Mustard Cream Gravy

Mustard cream sauce is a five minute job that people routinely ruin by boiling the mustard. Heat destroys the compounds that give mustard its kick and leaves behind a dull bitterness, so it goes in at the end with the pan off the hob. Serve it with pork chops, gammon, chicken or good sausages.

Ingredients

Makes about 300ml, enough for four plates

• 20g (3/4oz) butter
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 100ml (3 1/2fl oz) dry white wine
• 200ml (7fl oz) chicken stock
• 150ml (5fl oz) double cream
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp English mustard for heat, add less if you are cautious
• salt and white pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped tarragon or chives optional

Kit

• Small saucepan or frying pan
• Wooden spoon
• Measuring jug

Method

1. Melt the butter in the pan over a medium heat and cook the shallot gently for four minutes, until soft and completely translucent with no colour on it. Colour here would make the sauce look muddy.

2. Pour in the white wine and turn the heat up. Let it bubble until only about two tablespoons remain, which takes three or four minutes. The wine must be reduced before the cream arrives, because raw wine acid meeting cream in a hot pan is a reliable way to split it.

3. Add the chicken stock and simmer for five minutes to reduce it by roughly a third. Taste and season now, while there is no dairy in the pan to mute the salt.

4. Turn the heat right down and pour in the double cream. Bring it to the gentlest simmer, where the surface just trembles, and hold it there for three minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon.

5. Take the pan off the heat entirely. Let it sit for thirty seconds, then stir in the Dijon and the English mustard. Off the heat is not optional here. Mustard cooked in a sauce loses its heat and gains a flat bitterness.

6. Taste again and adjust. If it needs sharpening, add another quarter teaspoon of Dijon rather than vinegar or lemon, which would risk curdling it at this stage.

7. Stir in the herbs if using and serve straight away. If it has to wait, keep it in the pan off the heat with a lid on and stir it before pouring.

Tips worth knowing

• Use double cream. Single cream and half fat creme fraiche both split when they meet mustard acid in a warm pan, while double cream has enough fat to hold everything together.
• English mustard is roughly four times hotter than Dijon, so treat it as a seasoning rather than an ingredient. Half a teaspoon in 300ml of sauce is noticeable but not aggressive.
• Wholegrain mustard behaves differently and can go in slightly earlier, since the heat is locked inside the seeds. Smooth mustards always go in at the very end.
• If you are serving this with pork chops, pour any resting juices from the board into the sauce at the last second. It costs nothing and adds a lot.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days in the fridge, covered. The mustard heat fades a little overnight, so stir in an extra quarter teaspoon when you reheat. Warm it slowly and do not boil it. It does not freeze well.

Questions people ask