Onion and Ale Gravy
Dark onions and a bottle of English bitter reduced hard to take the edge off, thickened with a little flour and finished with a spoon of black treacle.
- Contains meat
- ale
- beer
- steak pie
- malty
- winter
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 50 min
- Total
- 1 hr
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- Medium
Beer in gravy goes wrong when people pour it in and stop there, because hops turn bitter as the liquid reduces and you end up with something harsh. Boil the ale down on its own first, let the alcohol and the sharpest of the hop character go, and what is left is malty and round. With dark onions behind it, this is the gravy for a steak and ale pie or a plate of sausages on a cold night.
Ingredients
Makes about 600ml, enough for six plates
Scaled amounts are rounded to something you can actually measure. Season at the end and trust your mouth over the maths.
Kit
- Heavy saucepan
- Small saucepan
- Whisk
Method
Melt the butter and dripping together in a heavy pan over a medium low heat, add the onions and a pinch of salt, and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring regularly, until dark brown and reduced right down. This is a long cook and there is no way around it.
While the onions are going, pour the ale into a small pan and boil it hard for 8 to 10 minutes until it has reduced by half. It will foam up alarmingly at first, so use a bigger pan than you think you need and stand nearby.
Stir the flour into the onions and cook for 2 minutes, scraping the base as you go.
Pour in the reduced ale and whisk. It thickens straight away into a dark paste. Let it bubble for 2 minutes so the flour takes on the malt.
Add the hot stock in two goes, whisking each time until smooth, then stir in the treacle. A teaspoon is plenty. Treacle is there for depth and colour, and any more turns the gravy sweet and slightly medicinal.
Simmer gently for 15 minutes, uncovered, so the gravy reduces a little and the flavours knit together. It should look almost black brown and coat a spoon thickly.
Take it off the heat, stir in the mustard, then taste and season. Adding the mustard off the heat keeps its bite, because boiling it dulls it right down.
Tips worth knowing
- Choose a malty bitter, a brown ale or a mild rather than a modern hoppy IPA. Hops concentrate as the liquid reduces and an IPA will leave the gravy tasting like grapefruit pith.
- For an alcohol free version, use a good alcohol free bitter and reduce it exactly the same way, or use 200ml of strong black tea plus an extra teaspoon of treacle, which gets you a surprisingly close tannic depth.
- Stout works too and gives something darker and more roasted, but cut the treacle to half a teaspoon because stout brings its own bitterness.
- This gravy is thick on purpose. If you want it for pouring rather than for a pie, add another 100ml of stock at the end.
Change it up
- Add 200g of sliced chestnut mushrooms with the onions for the last ten minutes and you have most of a steak and ale pie filling already.
- Swap the beef stock for chicken stock and the bitter for a wheat beer, then serve it with pork chops and apple sauce.
Keeping and reheating
Fridge for 4 days, freezer for 3 months. It thickens considerably when cold. Reheat over a low heat with a splash of stock and whisk until it loosens.
Questions people ask
What beer is best for onion gravy?
A malty English bitter, a brown ale or a mild. You want malt and body, not hop bitterness, because hops concentrate as the gravy reduces. Stout and porter work well too if you like a roasted edge, but avoid pale hoppy beers.
Can I make ale gravy without alcohol?
Yes. A good alcohol free bitter behaves almost identically and reduces the same way. Failing that, 200ml of strong black tea with an extra teaspoon of black treacle gives you a similar tannic, malty depth without any beer at all.
Why does my beer gravy taste bitter?
Either you used a hoppy beer, or you reduced the gravy too far after the ale went in. Reduce the ale on its own first and then be careful about how much further you take the finished gravy, because bitterness concentrates faster than sweetness.