Foods of England - Onion Sauce (White)

Onion Sauce (White)

Sauces and Spicery

Chopped white onions boiled with milk and bay.

Original Receipt from 'The Cook's Oracle' by William Kitchiner (Kitchiner 1830)

Young Onion Sauce. (No. 296.)
Peel a pint of button onions, and put them in water till you want to put them on to boil; put them into a stew-pan, with a quart of cold water; let them boil till tender; they will take (according to their size and age) from half an hour to an hour. You may put them into half a pint of No. 307. See also No. 137.

Onion Sauce. (No. 297.)
Those who like the full flavour of onions only cut off the strings and tops (without peeling off any of the skins), put them into salt and water, and let them lie an hour; then wash them, put them into a kettle with plenty of water, and boil them till they are tender: now skin them, pass them through a colander, and mix a little melted butter with them.
N.B. Some mix the pulp of apples, or turnips, with the onions others add mustard to them.

White Onion Sauce. (No. 298.)
The following is a more mild and delicate* preparation: Take half a dozen of the largest and whitest onions (the Spanish are the mildest, but these can only be had from August to December); peel them and cut them in half, and lay them in a pan of spring-water for a quarter of an hour, and then boil for a quarter of an hour; and then, if you wish them to taste very mild, pour off that water, and cover them with fresh boiling water, and let them boil till they are tender, which will sometimes take three-quarters of an hour longer; drain them well on a hair-sieve; lay them on the choppingboard, and chop and bruise them; put them into a clean saucepan, with some butter and flour, half a tea-spoonful of salt, and some cream, or good milk; stir it till it boils; then rub the whole through a tamis, or sieve, adding cream or milk, to make it the consistence you wish.
* If you wish to have them very mild, cut them in quarters, boil them for five minutes n plenty of water, and then drain them, and cook them iii fresh water.
Obs. This is the usual sauce for boiled rabbits, mutton, or tripe. There must be plenty of it; the usual expression signifies as much, for we say, smother them with it.

Original Receipt from 'Morton's Sixpenny Almanack' of 1876

ONION SAUCE Peel the onions and put them for a quarter of an hour into salt and water blanch them and then boil them in plenty of water or milk pass them through a wire sieve stir the pulp in to the melted butter boil up season with pepper and salt and serve
PRECAUTIONS: The more delicate flavour is obtained by boiling the onions in milk

See also: Brown Onion Sauce

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