Chilli and Chocolate Gravy

This is a mole trick brought to a British gravy jug. Dark chocolate at 70 per cent or above is mostly cocoa solids and fat, so it adds bitterness and a velvety texture and almost no sweetness. The chipotle brings smoke and a slow heat. Serve it with roast beef, venison, brisket or a plate of meatballs, and keep it well away from chicken.

Ingredients

Makes about 500ml, enough for six plates

• 1 tbsp beef dripping or fat from the tin
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 tsp chipotle paste or half a teaspoon of chipotle flakes
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1½ tbsp plain flour
• 600ml (1 pint) hot beef stock
• 15g (½oz) dark chocolate 70 per cent or higher, chopped small
• 2 tsp sherry vinegar
• salt and black pepper to taste

Kit

• Heavy saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Balloon whisk
• Sieve

Method

1. Melt the dripping in a heavy pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for eight minutes until soft and browning at the edges, then add the garlic, chipotle paste and cumin and cook for one minute more, stirring hard so the spices toast rather than burn.

2. Stir in the flour and cook for ninety seconds. The mixture will go dark and clay coloured and start to smell nutty.

3. Add a ladle of hot stock and whisk it in. It will tighten and then release. Add the rest of the stock in two goes, whisking each time until smooth.

4. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until the gravy thickens and the raw onion smell has gone completely.

5. Take the pan off the heat and let it stop bubbling. Scatter in the chopped chocolate and leave it for thirty seconds, then whisk. It will melt into the gravy and turn it noticeably darker and glossier.

6. Add the sherry vinegar. This is important, chocolate without acid tastes heavy and slightly claggy in a savoury sauce.

7. Taste and season. It should be smoky and savoury with a bitter finish. Nobody should be able to name the chocolate. If they can, add another 50ml of stock and a pinch of salt.

8. Strain into a warmed jug if you want it smooth, or leave the onion in for a chunkier sauce.

Tips worth knowing

• Fifteen grams is roughly two squares of a standard bar and it is the maximum for 600ml. Thirty grams and the gravy goes claggy, sweet and unmistakably chocolatey, which is not what you want beside beef.
• Milk chocolate does not work here at all. It is mostly sugar and milk solids and it will curdle and sweeten the gravy rather than enriching it.
• Add the chocolate off the heat. Boiled chocolate can seize and go grainy, and once it does there is no bringing it back.
• If you like more heat, add it as chipotle rather than fresh chilli. You want smoke and a slow warmth, not a sharp bite.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days in the fridge and freezes for two months, though the texture goes very slightly grainy on defrosting. Reheat gently and whisk hard as it comes up to temperature and it will smooth out again.

Questions people ask