Lancashire Hotpot Gravy

A Lancashire hotpot is lamb and onions under a lid of sliced potato, cooked long and slow. The gravy underneath is not the thick brown stuff people expect. It is thin, savoury and slightly gelatinous from the lamb, and it needs to stay that way or the potato lid on top goes soggy from below. This makes enough to build a hotpot with, or to serve alongside one that has already come out of the oven a bit dry.

Ingredients

Makes about 700ml, enough to build a hotpot for six

• 2 tbsp lamb dripping or vegetable oil
• 3 medium (about 400g / 14oz) onions sliced
• 1 carrot diced small, optional but usual in Lancashire
• 1½ tbsp (25g) plain flour kept low on purpose
• 800ml (1½ pints) lamb stock hot, chicken stock at a push
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp thyme leaves
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Heavy based saucepan
• Whisk

Method

1. Heat the dripping in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onions and carrot with a pinch of salt for 15 minutes until soft and lightly golden. You want them sweet but not caramelised dark, since hotpot gravy is a mid brown, not a near black.

2. Sprinkle over the flour and stir for 2 minutes. A tablespoon and a half into 800ml is deliberately little. This gravy needs to soak up into the meat and stay loose enough that the potatoes on top crisp instead of steam.

3. Add a ladle of the hot stock and whisk it smooth, then pour in the rest with the bay leaves and thyme.

4. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 15 minutes. It should thicken only slightly, enough to lose the watery look but still run off the spoon in a stream.

5. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and a lot of black pepper. Taste it: it should be a touch stronger than you would drink, because the lamb and potatoes will dilute it in the dish.

6. To build a hotpot, layer seasoned lamb chops or diced shoulder with the onions from the gravy in a deep dish, pour the liquid in until it comes about three quarters of the way up, then shingle sliced potatoes on top, brush with butter and bake at 160C fan for 2 hours, uncovered for the last 30 minutes.

7. If you are serving the gravy separately to an already cooked hotpot, keep back 200ml of the stock and add it at the end, so the gravy stays loose enough to pour under the potato crust.

Tips worth knowing

• Lamb neck or shoulder gives a far better gravy than leg, because the fat and connective tissue melt out and give body no amount of flour will match.
• Do not drown the hotpot. The liquid should stop short of the potato layer or the top steams and never crisps.
• Skim the fat off the top before serving. Lamb fat sets fast and a thick greasy layer over the gravy ruins the plate.
• Pickled red cabbage on the side is standard and the vinegar does a real job against the fat, so it is worth having rather than just traditional.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps 3 days in the fridge and freezes for 3 months. It sets to a jelly when cold, which is the sign of good lamb stock. Reheat gently and loosen with hot water if it has tightened.

Questions people ask