Whisky and Cream Gravy

Whisky in a sauce is a fine line. Too much and it tastes like a bar mat, the right amount and you get smoke, malt and a bit of heat behind the cream. Use a soft Speyside unless you actively want peat smoke in your dinner. This is a pan sauce, so make it in whatever you cooked the meat in.

Ingredients

Makes about 350ml, enough for four steaks

• 20g (¾oz) butter
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp green peppercorns in brine, drained and lightly crushed or 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 60ml (2fl oz) Scotch whisky a soft Speyside such as a Glenlivet or Glenfiddich style malt, or a decent blend
• 250ml (9fl oz) hot beef or chicken stock
• 150ml (5fl oz) double cream
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• salt

Kit

• Heavy frying pan
• Wooden spoon

Method

1. Cook your steaks and set them aside to rest. Pour off any burnt fat but keep the pan and its brown crust, and set it over a medium heat with the butter.

2. Soften the shallots for three minutes, then add the peppercorns and cook for a further minute.

3. Slide the pan off the heat and pour in the whisky. Return it to the heat and let it boil hard for a good two minutes, scraping the base, until the liquid has almost gone and what is left smells of malt rather than spirit. Whisky is 40 per cent alcohol and short changing this step is what makes a whisky sauce taste raw and harsh.

4. Add the stock and boil it for four or five minutes until reduced by about half. You are building concentration before the cream goes in, because cream cannot be boiled hard later.

5. Turn the heat down, pour in the cream and let it come to a bare simmer. Cook for three or four minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon.

6. Stir in the mustard and any juices that have run from the resting steaks. Taste, season with salt only, and pour over the meat.

Tips worth knowing

• Avoid heavily peated Islay whisky unless you love it. Smoke concentrates as the whisky reduces and can end up tasting like a bonfire in cream.
• 60ml for four people is the ceiling. This is about the same as two pub measures and it is already assertive.
• For a non-alcoholic version, use 60ml of strong cold black tea with 1 tsp of vanilla free malt extract, or simply 1 tsp of Lapsang Souchong tea leaves steeped in the stock and strained out. Both give the smoky, malty note without the spirit.
• Never boil the sauce hard once the cream is in. It splits, and no amount of whisking brings a properly split cream sauce back.

Keeping and reheating

Best made fresh and served straight away. It will keep two days in the fridge but the cream separates on reheating unless you warm it very slowly and whisk. Do not freeze it.

Questions people ask