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Stewed Onions
Peel and trim half a dozen Spanish onions of medium size, but be careful not to cut the tops too short, or the bulb 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 1/2 ounce of butter, mixed smoothly with 1/2 teaspoonful 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 flavored 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 force-meat, and then stewing in gravy as before. Time to stew the onions, about an hour and a half. Onions with Beefsteak, etc.
Take 2 large Spanish onions; remove a thin piece from each end, peel off the outer skins, and cut them into slices a quarter of an inch thick. Place 1 ounce of butter or good dripping in a saucepan, let it melt, then put with it 1 pound of steak, divided into pieces a little thinner than for broiling. Brown these in the butter, add a little pepper and salt, the sliced onions, 3 ounces more of butter, but no liquid; cover the saucepan closely, and simmer as gently as possible till done. Arrange the steak neatly in the centre of a hot dish, boil up the onion gravy sauce with 1 tablespoonful of walnut catsup, pour it over the meat, and serve immediately. Chickens or rabbits are sometimes cooked in the same way. Time, about an hour and a half.
A gentle braise that depends on the onions holding their shape: everything else here is seasoning. Two related dishes are run together in the original, the stewed onions and a steak-and-onion stew that follows the same slow method.
- Leave the root plate aloneDon't trim too close -- The instruction not to cut the tops too short is the hinge of the dish. Take off only the papery tip, and leave the base intact as well, or the layers separate and you get onion soup rather than whole stewed onions.
- Spanish onionsThese are the large, mild, pale-yellow onions still sold as Spanish onions; sweet varieties are a near equivalent. 'Medium size' is not defined in the text, but implies an onion well under the largest grade; ordinary yellow onions work but are sharper and will need the sugar.
- Butter and sugar quantitiesHalf an ounce of butter per onion is about one tablespoon, so around 6 tablespoons total. "Powdered sugar" in a book of this period means finely ground granulated sugar, not modern confectioners' sugar with its cornstarch; use caster or ordinary granulated.
- Brown gravyThis assumes a household stock-based brown sauce or the strained pan juices of a roast. Good beef stock reduced a little, or stock thickened lightly with a brown roux, gives the same body.
- TimingAn hour and a half at a bare simmer is right for whole onions of this size and not an exaggeration. The liquid should barely move; a rolling boil bursts them.
- Vanished flavouringsWalnut catsup, called for in the steak version, is a dark spiced condiment made from green walnuts, still sold by specialist grocers; mushroom ketchup or a little Worcestershire sauce sits in the same register. A 'glass of claret' is unmeasured here; the period wineglassful was usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz, though usage varied.
- Forcemeat variationThe stuffed version wants a firm bound mixture -- minced pork or veal with breadcrumbs, herbs and egg. Hollow the onions after blanching, when the layers are pliable, and keep the outer two or three rings intact as a shell.
- YieldSix onions serve six as a side dish, or three as a supper on toast. The steak variant, with 1 lb of meat, serves two to three.
- No liquid in the steak stewThe instruction to add butter but no liquid is deliberate: the onions release enough moisture to make the sauce, provided the pan is heavy and tightly covered and the heat very low. Lift the lid as little as possible.