Chef Thomas
Red Wine Gravy
A deep, glossy gravy built on red wine and proper stock, the kind you make when a Sunday roast deserves something grander than the usual and the table is set for people you're glad to feed.
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Chef Thomas
Sticky Toffee Sauce
A pourable, glossy toffee sauce of muscovado, butter, and cream, the dark, treacly engine of sticky toffee pudding and a quiet revelation poured over vanilla ice cream.
Chef Thomas
Onion Gravy
The gravy that turns sausages and mash into an evening worth remembering, built slowly from onions, butter, and patience, and poured over everything in generous, unapologetic ladlefuls.
Chef Thomas
Apple Sauce
A bowl of sharp, fluffy Bramley apple sauce, made in the time it takes to carve the pork, the kind of small condiment that quietly makes the whole meal make sense.
Chef Thomas
Homemade Salad Cream
A proper English salad cream made the old way: cooked egg yolks, mustard, cider vinegar, and cream, stirred together in ten minutes and worth the small trouble of doing it yourself.
Chef Thomas
Honey and Mustard Dressing
A jar of honey and mustard dressing, made in the time it takes the kettle to boil, ready for whatever the salad bowl is asking for tonight.
Chef Thomas
Cheese Sauce
A proper cheese sauce, sharp with mature Cheddar and lifted with English mustard, the kind that turns a head of cauliflower into a reason to come home on a cold Tuesday.
Chef Thomas
Chicken Gravy
A pale golden gravy made straight from the roasting tin, the bird's own juices loosened with stock and a little flour, the whole thing ready in the time it takes the chicken to rest.
Chef Thomas
Mint Sauce
A bright, sharp sauce of chopped mint and vinegar made in the ten minutes before the lamb is carved, the kind of small ritual that turns Sunday lunch into Sunday lunch.
Chef Thomas
Marie Rose Sauce
The pale pink sauce of prawn cocktails and Sunday teas, made in the time it takes to put the kettle on, and quietly better than anything that comes in a jar.
Chef Thomas
Parsley Sauce
A proper English parsley sauce, thick and speckled green, poured over hot ham or poached fish on the kind of evening when dinner doesn't need to be clever, only warm.
Chef Thomas
Fish Stock
A quick, clean-tasting fish stock built from white fish bones and a handful of aromatics, thirty minutes on the hob, and the foundation of every fish pie or chowder worth the name.
Chef Thomas
Egg Sauce
A proper old-fashioned egg sauce, white and gentle and full of softly chopped eggs, the kind of thing that turns a plain piece of fish into a supper worth sitting down for.
Chef Thomas
Ham Stock from a Gammon Bone
The deeply savoury liquor left behind after a gammon joint, given a second life with its own bone and a few honest aromatics, into the one stock that makes a pea and ham soup taste like itself.
Chef Thomas
Tartare Sauce
A proper tartare sauce, made with real mayonnaise and a handful of sharp little things, the only sauce worth spooning next to a piece of good fish on a Friday night.
Chef Thomas
Mushroom Gravy
A dark, savoury gravy built from mushrooms browned hard in butter, loosened with stock and thyme, and poured over whatever needs the comfort of it on a cold evening.
Chef Thomas
Watercress Sauce
A vivid green sauce of peppery watercress wilted into cream and sharpened with lemon, the kind of thing you pour from a jug over grilled fish on an evening that wants something a little better than ordinary.
Chef Thomas
Cumberland Sauce
A ruby-dark sauce of port, redcurrant jelly, and citrus zest, sharp with mustard and ginger, made for cold ham on Boxing Day and the long week of leftovers that follows.
Chef Thomas
Caper Sauce
A proper white sauce shot through with capers and a squeeze of lemon, the old companion to boiled mutton and salt beef, quietly waiting for someone to remember what it can do.
Chef Thomas
Gooseberry Sauce
A sharp, soft purée of green gooseberries stewed with butter, the old English answer to oily mackerel and rich meats, and one of the few sauces that tastes exactly like the few weeks it belongs to.
Chef Thomas
Proper Pouring Custard
A proper pouring custard, made the slow way with real vanilla and patience, the kind that turns a humble crumble into the reason everyone stayed for pudding.
Chef Thomas
English Mustard Sauce
A small jug of warm, sharp, creamy mustard sauce, the kind that does quiet but essential work next to a gammon joint on a cold Sunday and asks for nothing more than to be poured generously.
Chef Thomas
Horseradish Sauce
A small bowl of fierce, creamy horseradish sauce, made fresh from the root and folded together ten minutes before the beef hits the table, the way it ought to be.
Chef Thomas
White Sauce
The plain white sauce that holds up half of British home cooking, made with butter, flour, and milk and finished with a grating of nutmeg. Learn it once and you'll never need a recipe for it again.
Chef Thomas
Chip Shop Curry Sauce
A proper chip shop curry sauce made at home in half an hour. Mild, fruity, and the colour of an old penny, the kind that turns a plate of chips into Friday night.
Chef Thomas
Anchovy Sauce
A proper white sauce sharpened with pounded anchovy, the old Georgian trick for waking up a piece of poached fish or a slice of roast lamb on a Sunday in spring.
Chef Thomas
English Mustard Vinaigrette
A sharp, sinus-clearing dressing built around a spoonful of Colman's, the sort that wakes up a tired plate of leaves and asks nothing of you except five minutes and a jam jar.
Chef Thomas
Onion Sauce
A gentle, old-fashioned onion sauce, the kind that goes alongside a roast leg of lamb on a Sunday and makes the whole plate feel looked after.
Chef Thomas
Vegetable Stock
A clean, golden vegetable stock made from the week's best scraps and a little patience, the quiet foundation that turns a bowl of soup into something worth sitting down for.
Chef Thomas
Proper Roast Gravy from the Tin
The sauce that makes a Sunday roast feel like a Sunday: built in the roasting tin from caramelised juices, a spoon of flour, and good hot stock while the joint rests on the board.
Chef Thomas
Chicken Stock from the Sunday Roast Carcass
Yesterday's roast chicken, quietly transformed into a pot of pale golden stock, the kind of Monday morning ritual that turns leftovers into the foundation of a whole week's cooking.
Chef Thomas
Cider Gravy
A West Country gravy made in the roasting tin with dry cider, good mustard, and the sticky juices the pork has left behind, ready in the time it takes a joint to rest.
Chef Thomas
Beef Bone Stock
Beef bones roasted until dark, then coaxed for a long afternoon into a deep amber stock, the foundation of every good gravy, every braise, every bowl of winter soup worth the trouble.
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