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Onions, Stewed
Peel and trim half a dozen Spanish onions of medium size, but be careful not to cut the tops too short, or the bulbs will fall to pieces whilst stewing. Blanch them in boiling water for a minute or two, then drain them, and put them side by side in a saucepan sufficiently large to hold them all in one layer. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over them, and place upon each onion half an ounce of butter, mixed smoothly with half a tea-spoonful of powdered sugar. Place them over a gentle fire, and let them remain until lightly browned, then cover with good brown gravy, and simmer them until tender. Serve as hot as possible on toast, with the gravy poured round them. If liked, the gravy may be flavoured with tomato-sauce, or with a finely-minced gherkin and a glass of claret. A pleasing variety, too, may be secured by taking out the middle of each onion, stuffing it with nicely-seasoned forcemeat, and then stewing in gravy as before. Time to stew the onions, about an hour and a half. Probable cost of onions, 1 1/2d. each. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A straightforward braise of whole onions, glazed in butter and sugar before the gravy goes in. Nearly all of the work is in keeping them intact.
- Keep the onions wholeThe instruction not to trim too close is the hinge of the dish. Leave the ends long as the recipe directs rather than shaving them back; cut in too far and the layers slide apart during the hour and a half of simmering.
- Spanish onionsA mild, large, pale-skinned onion, close to what is sold today as a Spanish onion. The recipe gives no weight, only "medium size". Ordinary yellow onions work but are sharper and want a little more sugar.
- Half an ounce of butterOne tablespoon per onion, so about 3 oz in total. The half teaspoon of "powdered sugar" means fine caster sugar, not modern powdered/icing sugar, which contains cornstarch.
- The browning stageButter and sugar over a gentle fire is a glaze, not a fry. Keep the heat low and turn the onions now and then; the sugar will catch and turn bitter over anything brisk.
- Good brown gravyA meat gravy or reduced beef stock, not flour-thickened supermarket gravy. Enough to cover the onions in their single layer, as the recipe directs. A tight lid holds the simmer steadier.
- A glass of claretClaret is red Bordeaux; a Victorian wineglassful is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz. Added with the minced gherkin it gives a sharp, almost piquante finish.
- The stuffed variationHollow the onions after blanching, when they are still firm enough to hold shape. Use a forcemeat that is safe to eat once cooked through — sausage meat or a pork-and-breadcrumb mixture — and expect the same 90 minutes.
- Timing and yieldAn hour and a half is right for whole onions of this size; test with a skewer at the centre. Serves five or six as a vegetable course, one onion each on a slice of toast to catch the gravy.
Cassell's treats stewed onions as a dish sent to table in its own right — on toast with the gravy round them. Spanish onions were a distinct article of commerce in nineteenth-century Britain, imported large and mild, and the book quotes a price of a penny-halfpenny each rather than by weight. The three suggested finishes — tomato sauce, gherkin and claret, or a forcemeat stuffing — show the dictionary's habit of packing several variations into one entry.