By Shannon Hayes

I’m not sure where it all started. Maybe it was back during the Norman Conquest. But no matter how you look at, in spite of their relative cooperation and neighborliness since the Crimean war, the French and the English still have a major long- running dispute: the best way to dress a piece of meat. The French would ladle on a reduction. The English would smother it in gravy. Happily, here in North America, we’ve got the culinary benefit of the cultural melting pot (and saucepan), and we can enjoy both.

And right now, as we are all seeking ways to stretch our food dollars while keeping our families as sated and well-nourished as possible, learning the art of making a good gravy and a good reduction is well worth the effort. Gravies and reductions, as described here, are not made from expensive wines or canned store-bought meat broth. They aren’t even made from water (although it can certainly be done if you are in a jam). They are made from your pan drippings and a jar of homemade broth that you keep in your refrigerator.

In Long Way on a Little, I talk about the economic importance of broth and describe fully how to make your own, but for now, let’s consider the budgetary value of incorporating that broth into properly made gravies and reductions…

To stretch our food dollars as far and as sustainably as possible, we typically stuff ourselves with cheap high-carb foods from the grocery store. Instead, we should be making use of the meat and vegetables available to us locally, either in our own backyards or at our farmers’ markets. These foods are fresher, more nutritious and tasty, lower in carbohydrates, less demanding on our bodies’ digestive system, and they will fuel us most efficiently. However, these foods can also cost more; as such, it is imperative that they be used to their fullest nutritional capacity. If you discard the leaves and stalks of your broccoli and cauliflower and eat only the florets; crack your pasture-raised eggs into a pan and get rid of the shells; peel your local onions and then discard the skins; peel and trim carrots and toss the ends and peels into the compost; or if you nibble your pork chops but throw away the bones, roast your chicken then throw out the carcass, or trim and discard fat from steaks, you are, in essence, driving up the cost of your food.

All of that food waste can be saved up in a phenomenal nutritional bank account by simmering each week’s trim and scrap food into a batch of broth (learn how here). The broth captures all the vitamins and minerals these “wastes” have to offer, and saves them in a form of liquid gold that can enhance the nutrient density of your subsequent meals. It can be made into soup, drunk plain with breakfast, or it can be used as a reduction or made into gravy that maximizes the nutritional glory of your local, grassfed and pastured meats, while minimizing the portion size. Gravies and reductions use the pan drippings and incorporate them into a sauce (here, with the use of homemade broth). The result is more calories from healthful animal fats, rich with omega fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes from the broth, all blended into a tasty elixir that enhances the flavor of your meats and helps satiate your family with smaller portions.
Whether you prefer the French reduction or the English gravy, you’ll be able to satisfy more tummies with something truly tasty. I’ve provided below a recipe for each, but for now, let’s explore the differences.

Reduction: This French method for dressing up a piece of meat is accomplished by removing the meat, then placing the empty roasting pan over medium heat. Once the drippings are bubbling, they are blended with a liquid, typically either wine or broth (here we’ll use broth), then allowed to simmer uncovered until reduced in volume, typically by half. During this time, the liquids most prone to evaporation are pushed out of the sauce, leaving a super-concentrated liquor that is then thickened with a pat of butter. Reductions can be spooned over steaks, roasts, and chops of any kind. As MFK Fisher reminds us in How to Cook a Wolf, they can also be tossed with fresh greens, making for a hearty and more nourishing salad.

Gravy: The English response to the French reduction, the most noteworthy difference between gravy and a reduction is the use of flour to make a roux paste, resulting in a thicker, comparatively coarse sauce. The flavor is less intense than a reduction, but it is redolent of home-grown comfort food, and takes about half the time to prepare. If made with potato flour instead of wheat flour, the meaty flavors will not be quite as over-ridden with the “cereal” taste from wheat.

It is worth memorizing the simple steps for both sauces, as they can help turn any over-cooked piece of meat into something spectacular, they can stretch the number of nutrient-dense portions you can serve out, and they’re just plain yummy. And remember: once dinner is over, don’t throw the leftovers out! Leftover reductions and gravies can be re-warmed and spooned over re-heated meats, they can be the base for a soup (see Refrigerator Soup in Long Way on a Little), or they can simply be added to next week’s broth pot along with all your other food scraps.

Here are a few recipes to get you started, taken from Long Way on a Little:

Shallot Dijon Reduction
(works for any roast meat or poultry)

Fat and pan drippings from any cooked roast
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 cups meat broth
4 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper, to taste

Set the roasting pan, containing the drippings, over direct medium heat. Heat the pan drippings until they are bubbling. Add the shallots and Dijon mustard. Continue cooking, stirring and scraping, until the shallots are clear and the browned bits from the pan are mixed into the paste with the mustard and pan juices. Add the broth and continue to simmer unitl the sauce is reduced by half. Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, stirring well after each addition. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle the reduction over the meat and serve.
Pan Gravy for Roasted Meat and Poultry

Fat and pan juices from the roast, separated with a fat separator
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or lard
¼ cup flour (potato flour or all-purpose flour will work)
2 cups meat broth
Coarse salt and ground black pepper

Remove the roast to a warm platter, pouring the fat from the roasting juices back into the roasting pan. Add the butter or lard to the roasting pan and set it on the stove top over medium heat. Once it melts and bubbles, whisk in the flour to make a roux. Continue to whisk 1-2 minutes longer, until the paste has browned. Slowly whick in the pan juices and broth, and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow the gravy to simmer for 5-10 minutes, until it thickens to your preferred consistency (remembering that it will thicken further on its own when it comes to the table). Stir often to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

Shannon Hayes is the host of grassfedcooking.com and is the author of four books, the most recent being Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lover’s Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously. She works with her family on Sap Bush Hollow Farm in upstate New York.