Upgraded Gravy Granules

Granules are not cheating, they are a thickener and a seasoning in one, and there is no shame in a tub of Bisto. What lets them down is that they are designed to be made with water and nothing else. Give them ten minutes of onion, a lump of butter and a bit of acid and most people at the table will not clock the difference.

Ingredients

Makes about 500ml, enough for four plates with seconds

• 1 small onion halved and sliced thinly
• 25g (1oz) butter
• 4 tbsp gravy granules or the amount your packet says for 600ml
• 450ml (16fl oz) boiling water deliberately less than the packet says
• 1 tsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce standard Lea and Perrins contains anchovy, so use a vegetarian bottle here
• 1 tsp cider vinegar or the juice of a lemon wedge
• black pepper to taste

Kit

• Small saucepan
• Whisk
• Kettle
• Measuring jug

Method

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat and add the sliced onion with a pinch of salt. Fry for six or seven minutes, stirring now and then, until the edges are properly brown and the rest is soft and floppy. Do not stop at pale gold, the brown bits are the whole point.

2. While the onion is going, boil the kettle and measure 450ml of water into a jug. Using less water than the packet says is what stops upgraded granules tasting watered down once you add the butter and the onion liquid.

3. Turn the heat down to low. Sprinkle the granules straight onto the hot onions and butter and stir for about twenty seconds so they toast a little in the fat.

4. Pour in the hot water while whisking steadily. Granules thicken almost instantly, so keep the whisk moving for the first fifteen seconds and any threatened lumps will disappear.

5. Bring it to a bare simmer and cook for two minutes. It will look thicker in the pan than it will on the plate, so aim for something that just about ribbons off the whisk.

6. Off the heat, stir in the Worcestershire sauce and the vinegar or lemon juice. Taste. Granules are already salted so you are almost certainly reaching for pepper, not salt.

7. Pour it out as it is if you like the onion in there, or push it through a sieve if you want the smooth look of packet gravy with none of the packet flatness.

Tips worth knowing

• Whisk the granules into fat before the water goes in. That thin coating of butter keeps them from clumping and gives the finished gravy a better gloss.
• Make the gravy about twenty per cent stronger than the packet says. Everything you add afterwards, the onions, the butter, the acid, dilutes it.
• Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies. If you are cooking for vegetarians, use a vegetarian version or a teaspoon of Marmite instead.
• If you have any pan you have just cooked meat or sausages in, make this in that pan instead of a clean one and scrape the base as the water goes in.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days in the fridge. It sets very firm because of the starch in the granules, so reheat with a good splash of water and whisk it back to smooth. Freezing is possible but the texture goes slightly grainy, so it is better made fresh.

Questions people ask