Sour Cream Gravy
Sour cream gravy looks foolproof until it splits. The cause is nearly always the same: the cream goes into a boiling base, and the combination of acid and sudden heat pulls the casein into grains. Two things prevent it — a pale roux that holds the sauce together, and tempering the cream before it meets the pan.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 25 min
- Servings
- 4
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 165 kcal
Ingredients
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What to use instead
Swap the stock for milk and the gravy turns milder and paler, which suits potatoes and buckwheat well.
Makes: about 500 ml
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Soften the onion
Melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the onion over medium heat for 5 minutes, until translucent with just a little colour at the edges. Browned onion tints the finished gravy grey.
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Step 2: Make a white roux
Stir in the flour and cook for 1–2 minutes. It should smell faintly of biscuits but stay pale — that cooks out the raw flour taste while the starch keeps its full thickening power.
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Step 3: Add the stock
Pour in the hot stock in three additions, whisking each one to a completely smooth paste before the next. It is the pause between additions, not furious whisking, that prevents lumps.
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Step 4: Simmer the base
Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 3–4 minutes, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Flour starch does its thickening at around 85 °C.
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Step 5: Temper the sour cream
Take the pan off the heat. Stir 3–4 spoonfuls of the hot sauce into the sour cream, mix until smooth, and only then return the lot to the pan.
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Step 6: Warm through, never boil
Set over the lowest heat for 2 minutes — the gravy should steam, nothing more. The first bubble is the one that turns it grainy.
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Step 7: Season
Off the heat, stir in the mustard and dill, then salt and pepper. The mustard is there for acidity and balance rather than heat.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Sour cream below 20% fat splits almost every time — there is not enough fat to shield the protein from the heat.
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Swap
Swap the stock for milk and the gravy turns milder and paler, which suits potatoes and buckwheat well.
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Variation
For meatballs or cutlets, add a teaspoon of tomato paste with the stock: the colour turns rosy and the flavour gets deeper.
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Storage
Three days in the fridge. Reheat gently with a spoonful of water — it thickens noticeably once cold.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 4 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 165 kcal | 660 kcal |
| Protein | 3 g | 12 g |
| Fat | 13 g | 52 g |
| Carbohydrates | 8 g | 32 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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