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Cullis, or Thickened Gravy

A thickened gravy made by adding flour to a pan of gravy and simmering.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Cullis, or Thickened Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gravy

  1. Heat the gravy in a pan.

  2. Add flour to a basin with a ladleful of gravy, then stir well.

  3. Gradually pour in the rest of the gravy and mix thoroughly.

  4. Return the mixture to the pan.

Simmer and adjust

  1. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

  2. Do not remove the scum until ready to strain the gravy.

  3. Simmer longer to adjust thickness.

  4. Add warm broth or water as needed.

  5. Stir the sauce in the basin while cooling.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Flour
Starch that thickens the gravy as it heats with the liquid.
Gravy
Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens.

The step that matters

Mixing the flour into the gravy. Adding flour directly to hot liquid can form lumps. Mixing it first with a ladleful of gravy in a separate basin lets the starch disperse evenly before it thickens the whole batch.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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