Vermouth Gravy

Vermouth is fortified wine that has been infused with herbs and botanicals, which makes it a shortcut to a complex sauce. Better still, an open bottle keeps for months, so you can make a wine gravy without opening a bottle of wine you then have to drink. Use dry white, not red or sweet.

Ingredients

Makes about 400ml, enough for four plates

• 25g (1oz) butter
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 1½ tbsp (22g) plain flour
• 150ml (5fl oz) dry white vermouth Noilly Prat, Martini Extra Dry or similar
• 450ml (16fl oz) hot chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 10 black peppercorns lightly crushed
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt

Kit

• Heavy frying pan
• Whisk
• Sieve

Method

1. Melt the butter in a heavy pan and cook the shallots gently for five minutes with the peppercorns and bay leaf until soft and translucent.

2. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute and a half without browning it.

3. Pour in the vermouth and whisk it smooth. Let it bubble for five to six minutes until reduced by half.

4. Taste the reduction. Vermouth is fortified to around 17 per cent and packed with wormwood, gentian and other bitter botanicals, so it needs longer than you would think to soften. Raw it tastes medicinal, reduced it tastes aromatic.

5. Add the hot stock a ladle at a time, whisking to keep it smooth, and bring to a gentle simmer.

6. Cook for eight to ten minutes until the gravy coats the back of a spoon and has reduced by about a fifth.

7. Strain through a sieve into a warm jug to catch the peppercorns and bay, then stir in the parsley and lemon juice. Season with salt and serve over roast chicken or pan fried white fish.

Tips worth knowing

• 150ml is the right amount for four people. Vermouth is more assertive than white wine because of the botanicals, so the same quantity you would use of Sauvignon Blanc will taste medicinal.
• Keep opened vermouth in the fridge and use it within about three months. It is far more stable than wine but it does slowly oxidise and go flat.
• For a non-alcoholic version, steep a chamomile teabag and a strip of lemon peel in 150ml of white grape juice with 2 tsp of white wine vinegar, then reduce by half. The chamomile provides the faintly bitter herbal note that makes vermouth taste like vermouth.
• This is one of the best gravies for fish. Use fish stock instead of chicken and finish with dill.

Keeping and reheating

Three days in the fridge, three months frozen. The parsley and lemon are best added fresh after reheating, since both fade in storage.

Questions people ask