The "Onion Sauce For A Turkie" recipe is from The English Huswife circ. 1623 by Gervase Markham. The premise was to cook alot of onions in water, salt, pepper, and the cooking juices ("gravy") from the meat. This was boiled down then thickened with bread crumbs. The flavorings of the day included a blending of opposites- sweet and sour - so vinegar and sugar were include in this recipe.
Make the onion reduction a day or two ahead. Prepare your favorite turkey gravy. Before dinner combine the onion reduction and turkey gravy. Heat to a simmer and serve.
Onion Reduction:
- Sliced onions- approx. 1-3 per each quart of gravy (the original recipe calls for more, but then it is a really thick onion sauce, let your taste be your guide)
- water or stock to cover by 1 inch
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/8 c good dry red wine
- handful of breadcrumbs or slurry (cornstarch & H2O)
Cook Onion Reduction down until almost no liquid left. Drain pan of juices/drippings into a fat separator. Over med-high heat deglaze the meat pan with 1/8 cup wine scraping up any brown bits. Stir in the onion reduction. Add the separated pan juices. Bring to a boil. Thicken with a slurry or add breadcrumbs as they did in the 17th century.
To make this into an hors d'oeurve, use beef stock instead of water. Take a teaspoon of the hot onion mixture and put into empty pate a choux - miniature cream puff shells. Serve warm. To make Thanksgiving day easy, I make this ahead and reheat it in a small crock.
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