Southern Tomato Gravy

Tomato gravy turns up all over the American South and it is not a pasta sauce. It is a proper roux gravy that happens to be made with tomatoes instead of stock, and the splash of milk at the end takes the sharp edge off and turns the colour a soft brick red. Good over rice, over scones, over fried eggs, or on its own with a lot of bread.

Ingredients

Makes about 600ml, enough for four plates

• 3 tbsp bacon dripping or butter with a rasher of smoked bacon fried in it first
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 30g (1oz) plain flour
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes a good quality one, cheap tins are watery and sour
• 250ml (9fl oz) hot chicken stock or water at a push
• 100ml (3½fl oz) whole milk added at the end
• 1 tsp caster sugar to balance the tin
• ½ tsp smoked paprika optional
• salt and plenty of black pepper to taste

Kit

• Heavy frying pan or shallow casserole
• Wooden spoon
• Balloon whisk

Method

1. Melt the bacon dripping in a heavy frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook for six or seven minutes until soft and translucent, without letting it brown much.

2. Scatter in the flour and stir it into the fat and onion. Cook this for three minutes, stirring the whole time, until it turns the colour of pale toast. Tomato gravy wants a slightly browner roux than a milk gravy does.

3. Tip in the tinned tomatoes and stir hard. It will seize into a stiff, dark paste immediately because there is very little liquid. Keep working it with the spoon for two minutes to cook out the tinned tomato flavour.

4. Pour in the hot stock a bit at a time, stirring each addition in until smooth. Add the sugar and the smoked paprika if using.

5. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for twelve to fifteen minutes, stirring every couple of minutes and scraping the base. It will thicken and the colour will deepen from bright red to a dull brick.

6. Turn the heat right down and stir in the milk. It will lighten the colour and round out the acidity. Do not let it boil hard after this or it can curdle against the tomato.

7. Taste and season. It usually wants a good pinch more salt, a lot of black pepper and sometimes another half teaspoon of sugar depending on the tomatoes. Serve hot.

Tips worth knowing

• The quality of the tin makes or breaks this. A cheap tin of chopped tomatoes is sour and thin and no amount of sugar hides it, so use the best you can and crush whole plum tomatoes by hand if you have them.
• Add the milk over the lowest possible heat and do not boil it afterwards. Acid and dairy will split if you push them, and a curdled tomato gravy looks unpleasant even though it tastes fine.
• This is one of the few gravies that genuinely improves with fifteen minutes of unattended simmering, so give it the time rather than trying to thicken it faster with more flour.
• If it tastes tinny rather than sharp, that is undercooked tomato. Another five minutes of simmering will usually sort it, and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda will if it does not.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps five days in the fridge and freezes for three months. It thickens considerably when cold. Reheat gently with a splash of stock, and if it looks grainy from the milk, a quick whisk brings it back together.

Questions people ask