How To Make Red Wine Gravy
A vital part of any roast dinner. This is an easy, hands off recipe that makes a rich, flavourful gravy.
Making Gravy
When I worked in a restaurant, we use to spend a long time cooking a stock made up of bones, red wine & vegetable trimmings on the stove. This was then passed through a chinois or sieve, reduced & thickened.
When you want to make a gravy at home, it’s not really possible to have a pan of stock cooking on the stove for all day. So the way around this is to cook the gravy in a low temperature oven overnight, pass it the following day then reduce & thicken.
Overnight Gravy
Day 1 – Evening
For this gravy, we’re using a combination of chicken wings, chicken bones & bone marrow along with a load of vegetables. The first step is to roast all of these off in the oven until a deep, golden brown.
It’s really important to get enough colour on the bones & veg as this is what will bring flavour to the stock.
The next step is to place the roasting tin of bones & veg onto the stove, scoop the marrow out of the bones then deglaze the tin with tomato paste & red wine. Once reduced slightly, we fill the tin up with cold water & add in chicken & beef stock cubes and some fresh rosemary. We then bring this to a simmer then place it into an oven set to 90°c or your oven’s lowest temperature & cook overnight.
Day 2
The following day, we remove the gravy from the oven & pass it into a large saucepan, through a sieve.
This is then placed over a low heat & warmed through. A ladle is used to skim any fat from the stock at this stage.
Next, we add in some Worcestershire sauce & balsamic vinegar for flavour & enough gravy browning to turn the stock a deep, brown colour.
The final step is to bring the stock to a boil, thicken it using a paste made from cornflour & water then cook out & stir in a knob of butter and some salt & pepper.
The gravy is now ready to use immediately or can be cooled down & stored in the fridge.
Make sure to reheat it so that it’s piping hot before serving.
More Recipes
How To Make Red Wine Gravy
Equipment
- Large Roasting Tin
- Large Saucepan
Materials
- 1 kg Chicken Wings/Bones Or A Combination Of Both
- 2 Bone Marrow Canoes
- 1 Head Celery
- 8 Carrots
- 4 Large White Onions
- 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 500 ml Red Wine
- 4 Stock Cubes 2 x Chicken, 2 x Beef
- 8 Sprigs Rosemary
To Finish
- 3 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 3 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Cornflour
- Gravy Browning
- 20 g Butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220°c/200°c fan.
- Roughly chop the celery, onion & carrots (no need to peel) & place into a large roasting tin.
- Add the chicken wings/bones & bone marrow to the roasting tray & drizzle over a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. Toss to coat then roast in the oven for an hour or until well roasted. Make sure to stir every 20 minutes or so.
- Transfer the roasting tray to a stove set to a medium heat & turn the oven down to 90° (or your oven’s lowest temperature). Scoop the marrow out of the bones.
- Deglaze the tray with the tomato paste & red wine & allow to reduce slightly.Pour in enough cold water to completely cover the bones & veg then crumble in the stock cubes & add in the rosemary. Place the tray back into the oven & leave to cook overnight.
- The next day, take the stock out of the oven & pass through a sieve into a large saucepan.
- Heat the stock over a low heat & use a metal spoon/ladle to skim the fat off the top.Next, add in the worcestershire sauce, vinegar & enough gravy browning to turn the stock a rich, brown colour (usually a teaspoon or two).
- Turn the heat up & bring the stock to the boil. Mix the cornflour with enough cold water to make a thick paste then gradually add this to the boiling stock until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (you might not need to use all of the cornflour).
- Cook the cornflour out for 3-4 minutes, season with salt then stir in the butter.
- Serve immediately or leave to cool then store in the fridge. Kept, refrigerated, this will last for a couple of days.
