Dark Rum and Molasses Gravy

Dark rum and molasses come from the same place, so they belong together, and both go naturally with pork. This is a bolder gravy than most on the site, with allspice and a bit of chilli warmth behind it. Cook the rum out properly because 40 per cent spirit and sugar together taste harsh if you cut it short.

Ingredients

Makes about 550ml, enough for six plates

• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• 1 Scotch bonnet or bird's eye chilli, left whole optional, do not chop it
• 2 tbsp (30g) plain flour
• 75ml (2½fl oz) dark rum a Jamaican or Demerara style, not a spiced or white rum
• 600ml (1 pint) hot ham or chicken stock
• 2 tsp molasses or black treacle
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Heavy saucepan
• Whisk
• Wooden spoon

Method

1. Heat the oil in a heavy pan and cook the onion for eight minutes over a medium heat until soft and browning. Add the garlic, allspice and thyme and cook for one more minute until it smells fragrant.

2. Stir in the flour and cook for two minutes until the mixture is dry and sandy.

3. Take the pan off the heat and pour in the rum, then return it to the hob. Boil hard for three minutes until it has almost completely evaporated. Dark rum is 40 per cent alcohol and heavy with molasses sugar, and if you leave it underdone the gravy tastes both boozy and sickly.

4. Whisk in the hot stock a ladle at a time. Drop in the whole chilli if using, leaving it intact so it flavours the gravy without making it fierce.

5. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for fifteen minutes until it thickens and turns very dark.

6. Stir in the molasses and the soy sauce. Two teaspoons of molasses is plenty, it is bitter as well as sweet and it will take over given the chance.

7. Fish out the chilli and the thyme stalks. Add the lime juice, which cuts the sweetness and makes the whole thing taste Caribbean rather than just dark.

8. Season carefully. If you are serving it with gammon the meat will already be salty, so taste first.

Tips worth knowing

• Leave the chilli whole and pull it out at the end. Scotch bonnet flavour is fruity and lovely, but chop it and the heat will be uncontrollable.
• Use a proper dark rum with real molasses character. Spiced rum brings vanilla and cinnamon that clash with the allspice, and white rum brings almost nothing at all.
• For a non-alcoholic version, use 75ml of pineapple juice with 1 tsp of cider vinegar and a pinch of extra allspice, reduced until nearly dry. Pineapple has the tropical fruit note that rum brings and the acid stops it going sugary.
• This gravy is very good cold on a ham sandwich the next day, which is unusual for a gravy.

Keeping and reheating

Five days in the fridge and three months frozen. The spice deepens overnight. Reheat gently and add fresh lime juice after warming, since it fades quickly.

Questions people ask