CHEESE SAUCE
(with plenty of oomph)
• To make the perfect cheese sauce, remove pan with the roux from the heat and blend in cold milk a third at a time. Return pan to a medium heat and stir until boiling. Cook gently for several minutes, then add cheese. Do not reboil after adding cheese because the cheese will turn stringy. • Use a dry style of aged cheddar, parmesan or gruyere. Cheaper high fat cheeses make a sauce oily and can give a plastic-like consistency. Enhance flavours with a dab of mustard and a grating of fresh nutmeg. Use freshly ground white pepper in place of black to keep the sauce speckle-free. If it still tastes bland, add more salt.
JUS (with plenty of oomph)
• The difference between a jus and a gravy is that a jus is thickened by reducing pan juices and an added liquid, rather than adding flour. The trick to a good jus is ensuring you don’t burn sediment as food cooks. If this happens, scrape up dark bits and remove. The jus will most likely be oily, and while an emulsion can form by boiling it hard with wine or stock, most of us prefer to scoop off excess fat first. The idea is to add liquid to the tin which will help lift up sticky or browned residue because this is loaded with flavour. • For a roast chicken there is no happier marriage than verjuice (typically made from unfermented green grapes). It’s easier to use than wine because you don’t have to boil away the alcohol – just splash it in, bubble it up and away you go. You can turn this into a gorgeous creamy, richly flavoured sauce by adding fresh tarragon leaves in summer or thyme leaves in winter and a generous dollop of crème fraiche. Lipsmackingly good.
GRAVY ( lump-free and super tasty)
• It’s easy. Remove meat/poultry from the roasting tin, tilt tin and scoop off most of the fat, leaving a scant 2 tablespoons of fat and fat-coated sediment. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour (equal ratio of fat to flour for gravy). The flour should absorb all the fat. If there are oily slicks, add more flour to absorb them or they will float to the top of the finished gravy. • Place tin over a low heat and let the flour brown, stirring often. Slowly stir in 400ml unsalted stock or vegetable water. Increase heat to medium. Use a slotted fish slice for stirring, squashing any lumps that may form. It’s a great trick. • Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 2–3 minutes to cook the flour through. If it is too thin, bubble away to reduce, stirring often. If it is too thick, thin it with more stock or water. And if it is lumpy, run it through a sieve. • Season with salt, then finish with a splash of port (good with venison and beef), a spoonful of redcurrant jelly or dab of mustard (great with pork or duck), a tablespoon of chopped thyme or squeeze of orange juice (great with lamb) or a tablespoon of fresh or dried tarragon (great with chicken or duck). Alternatively, add a small thinly sliced onion to the pan and brown in the fat and sediment (you could add rosemary, garlic, shallots, mushrooms etc) then continue as described. If the gravy still tastes flat after all the love you have given it, swirl in a dab of vegemite or a little dot or two of miso paste.
ONE MORE GRAVY TRICK
Once the gravy is made, transfer to a small saucepan, cover with a lid to prevent a skin from forming, then reheat gently when required. This gets the cumbersome roasting tin out of the way. Always serve gravy piping hot.