The Saturday Kitchen star issued the advice in the run up to the festive season
James Martin issued the advice on This Morning(Image: ITV)
James Martin has issued a buy it now warning for anyone hoping to make the perfect gravy this Christmas. The Saturday Kitchen star appeared on This Morning as he gave his advice in the run up to the festive season.
Hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard quizzed the 53-year-old on his go-to Christmas gravy recipe. James urged people following his recipe to not leave it too late to get one vital ingredient for his sauce. He said: “In the supermarkets now, you’ve got the pre made stocks.
“Go out now and buy it. Because the minute you hit the week before Christmas, you’ve got no chance. Buy it now. Veal stock or chicken stock is what you want. And veal stock is made out of beef bones. That’s the difference. Chicken is chicken.
“You can’t really make it out of turkey stock because it’s not going to taste the same. So basically you buy these big tubs of stock because this is what chefs are doing in restaurants, but we do it on a bigger scale. Very few make their own stocks anymore.”
James’ advice was if people are catering for a party of 10 for Christmas, as he said: “Red wine in a pan, half a bottle for instance for Christmas for 10 people.
“Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, half a bottle, in the pan. Then you put these stocks in there. About a litre and a half of this stock so a decent amount. You put a good knob of butter in it. About a third of a block of butter. And then you reduce it down.
“The butter will sit on top. When the sauce is ready, it all emulsifies into a classic chef style jus. That’s by reducing it down.
“Then you take that, you put it in ice cube trays, freeze it, pop them out the ice cube and then take two ice cubes for one person. Just warm it on the pan.
“It’s all made the classic way by reducing stock.”
