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.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Onion Gravy
Created by Chef Thomas
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.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Weeknight
Comfort Food
10 min
Active Time
45 min cook•55 min total
Yield4 servings
There's a particular kind of Wednesday in late autumn when the light goes by four and the wind gets into everything, and you walk in the door already thinking about sausages. This is the gravy for that evening.
Onion gravy isn't complicated. It's onions cooked down until they've forgotten they were ever sharp, some stock, a splash of wine if you've got it, a shake of Worcestershire. But it takes time, and there's no way round that. You can't hurry onions into sweetness. They go when they're ready and not before. Forty-five minutes on a low heat, with the occasional stir, is the whole trick. While they're doing their slow work, the kitchen starts to smell like a proper dinner is on the way, and that smell alone is half the pleasure of cooking it.
I wrote this one down in the notebook years ago, with a note beside it that just said "the good one." I've not changed it since. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, so treat the quantities as a starting point. More onions if you're feeling generous. A splash of ale instead of wine if that's what's open. A knob of butter stirred in at the end if the day has been long.
We're only making dinner. But this is the kind of dinner that makes the evening settle down around you, and the rain against the window stop feeling like a problem.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
brown onions
Quantity
4 large
halved and finely sliced
unsalted butter
Quantity
50g
olive oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
caster sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fresh thyme
Quantity
2 sprigs
leaves picked
bay leaf
Quantity
1
plain flour
Quantity
1 tablespoon
red wine or dark ale
Quantity
150ml
beef or chicken stock
Quantity
600ml
Worcestershire sauce
Quantity
2 teaspoons
English mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| brown onionshalved and finely sliced | 4 large |
| unsalted butter | 50g |
| olive oil | 1 tablespoon |
| caster sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| fresh thymeleaves picked | 2 sprigs |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| plain flour | 1 tablespoon |
| red wine or dark ale | 150ml |
| beef or chicken stock | 600ml |
| Worcestershire sauce | 2 teaspoons |
| English mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy-bottomed saucepan or sauté pan
- •Wooden spoon
- •Sharp knife
Instructions
- 1
Start the onions
Melt the butter with the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over a gentle heat. The oil stops the butter from burning; the butter gives you the flavour. When the butter foams and smells faintly of hazelnuts, add the sliced onions and a good pinch of salt. Stir them through so every slice has a coat of butter on it.
Slice the onions the same thickness so they cook evenly. Not paper thin, not chunky. Think the width of a pound coin's edge. - 2
Sweat them slowly
This is the part that matters. Turn the heat to low and let the onions soften without taking any colour for the first ten minutes. Stir now and then. After that, add the sugar and the thyme leaves, turn the heat up just a touch, and carry on cooking. You're looking for a slow transformation: sharp and white to translucent, translucent to pale gold, pale gold to a deep, sticky amber that smells like Sunday lunch. Don't rush it. Thirty minutes, maybe more. The worst thing you can do to onions is rush them.
- 3
Build the gravy
When the onions are properly collapsed and coloured, stir in the flour and the bay leaf. Let it cook for a minute, just enough to lose the raw flour taste. Pour in the wine and let it bubble and reduce by half, scraping any sticky bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Those sticky bits are flavour. Don't leave them behind.
If you're cooking this for children or prefer to skip the alcohol, a splash of balsamic vinegar and an extra ladle of stock does the same job. - 4
Simmer and finish
Pour in the stock and add the Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Bring it to a gentle simmer and let it tick away for ten to fifteen minutes, until it thickens to the consistency of a loose gravy that coats the back of a spoon. Fish out the bay leaf. Taste it. Season with salt and pepper. Taste it again. It should be savoury, deeply oniony, with a quiet tang from the Worcestershire and the faintest heat from the mustard at the back of the throat. If it feels thin, let it reduce a little longer. If it feels too thick, a splash more stock will fix it.
- 5
Serve
Pour generously over sausages and mash, or whatever needs it. A warm jug on the table for seconds. There are few better feelings than a jug of proper onion gravy going round a kitchen table on a cold night.
Chef Tips
- •Good stock is the backbone of this. If you've got homemade in the freezer, this is the night to use it. A decent shop-bought fresh stock is the next best thing. Stock cubes will work, but they'll make the gravy taste of stock cubes, and there's no hiding it.
- •Don't skimp on the onions. Four large ones looks like a lot when you start slicing. By the time they've collapsed in the butter, you'll wonder if it was enough. It is. Just.
- •Worcestershire sauce is the quiet hero here. It brings a depth that's hard to name and impossible to replicate. A teaspoon of soy sauce does something similar if you haven't got any.
- •Make more than you need. Cold onion gravy stirred through leftover mash, with a fried egg on top, is one of the better lunches available to anyone. I wrote that down in the notebook too.
Advance Preparation
- •The gravy can be made up to three days ahead and kept in the fridge. It improves overnight as the flavours settle into each other. Reheat gently with a splash of stock to loosen it.
- •Freezes well for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat slowly over a low flame, whisking to bring it back together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
235 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
27 mg
Sodium
575 mg
Total Carbohydrates
18 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
4 g
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