. This gravy has a very full beef flavor and is great with potato or pasta dishes.

Ingredients

I’m not providing exact proportions, but as a rule of thumb you will get 1 litre of gravy for each kilogram of beef (2 cups for each pound of beef).

tough beef such as chuck

marrowbone

(clarified) butter

thyme

shallot, chopped

bay leaf

garlic (optional), minced

salt and freshly ground black pepper

flour for dusting

corn starch for binding

Preparation

Dice the meat (1 cm or 1/2 inch). Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and dust with flour. The salt and flour will help to brown the meat, which will add more depth to the flavor of your gravy.

Heat butter, preferably clarified, in a pot over high heat and brown the beef.

Add shallots, garlic (if using), thyme, and bay leaf, and stir for a minute until the shallot is translucent.

Add the marrowbone and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to get all the tasty brown bits from the bottom.

You can use red wine instead of water at this point to make a fabulous red wine sauce.

As soon as it boils, lower the heat to simmering, cover the pot and simmer for 4-5 hours.

After 4-5 hours, all of the taste will be out of the meat and in the stock.

Strain and let this reduce over low heat in a wide pan until it is concentrated to your liking.

Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper if needed.

Put the gravy into a container, let it cool down and refrigerate overnight or until a solid layer of fat has formed on the top.

Break away a piece of the fat so you can pour out the lean gravy underneath.

Save the fat for another use (it is a great start for a simple pasta sauce).

The gravy you have now obtained can be used straightaway or frozen.

It is nice to finish the gravy by binding it with corn starch. Put a suitable amount of corn starch in a bowl (about 1 Tbsp for 500 ml/2 cups).

Heat up the gravy in a saucepan and add a few tablespoons of the hot gravy to the corn starch.

Stir well until there are no more lumps.

Add this mixture to the hot gravy and stir to incorporate. Cook for a minute over medium heat and your gravy is ready to be served.