Gravy, how gloopy do you like it?

I’m vegetarian ( with a few minor exceptions) so no meal I make involves gravy. I don’t think I’ve eaten gravy for a good 25 years. My mum was an excellent cook though and when we were kids she make fantastic Roasts etc and her gravy was absolutely fantastic - pretty runny but absolutely full of flavour. She had a massively thick Delia Smith cook book - presumably that helped matters. She made the best roast potatoes I’ve ever had - perfectly golden and crisp on the outside and fluffy inside. Absolute heaven with a bit of gravy. She had a fair few flaws as a mother but she was an amazing cook. Beautiful apple crumbles and amazing cakes. On the food front i was very lucky as a kid - but on the emotional support front…..not so great! 

I’m vegetarian ( with a few minor exceptions) so no meal I make involves gravy. I don’t think I’ve eaten gravy for a good 25 years. My mum was an excellent cook though and when we were kids she make fantastic Roasts etc and her gravy was absolutely fantastic - pretty runny but absolutely full of flavour. She had a massively thick Delia Smith cook book - presumably that helped matters. She made the best roast potatoes I’ve ever had - perfectly golden and crisp on the outside and fluffy inside. Absolute heaven with a bit of gravy. She had a fair few flaws as a mother but she was an amazing cook. Beautiful apple crumbles and amazing cakes. On the food front i was very lucky as a kid - but on the emotional support front…..not so great! 

I use the old fashioned bisto powder you heat up with water in a pan, it's vegetarian too. I'm not a fan of granules, they tend towards the consistency of wall paper paste rather than a proper shiney gravy gloop. I tried some vegetarian gravy granules and they really didn't agree with me I was ill all weelend. Putting a glug of red wine in bisto when you're adding the liquid to the powder and then letting the alcohol cook off, gives a lovely flavour.

My roasties are golden and crisp too, the trick whether you have meat or veggie is to par boil the potatoes, drain them and let most of the steam evaporate before putting them into a pan of very hot oil. Letting the first bloom of steam disipate takes most of the excess moisture out of them so the fluffy, more cooked outer bits don't fall off when they hit the hot oil.

I like my custard quite thick too, none of this just coating the back of a spoon nonsense.