Country Ham Gravy

This is the other thing to do with a fried slice of country ham, the one that is not red eye gravy. Instead of coffee you use milk, which turns the salty fond into a pale gravy with an intense cured pork flavour. The only real skill is restraint with the seasoning, because the ham has already done all of it for you.

Ingredients

Makes about 500ml, enough for four plates

• 2 thick slices dry cured gammon or country ham about 200g, dry cured rather than wet cured or it will not brown
• 3 tbsp ham fat or lard rendered from the ham, topped up with lard or butter if short
• 30g (1oz) plain flour
• 500ml (18fl oz) whole milk warmed
• 1 tsp soft brown sugar this is what balances the salt, do not skip it
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp cold water for deglazing if the pan is very dark

Kit

• Heavy frying pan
• Balloon whisk
• Measuring jug

Method

1. Trim the fat off the edges of the gammon and put it in a cold heavy pan over a medium heat. Let it render for four or five minutes until you have a shallow layer of fat and the trimmings have gone crisp.

2. Fry the ham slices for two to three minutes a side until they are browned in patches and the pan base has gone properly dark. Lift them onto a warm plate and cover them.

3. Have a look at the pan. If the fond is very dark and threatening to burn, splash in the tablespoon of cold water and scrape immediately, which stops it going any further. Leave three tablespoons of fat in the pan and pour off the rest.

4. Scatter the flour into the fat and whisk it in, scraping the base to lift the fond into the paste. Cook for two minutes over a medium heat until it turns light gold and the flour smell goes.

5. Add a quarter of the warm milk and whisk hard. It will thicken instantly and go a pale coffee colour as the fond dissolves into it. Work it smooth before adding more.

6. Add the rest of the milk in two goes, whisking each in. Bring to a bare simmer and cook for four to five minutes until it coats a spoon lightly. Keep it on the loose side, because it firms up fast off the heat.

7. Stir in the brown sugar and the black pepper. Taste it now, before you even think about salt. Nine times out of ten it will not need any, and adding it out of habit is how this gravy gets ruined.

8. Chop the crisp fat trimmings and scatter them over the top, then serve with the ham, some fried potatoes and a couple of eggs.

Tips worth knowing

• Do not salt this gravy without tasting. A dry cured gammon can carry enough salt to season a litre of liquid on its own, and there is no way back from an oversalted milk gravy.
• The teaspoon of brown sugar is doing real work. It does not make the gravy sweet, it just stops the salt from dominating and rounds off the edges.
• If the pan fond goes from dark brown to black at any point, wash the pan out and start again with a fresh slice. Burnt cure is intensely bitter.
• Wet cured supermarket gammon steaks leach water and will not brown properly. Look for something labelled dry cured, or buy a piece from a butcher who cures their own.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days covered in the fridge and thickens to a solid block. Reheat over a low heat with a splash of milk, whisking. It does not freeze well because the milk separates and the gravy turns grainy.

Questions people ask