“Ben Stark laughed. ‘As I feared. Ah, well. I believe I was younger than you the first time I got truly and sincerely drunk.’ He snagged a roasted onion, dripping brown with gravy, from a nearby trencher and bit into it. It crunched.” -A Game of Thrones
Onions in Gravy
Our Thoughts:
Think winter.
You have been riding for hours through the snow-swept Wolfswood. The black strip of cloth you wrap around your mouth and nose has frozen almost rigid from the moisture in your breath, but you are finally home. You pass through the outer gate of a stone keep to a world alive with the sounds of the practice yard, and the smells of horses and cookfires, smoky in the icy air. A few minutes later you are in the castle mess hall, dipping fresh bread in warm rich gravy- salty and delicious. Sweet pearl onions burst in your mouth- and you wash them down with dark ale. As you hungrily devour the warm bread and rich ale, the gravy, the sweet onions, you feel certain that no one, not even the high lords with their haunches of fresh meat, has ever enjoyed a meal more.
That is what it is like to eat this dish.
However, as delicious as this recipe proves to be, it would be at its best when paired with something. Bread and sharp cheeses, roasted meat, or turnips swimming in butter would all suit admirably.
(Guest review by Fire Pony)
Recipe available in the Cookbook!
I imagine there must have been some meat in that gravy to give it a rich deep flavour as well as the onions. It all sounds so tasty however … crusty bread and a pint of ale to wash it all down.
Yes, I already made that dish a few times now and always added some goulash meat (diced into about the size of the pearl onions i used (is that correct english?)).
I even make this as a main course frequently, just with some bread as a side – hmmmmm… I know now what I’ll do tonight. :)
I can’t get my hands on any apple cider this time of year, is there anything I can substitute?
Regular apple juice should work just fine!
I was thinking that. I was also going to try using orange juice.
OJ might give it a slightly odd taste, but it was a common ingredient in a lot of historical cooking! :)
I did it with a sweet white wine a few times, that also works quite good.