Dutch Jus for Roast Beef

Dutch jus is not a gravy in the British sense and it is worth saying so plainly. There is no roux, no thickener and no attempt at coating anything. It is the butter and meat juices from the pan, let down with a little water or stock and seasoned properly, and it is poured over boiled or mashed potatoes so it soaks straight in. Made well it tastes intensely of the roast itself.

Ingredients

Makes about 350ml, enough for six

• the browned butter and juices from roasting beef Dutch roasts are usually started in butter, which is where the flavour comes from
• 30g (1oz) butter extra, if the pan is dry
• 1 small onion, quartered optional
• 1 bay leaf
• 300ml (½ pint) hot water or light beef stock water is traditional and lets the meat flavour through
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• 15g (½oz) cold butter to finish
• salt and plenty of black pepper

Kit

• Roasting tin or heavy frying pan
• Wooden spoon
• Small jug

Method

1. Lift the beef out of the tin and rest it somewhere warm. Do not pour anything away. In a Dutch roast the fat is mostly butter and it is part of the sauce, not something to be skimmed off.

2. Set the tin over a medium heat. If it looks dry, add the extra 30g of butter. Add the onion quarters and bay leaf and cook for three or four minutes, pressing the onion down so it picks up colour from the base.

3. Pour in the hot water or stock and scrape the tin hard with a wooden spoon until every bit of the caramelised residue has lifted and the liquid has turned brown.

4. Simmer briskly for six or seven minutes, until it has reduced by roughly a quarter and tastes properly of beef rather than of hot water. It will still be thin. That is the whole idea.

5. Add the vinegar and sugar. These are not there to make it sweet or sour, they just stop a thin sauce tasting flat.

6. Strain into a warm jug, pressing the onion lightly. Any juices that have run out of the resting beef go in at this point too.

7. Whisk in the cold butter off the heat, which gives it a faint gloss and a little more body without thickening it. Season hard with salt and black pepper, then pour it over boiled potatoes, mash or stamppot.

Tips worth knowing

• Season this more aggressively than you would a thick gravy. There is nothing much to carry the salt, so an underseasoned jus just tastes watery.
• Water rather than stock is genuinely the traditional choice, and it lets the roasting residue do the talking. Use a light stock only if the pan was not very brown.
• Never boil it hard after the butter goes in, since the sheen is the only thickness this sauce has and boiling breaks it.
• If you want something closer to a British gravy from the same base, whisk in a teaspoon of cornflour slaked in cold water at the simmering stage, though you are then making something else.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days in the fridge, where it will set to a soft jelly if your roast was gelatinous. Reheat gently and whisk in a fresh knob of butter. It freezes for three months but loses a little of its fresh roasted character.

Questions people ask