Creme Fraiche Gravy

Creme fraiche gives you the tang of soured cream with much more of the stability of double cream, which makes it the sensible everyday choice for a creamy gravy. It still has limits, and boiling it hard will finish it off, so the pan comes off the heat before it goes in. Good with chicken, white fish or new potatoes.

Ingredients

Makes about 350ml, enough for four plates

• 20g (3/4oz) butter
• 2 shallots finely chopped
• 75ml (3fl oz) dry white wine
• 250ml (9fl oz) chicken stock
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 150g (5oz) full fat creme fraiche half fat will split, do not use it
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 1 tsp lemon zest optional
• salt and white pepper to taste

Kit

• Frying pan
• Wooden spoon
• Small bowl

Method

1. Take the creme fraiche out of the fridge when you start cooking. A tub straight from the fridge dropped into a hot pan is far more likely to separate than one that has had ten minutes on the worktop.

2. Melt the butter in the frying pan over a medium heat and cook the shallots for four minutes until soft and clear, with no colour on them.

3. Pour in the white wine and boil it down until only about a tablespoon of syrupy liquid remains, which takes three minutes. Wine acid meeting an already acidic cream is a fast route to a grainy sauce, so this reduction is worth doing properly.

4. Add the chicken stock and simmer for six minutes until reduced by about a third. Stir in the mustard, then taste and season fully. This is your last chance to judge the salt clearly.

5. Take the pan off the heat completely. Spoon the creme fraiche into a small bowl, stir two tablespoons of the hot stock into it to loosen and warm it, then scrape that back into the pan and stir it through.

6. Return the pan to the lowest heat you have for one minute only, just to bring the sauce up to serving temperature. It should steam gently and never bubble. If a bubble breaks the surface, lift the pan off.

7. Stir in the chives and the lemon zest if using and serve straight away. It thickens as it cools, so pour it while it is properly hot.

Tips worth knowing

• Full fat creme fraiche has around 30 to 40 per cent fat and can take a gentle warming. Half fat versions have been stripped of the very thing that holds them together and will split reliably.
• Never boil creme fraiche. Unlike double cream, it is already acidic from the culture, so it has much less margin before the proteins clump.
• Loosening it with a couple of spoonfuls of hot liquid before it joins the pan takes ten seconds and removes almost all of the risk. It is the same principle as tempering eggs for custard.
• If it goes slightly grainy, take it off the heat and whisk in a tablespoon of cold double cream. It usually pulls back together well enough to serve.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps two days in the fridge. Reheat only over the lowest heat, stirring, and stop while it is still just steaming. It does not freeze, as creme fraiche separates on thawing and will not come back together.

Questions people ask