Why Your Turkey Sauce Needs Fried Onions
Turkey gravy is almost as disturbing in the kitchen as turkey itself. Thought it was a simple sauce made of fat, flour and broth, but it might take a while to achieve both the viscosity and the flavor profile. Both goals are more attainable by burning the onion.
Burnt ( not caramelized) onions are kind of the secret weapon for sauces and dressings. The onions will thicken the gravy a bit, which is nice if you haven’t cooked enough dressing, but it tastes really good too. They have a deep fried taste filled with umami. For me it is a fragrance with a developed quality. Burnt onions have no “crumpled” taste; it says that “this dish has been cooked for a while, and it has been prepared with love and attention.”
This quality makes it a great addition to any gravy, but its ability to give a can of shop-bought homemade flavor is astounding. Like our ranch charred onions , charred onions hide the characteristic synthetic aromas that often accompany mass-produced foods. Depending on how seasoned your sauce is, one whole onion is enough for two to four cups of sauce, and the process is simple. You can burn the onions a few days before and then add them to the gravy immediately before serving. To make it you will need:
- 1 white onion
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- At least 2 cups of gravy, store bought or homemade.
Cut the onion in half and cut into thin semicircles. Heat oil over high heat in a large stainless steel skillet, add onion and sprinkle with salt. Stir quickly to distribute the oil evenly, then leave everything a little bit alone. As soon as the onion starts to burn, stir it from time to time until it looks like this:
Remove the onions from the skillet, let cool, then chop half the onions into two cups of gravy using a hand blender. Try and cook the other half if you want more of that deep fried flavor.