Gravy from a Roast Chicken Tray

A roast chicken tray, even the flimsy foil one under a supermarket hot chicken, holds a couple of tablespoons of liquid gold. Most of it goes in the bin. Do this instead and you get gravy with almost no other ingredients, because the tray has already done the hard part for you.

Ingredients

Makes about 400ml, enough for four plates

• juices and stuck on bits from a roast chicken tray usually 3 to 5 tbsp
• 1 tbsp (15g) plain flour
• 400ml (14fl oz) hot chicken stock a cube is fine, the tray is doing the flavour work
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp wholegrain or Dijon mustard optional
• black pepper to taste

Kit

• Roasting tin, or a saucepan if the tray is foil
• Wooden spoon
• Whisk
• Small jug for separating fat

Method

1. Lift the chicken out and let it rest on a board or a warm plate. Tip everything from the tray into a small jug and give it two minutes to settle. The clear fat rises to the top and the darker, jellied juices sink.

2. Spoon two tablespoons of the fat off the top and put it in a roasting tin or small saucepan. Keep the dark juices underneath separately, they go in later and they are the good bit.

3. If the tray is a sturdy tin, put it straight over a hob ring on medium heat. If it is a flimsy foil tray from the supermarket, do not, it will buckle. Instead pour a splash of hot stock into the foil tray, scrape it out thoroughly with a spoon and add all of that to a proper saucepan with the fat.

4. Heat the fat until it shimmers, sprinkle in the flour and stir it to a paste. Cook for a minute over medium heat until it smells toasty and has gone a shade darker.

5. Pour in a third of the hot stock and whisk, scraping the base hard. Any browned residue in the tin should release into the liquid. Add the rest of the stock and whisk smooth.

6. Simmer for four minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon, then pour in the reserved dark juices from the jug along with anything that has leaked out of the resting chicken.

7. Finish with lemon juice, the mustard if you are using it, and black pepper. A shop bought chicken is usually well salted already, so taste before you reach for the salt tin.

8. Strain it if there is a lot of loose herb or skin in there, or leave it rustic. Either way pour it into a warm jug, because chicken gravy goes cold quickly.

Tips worth knowing

• Separate the fat from the juices rather than using the lot. Two tablespoons of fat is what you need for one tablespoon of flour, and everything above that just makes it greasy.
• Supermarket hot chickens are seasoned heavily, so their tray juices are salty. Use a low salt stock cube or half a cube plus water if you are working with one.
• Do not put a foil tray directly over a flame. They buckle, they tear and you will lose the lot down the back of the hob.
• If the tray had lemon, garlic or herbs in it, squash them into the liquid with a fork before you strain. There is real flavour left in a roasted garlic clove.

Keeping and reheating

Three days in the fridge and three months frozen. If you are freezing it, do it the same day. Gravy made with tray juices from a chicken that has been sitting warm on a counter for hours is not one to keep hanging about.

Questions people ask