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Gravy Master Seasoning & Browning Sauce, Vegetarian, 5 fl oz
$17.31
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Product Details
Gravy Master is a seasoning and browning sauce, which is a different thing from gravy. The 5 fl oz bottle holds a dark, syrupy concentrate you add to something you have already cooked: it takes pale pan juices to a deep roasted brown and lays a caramelised, savoury note underneath the rest of the dish. It does no thickening of its own, so it works alongside your flour or cornstarch rather than in place of it.
A very small amount does the job. Around half a teaspoon will carry a cup of thin, grey-looking gravy to a proper brown, and a few drops are enough for a pot of stew, a soup, a pan of onions or a skillet of ground beef. Used the other way round, brush it thinly over a roast, a chicken or a burger before it meets the heat to help build colour and crust on the surface.
It carries a vegetarian label and has been made in the United States since 1935, which is why it turns up in so many handed-down gravy recipes.
Ingredients
Nutrition Information
| Servings per container | 120 |
|---|---|
| Serving size | 1/4 tsp (1.6g) |
| Calories | 0 |
| Total Fat | 0g (0% DV) |
| Saturated Fat | 0g (0% DV) |
| Trans Fat | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 0mg (0% DV) |
| Sodium | 35mg (0% DV) |
| Total Carbohydrate | <1g (0% DV) |
| Dietary Fiber | 0g (0% DV) |
| Total Sugars | <1g |
| Includes Added Sugars | <1g (0% DV) |
| Protein | 0g |
| Vitamin D | 0mcg (0% DV) |
| Calcium | 0mg (0% DV) |
| Iron | 0mg (0% DV) |
| Potassium | 0mg (0% DV) |
Allergen Information
CONTAINS SOY.
Manufacturers can change formulations at any time, so always read the physical label before consuming.
Manufacturers can change formulations at any time, so always read the physical label before consuming.
Directions & Storage
Gravy Master Seasoning & Browning Sauce, Ve...
$17.31
Questions About This Product
The things people actually want to know before they cook with it.
What is the difference between Gravy Master and Kitchen Bouquet?
They are different products from different companies that do overlapping jobs. Gravy Master is built on caramelised sugar and caramel colour with hydrolysed soy and corn protein, cider vinegar, salt, onion, celery, parsley and garlic, so it brings a distinctly savoury, faintly tangy, bouillon-like note along with the colour. Kitchen Bouquet, a Clorox brand, is caramel colour over a vegetable base with barely any salt, so it is much closer to pure colour. Both darken a sauce about equally. Reach for this one when the gravy needs flavour as well as colour, and for Kitchen Bouquet when it only needs colour. Gravy Master contains soy, which matters if someone at the table avoids it.
Does Gravy Master thicken gravy?
No, not at all. It is a thin, syrupy concentrate that adds colour and flavour and contributes no body, so the flour, cornstarch or roux still has to come from somewhere else. Adding more of it to a thin gravy will make the gravy darker and saltier without making it any thicker. Thicken first, then correct the colour.
How much should I use?
Start with about half a teaspoon per cup of liquid, or a full teaspoon for the two cups of gravy in the brand's own recipe, and adjust by eye. It is concentrated and the colour develops the moment it is stirred in, so add it near the end of cooking rather than at the start, and go a few drops at a time. Overdone it reads grey-black rather than brown and picks up a faintly bitter edge from the caramel, and there is no way to take it back out.
Does it add flavour or just colour?
Both, and this is where it parts company with a pure browning sauce. The caramelised sugar, hydrolysed soy and corn protein, cider vinegar, onion, celery and garlic add a low savoury note with a slight tang, which is why cooks reach for it to fill out a thin gravy rather than only to darken one. It is not strong enough to rescue a gravy that has no flavour of its own, and at ordinary use rates it adds very little salt.
Is Gravy Master vegan?
Its ingredients are all plant derived, and the brand states the product contains no meat and labels it vegetarian, gluten free and Orthodox Union kosher pareve. What it does not carry is a vegan certification, so anyone who requires certification rather than an ingredient list should confirm with the manufacturer. The savoury, meaty impression comes from the hydrolysed soy and corn protein, not from anything animal.
What can I use instead of Gravy Master?
Kitchen Bouquet is the closest single replacement and goes in at roughly the same rate, though it is more purely colour and less savoury, so you may want a little extra seasoning alongside it. Failing that, dark soy sauce or a spoonful of molasses will darken a sauce, but soy brings a great deal of salt and molasses brings sweetness. You can also caramelise a tablespoon of sugar in a dry pan until it is nearly black and stir in a little hot water, which gives colour and a bitter-sweet edge but none of the savoury note.
Does Gravy Master contain MSG?
Monosodium glutamate is not on its ingredient list. It does contain hydrolysed soy and corn protein, which is produced by breaking protein down into its amino acids and therefore carries free glutamate naturally, which is a large part of why the product tastes savoury. Anyone avoiding glutamate deliberately rather than avoiding the additive by name should treat that as relevant.
How do I keep it from over-browning meat on the grill or in the oven?
The brand's own guidance is to brush it on during the last 15 minutes of roasting or grilling rather than at the start, so the colour lands without long exposure to the heat. For sautéing, they suggest combining it with an equal part of olive oil, which spreads a thin coat over the surface instead of concentrated patches. The sugar in it is what darkens, and sugar over direct heat for too long goes from brown to burnt.
Is it the same thing as browning sauce, and is it gravy?
It sits in the browning sauce category, but it is a seasoning and browning sauce rather than a plain browning, since it seasons noticeably more than a colour-only bottle does. It is not gravy and it is not a gravy mix. Nothing pours out of this bottle that you would serve as a sauce on its own, and it adds no thickening whatsoever.
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