Bacon Scallion Cream Sauce

Name: Bacon Scallion Cream Sauce
Total time: 25 min
Yield: About 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter; 1 thick slice bacon, chopped; 3 tablespoons flour; 1 1/2 cups chicken stock; 3/4 cup heavy cream; 1 tablespoon cracked black peppercorns; 6 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced, plus extra for garnish; Salt

Recipe from Peter Woods

Adapted by Julia Moskin

Bacon Scallion Cream Sauce — Jay Paul for The New York Times

Total Time: 25 minutes
Rating: 4(168)
Notes: Read community notes

Here we have a re-education — or an education, if you're a first-timer — in the virtues of an old-fashioned cream gravy. A few tablespoons of this elixir can uplift plainly cooked meat like a lamb chop or steak, layering on the richness of cream but also the freshness of scallion and black pepper. Use plenty of each.

These days, home cooks are not likely to keep meat drippings around in the kitchen to make a fat-and-flour roux, but there's nothing wrong with hacking a substitute from a lump of butter and a slab of bacon. Then cook them together with flour to make a golden, toasty-smelling roux. After adding the broth and cream, the sauce will seem thin, but stay the course: don't even think of adding more flour. It takes a few minutes for the flour's starch to absorb the liquid. Take the gravy off the heat when it still seems a little too thin: it will thicken further at the table. —Julia Moskin

Featured in: A Chesapeake Homecoming

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Ingredients

Yield:About 1½ cups

3tablespoons butter
1thick slice bacon, chopped
3tablespoons flour
1½cups chicken stock
¾cup heavy cream
1tablespoon cracked black peppercorns
6scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced, plus extra for garnish
Salt

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add bacon and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until fat has rendered. Add flour, then stir together and cook over low heat, stirring often, until golden and toasty-smelling, 4 to 6 minutes.
Step 2
Add chicken stock and cream, and simmer over low heat until reduced to a thick, pourable gravy, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in peppercorns and scallions, and taste for salt, adding more as needed. Serve hot.

Ratings

4 out of 5

168 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Phil B6 years ago

I thought it was great, but needed a little brightening. Finished with a tablespoon of lemon juice and a splash of white wine and the scallions/pepper flavor were more distinct - perfect with the roasted head of cauliflower.

Mimi Carolina6 years ago

Use at least 1 tablespoon fat to 1 tablespoon flour to 1/2-to-1 cup liquid. Try this recipe as written for starters. You are "cooking" the flour in fat but too much fat makes greasy gravy. Flour in fat browns quick so stir constantly and have liquid at hand. Cream gravy is pale beige in color -- the flour is lightly "cooked."

Carlyn6 years ago

My German immigrant father used to make this with the bacon, onions instead of scallions, and milk instead of stock and cream. (Basically a southern style bacon and onion white gravy). We put it on top of boiled or baked potatoes and had a side of a nice knockwurst.

Jilli Robertson6 years ago

This might be the gravy for a southern version of poutine, with the second slice of (center cut) bacon I used, from on hand.

Sally6 years ago

I made this to serve with mashed potatoes & sauteed chicken livers - very nice (uptown liver and onions; gotta love that!). The next morning, the leftover sauce went on latkes, topped by a lovely runny fried egg. Again very nice -- this is an easy, delicious sauce that I think will turn just about anything into a satisfying and comforting meal. For example, wouldn't it be tasty with meatloaf, or a deli-roasted chicken?

Mert Guin6 years ago

What bread crumbs??

mmwhite6 years ago

If you are using only bacon drippings, I would use 4T - maybe a little less (I learned that one should use equal parts fat and flour, but that's now how this recipe is written).

Hut6 years ago

Grill scallions ahead of time, when you've got the charcoal grill going for something else.

Susan Alexander5 years ago

Quick and easy. I found it quite salty (I did not use boullion cubes or slated stock). Left out the flour and left the cream thicken just by itself. Lavish use of pepper a must. A nice change.

Patrick6 years ago

Excellent on just about anything. I grilled some ground beef patties and covered them with this sauce for a quick weeknight meal.

John Neill5 years ago

I think this easy to achieve recipe sounds marvelous...I’ve been wondering what sauce could go with rare wild-caught tuna steaks I’m serving later this week ....I’m intending to be cheeky though, because one guest ( deah man!) can’t take anything ‘spicey’..so I’ll substitute whole pink peppercorns for the ground black pepper..it’ll look as good as it tastes! Thank you,Julia!

Joy1 year ago

Greasy and disgusting

WhatdoIKnow1 year ago

This recipe is pretty forgiving and it's great to have a use for any leftover heavy cream in my fridge. I didn't pay much attention to flour/fat ratio and it came out fine. I used it over chicken cutlets and it was very good! I can see using this with lots of different meals.

KRISTIBNYC2 years ago

Great sauce for spontaneous week night dinner. I used what was on hand, no bacon or scallions. Sautéed a minced scallion with the butter. Heated the (turkey) broth first and drizzled in cream after broth was blended. It felt a bit chalky so I added a bit of Worcestershire sauce and 1-2 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar for acid. We grated some Parmesan and tossed it with turkey meatballs. Delicious!

Ian2 years ago

This is delicious, perfect for putting a bland pork chop over the top. Oops, I added more bacon than called for. Oops, I also put it on the potatoes.

Max Alexander, Rome, Contestant MasterChef Italia 2020-20213 years ago

Add green peppercorns.

Tim4 years ago

Used chopped roasted green chiles instead of scallions--delicious!

susan steen4 years ago

Add 2 cups of fresh sweet corn and chopped chives and serve over pasta!

Tish4 years ago

I wondered what sort of cake the sauce was pictured on, and found Julia Moskin’s recipe for “oyster stuffing cake” was the answer. Found in NYT cooking app. Inspiring!

Chris4 years ago

This sauce is absolutely amazing. I only had thinly sliced bacon, and used 2. Really great. It made a great steak - amazing.