Irish Guinness and Beef Gravy

Guinness in beef is a standard across Ireland and has been for as long as there has been stout to spare. Used carelessly it turns a gravy harsh and coffee like, so the balance here is deliberate: enough stout to taste, enough sugar and long cooking to round the bitterness off. Good over beef, better over champ, and it does no harm at all next to a sausage.

Ingredients

Makes about 600ml, enough for six plates

• 25g (1oz) butter
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 2 medium onions sliced thinly
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 2 tbsp (30g) plain flour
• 330ml (11½fl oz) Guinness one bottle or can
• 500ml (18fl oz) beef stock
• 1 tbsp black treacle or soft dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp cider vinegar added right at the end
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Heavy based saucepan
• Whisk
• Sieve

Method

1. Melt the butter with the oil over a medium heat and cook the onions with the thyme sprigs and a pinch of salt for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until deep gold and jammy. This sweetness is the counterweight to the stout, so do not rush it.

2. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes until the onions look coated and pasty.

3. Pour in the Guinness in three goes, whisking hard after each. It will foam up alarmingly. Keep whisking and it settles within a minute.

4. Let the stout bubble on its own for 5 minutes before you add anything else. This burns off the sharp raw edge, and skipping it is the single most common reason Guinness gravy tastes bitter.

5. Add the stock, treacle and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until reduced by a quarter and thick enough to coat a spoon.

6. Fish out the thyme sprigs. Leave the onions in for a rustic gravy, or strain it for something smoother to go with a roast.

7. Stir in the cider vinegar off the heat, then season. The vinegar sounds odd against stout but it sharpens the whole thing and stops it tasting flat and syrupy. Taste and add another few drops if it still feels heavy.

Tips worth knowing

• Any dry Irish stout works. Avoid a sweet milk stout, which pushes the gravy too far towards treacle, and avoid anything heavily hopped, because hop bitterness concentrates as it reduces.
• Let the can settle and pour gently. Pouring a fizzing head into a hot pan is how you end up wearing it.
• If the finished gravy is still too bitter, another teaspoon of treacle plus a knob of cold butter whisked in off the heat will round it out fast.
• Save two tablespoons of the stout, uncooked, and stir them in at the very end if you want the flavour more forward. Only do this if you are serving straight away.

Keeping and reheating

Fridge for 4 days, freezer for 3 months. Reheat gently and whisk, adding a splash of stock. The bitterness softens further with a day in the fridge, so leftovers are often better than the first plate.

Questions people ask