Sir Cliff Richard’s Christmas gravy recipe has been deemed “vile” in scathing criticisms from professional chefs.
The 84-year-old “Summer Holiday” singer recently revealed his unorthodox recipe, which involves adding four different flavours of stock cubes – lamb, chicken, beef and vegetable – before mixing it with fried onions, teriyaki, soy, Worcestershire sauce, gravy powder and red wine.
This eschews the traditional method of gravy making that involves using the liquid residue from cooking a roast dinner.
The singer has said it was “probably the greatest” gravy recipe in the world, and joked that he’s waiting to secure a contract with a supermarket.
He said on This Morning last year: “I’m still waiting for some company to offer me a deal.
“Paul Newman has his name on all sorts of mayonnaise and salad dressings, and he did it for charity. I’m available, can you imagine? ‘Cliff Richard’s gravy’ – probably the greatest gravy in the world.”
However, the recipe has been subject to fierce criticism from professional chefs.
Tom Brown, a Michelin-starred chef and owner of the Pearly Queen oyster bar in east London, told The Telegraph: “I am not really sure what the correlation between teriyaki sauce is and gravy. I am not taking any cooking tips off Cliff Richard anytime soon. It sounds absolutely vile.”
MasterChef Professionals semi-finalist Matthew Ryle predicted the concoction would likely taste “very salty” and would need thickening.
Instead, Ryle suggested roasting Christmas vegetables alongside a piece of meat before pouring wine over the roasting tray. He added that stock can be added to the mixture to help thicken up the sauce.
Elliott Grover, executive chef at the five-star Mayfair hotel 45 Park Lane, spoke in defence of Richard’s gravy mixture, and pointed out that stock cubes are an efficient way to make gravy.
He said: “Cliff is a good friend of the hotel. Personally, I’d definitely give it a try, but I’d leave out the teriyaki sauce.”
Richard appeared on This Morning in 2023 when he made his gravy in the ITV kitchen.
“It’s just my own personal taste, and slowly I added one of these [ingredients],” he told former hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield at the time.
He admitted that his range of expertise in the kitchen is limited to scrambled eggs, a fried egg, and a grilled cheese sandwich.
“I can’t really cook – it’s just gravy,” he said, adding that he made the gravy for his family members to freeze.
“My sister said once that her children wouldn’t have her gravy so I’d freeze it for her so she could cook it for them,” he said.
