Pork Gravy

[Marlene]

I have always just used water when deglazing the pan for pork gravy. However, I've become adventurous with my new oven and all clad roasting pan. I use beef stock for beef gravy and chicken stock for chicken and turkey, but I've never heard of a pork stock. So I went ahead and used a beef stock tonight. The result, predicably a beefy taste, not what I was looking for at all.

I'm thinking the next time, I'll use white wine to deglaze the pan first.

How does everyone make their pork gravy?

[Jinmyo]

Sometimes I'll use minced shallots, ginger, and dashi (Japanese bonito/kombu stock) and sake and then add some shoyu once it's out of the pan.

Sometimes I'll use shallots and white wine.

Sometimes I'll use orange or grapefruit juice.

[Motochef]

Dear Marlene:

Please tell me what type of pork cut you are preparing as well as your expectations.

Quite often a white wine deglaze (type dependent upon the desired results) with chicken or vegetable stock works.

Tell me what you want to achieve.

[Marlene]

Dear Marlene:

Please tell me what type of pork cut you are preparing as well as your expectations.

Quite often a white wine deglaze (type dependent upon the desired results) with chicken or vegetable stock works. 

Tell me what you want to achieve.

I am using a boneless pork loin centre cut roast. I am trying to achive a nice gravy rather than an au jus (which I've never actually heard of for pork anyway ) I just found this one to be way to beefy in taste, not porky. Does that make any sense at all? I've just re-read it, and I'm not sure it does to me! I know what I mean, I'm just having trouble expressing it.

[Bux]

For the most part, "gravy" is not a word heard in this house, so I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing or not. As I look back at our copy of the original Julia Child books, what strikes me are the annotations. Flour in sauces had been halved and halved again over the years and there's rarely any four, or roux in any of our sauces -- especially pan deglazings. Just a personal choice over the years. Fat in the pan after sauteeing or roasting is poured off, unless we're sauteeing some shallots or onions and we usually are -- then just enough fat is left to do that. With pork, we'd use a white or brown chicken stock rather than beef. The fact is that we usually have a reduced pork stock in the freezer because we like to poach pork tenderloins and eat them sliced cold in salads or sandwiches, but we're more likely to have some reduced chicken stock or even the deglazing from a recent roasted chicken in the refrigerator rather than the freezer. Water will work in a pinch, white wine is better if it's not allowed to overcome the flavor of the meat. Madeira is wonderful with pork, but it should be used even more sparingly than white wine in my opinion

[Marlene]

For the most part, "gravy" is not a word heard in this house, so I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing or not. As I look back at our copy of the original Julia Child books, what strikes me are the annotations. Flour in sauces had been halved and halved again over the years and there's rarely any four, or roux in any of our sauces -- especially pan deglazings. Just a personal choice over the years. Fat in the pan after sauteeing or roasting is poured off, unless we're sauteeing some shallots or onions and we usually are -- then just enough fat is left to do that. With pork, we'd use a white or brown chicken stock rather than beef. The fact is that we usually have a reduced pork stock in the freezer because we like to poach pork tenderloins and eat them sliced cold in salads or sandwiches, but we're more likely to have some reduced chicken stock or even the deglazing from a recent roasted chicken in the refrigerator rather than the freezer. Water will work in a pinch, white wine is better if it's not allowed to overcome the flavor of the meat. Madeira is wonderful with pork, but it should be used even more sparingly than white wine in my opinion

This makes sense to me. Generally, my house prefers a thicker "gravy" rather than a sauce. But it makes more sense to me to use a "white stock" as you are suggesting here. Does one make a pork stock the same way as any other stock? When I talk about de glazing, I always deglaze the pan before adding flour or roux to make it thicker, scraping up all those crispy bits, and then add other things. This was the first time I'd tried it with beef stock and it obviously didn't work. Using water always made it have a watery taste, so i was wondering what I was missing here! Thanks

[Bux]

It seems like ancient history, but when we used to use flour to make the sauce, we cooked the flour in a bit of the fat, and along with the shallots, making a roux before deglazing the pan. That's French roux, not a Cajun roux. I seem to recall they're quite a bit different in style and use.

[Suzanne F]

Sure you can make pork stock just like any other; it will be a bit sweet, though. But I usually use chicken stock for pork sauces/gravies. This is one use where the canned stuff is perfect: just a hint of flavor, not enough to overpower the meat flavor.

[mamster]

The reason you never hear about pork (or lamb) stock is that it's far less versatile that chicken or veal stock, less neutral-tasting. With veal or chicken stock you can add body without making people say, "Ah--tastes like chicken."

But pork stock is great for things that are already porky, like your pan sauce or Asian or Eastern European pork soups. When you make pork stock, use plenty of meat as well as bones; with pork shoulder going for maybe $1.50 a pound, there's no reason not to.

[Marlene]

The reason you never hear about pork (or lamb) stock is that it's far less versatile that chicken or veal stock, less neutral-tasting.  With veal or chicken stock you can add body without making people say, "Ah--tastes like chicken."

But pork stock is great for things that are already porky, like your pan sauce or Asian or Eastern European pork soups.  When you make pork stock, use plenty of meat as well as bones;  with pork shoulder going for maybe $1.50 a pound, there's no reason not to.

This shall be my new project this weekend, once I've recovered that is