How do I boil down a gravy?

I'm following a recipe that required an hour of simmering, first 30 minutes covered, then 30 minutes uncovered. I guess I didn't get the simmer correct as by the end of the hour; the liquid should have boiled down into a thick tomatoey gravy. However, I still have a lot of liquid left. The sauce consists of chopped tomatoes, white wine and red wine vinegar.

How do I get down to a thick gravy without cooking for over two hours?

boiling tomatoes

Best Answer

There are two ways to thicken gravy:

simmer down
Requires time, patience and a wide pot to get a large surface area for optimum evaporation. Simmering down results in very concentrated flavours (including salt, so be careful with salting in the beginning).
use a thickener
This is often something starchy like flour or corn / potato starch that binds the liquid. Note that the flavours won't be as concentrated, sometimes even a bit dulled by the starch.

So try your sauce and depending on the flavour level you have reached now, you should simmer longer, use starch or do both sequentially.

(If your guests are hungrily gnawing at the tablecloth already, whip out the starch, adjust the seasoning and serve asap ^_^)