Quick Fifteen Minute Onion Gravy

Let us be straight about this. Fifteen minutes does not give you caramelised onions, and anyone claiming otherwise is either lying or has never done it properly. What it does give you is a decent, fast, sweet and savoury onion gravy that is far better than a packet, using a few tricks to get the most colour possible in the time available.

Ingredients

Makes about 450ml, enough for four plates

• 2 medium (about 300g / 10oz) brown onions sliced as thinly as you can, 2mm or less
• 25g (1oz) butter
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp dark brown soft sugar
• pinch bicarbonate of soda about ⅛ tsp
• 450ml (16fl oz) hot beef stock
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1½ tbsp cornflour slaked in 3 tbsp cold water
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Wide frying pan
• Mandoline or sharp knife
• Small bowl

Method

1. Slice the onions as thinly as you physically can. This is the single most important thing in the recipe, because thin slices have more surface area and less water, so they brown in a fraction of the time thick ones need. A mandoline is worth getting out.

2. Heat the butter and oil in the widest frying pan you own over a medium high heat. Wide and hot, not deep and gentle, because you are racing the clock.

3. Add the onions in a thin layer with a pinch of salt and the bicarbonate of soda. Stir constantly for 6 to 7 minutes. They will collapse quickly, go slippery, and take on a decent brown that would normally take twenty five minutes.

4. Add the sugar and stir for 1 minute until it melts and darkens the onions further. Be honest with yourself here, they are browned rather than caramelised, and they will taste sweeter and less complex than the slow version.

5. Pour in the hot stock and the Worcestershire sauce, scraping the base hard, and bring it to a rapid simmer for 3 minutes.

6. Stir the cornflour paste smooth and pour it in while stirring. It thickens within seconds. Give it 1 more minute of simmering, season generously with salt and black pepper, and it is done.

Tips worth knowing

• Use hot stock, not cold. Cold stock costs you two or three minutes of waiting for the pan to come back to a simmer, and you do not have them.
• The bicarbonate of soda is a small pinch. More does not brown faster, it just makes the onions taste soapy.
• Season more assertively than you would a slow gravy. Long cooking builds flavour, and when you skip it, salt and pepper have to do more.
• If you find you have twenty five minutes rather than fifteen, spend them all on the onions. It is the best possible use of the extra time.

Keeping and reheating

Fridge for 3 days, though it is best eaten fresh since its charm is speed rather than depth. Reheat with a splash of water. Freezing is possible for 2 months but the cornflour texture suffers.

Questions people ask