Zwiebelsoße (Zwiebelrahmsauce)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy frying pan or sauté pan, 28cm
• •Wooden spoon or flat spatula
• •Sharp knife or mandoline for thin onions

Instructions

1. 1

   Slice the onions

   Slice the onions thinly from root to tip so they keep some shape in the pan. Too thick and they stay raw at the centre; too chopped and they collapse into wet pulp before they brown.

2. 2

   Cook them slow

   Melt the butter or dripping with the oil in a wide frying pan over medium-low heat, then add the onions and a good pinch of salt. Cook them 18 to 25 minutes, stirring often, until soft, gold, and sweet at the edges. Runter mit der Temperatur if they catch. Brown is good; black is bitter, and you can't fix bitter with cream.

   Use a wide pan, not a narrow saucepan. Onions need room for their water to leave; crowd them and they boil in their own juice instead of turning sweet.
3. 3

   Build the base

   Stir in the sugar if your onions are sharp, and the caraway if it belongs with the plate you're serving. Sprinkle over the flour and cook it for 2 minutes, stirring, because raw flour tastes dusty and makes a dull sauce. The flour should disappear into the fat and onions, not sit in white patches.

4. 4

   Deglaze the pan

   Pour in the wine or beer if using, scraping the bottom of the pan until the browned bits lift. Those bits are flavour, not dirt. Let the liquid reduce by half so the alcohol cooks off and the onion taste stays clean.

5. 5

   Add stock

   Add the stock a little at a time, stirring as it goes in, so the flour loosens smoothly instead of clumping. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes until the sauce lightly coats a spoon. Stock from bones is best, because the gelatin gives body without making the sauce heavy. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

6. 6

   Finish with cream

   Lower the heat and stir in the cream and mustard, then let the sauce murmur for 3 to 5 minutes. Don't boil it hard after the cream goes in; hard heat dulls the dairy and can make the sauce greasy at the edge. Finish with vinegar, pepper, and salt. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss: the sharpness and final salt belong at the end, where you can taste what the onions have done.

7. 7

   Serve it properly

   Spoon the sauce over Frikadellen, fried liver, pork chops, Spätzle, or boiled potatoes while it is glossy and loose. If it thickens while waiting, add a splash of stock, not more cream, because the sauce needs onion and pan flavour first, richness second.

Chef Tips

• •Use yellow onions, not red onions. Red onions turn muddy in a cream sauce, while yellow onions cook sweet and hold the right pale-gold colour.
• •If you're making Frikadellen or pork chops, cook them first and build the sauce in the same pan. The browned bits make the sauce taste like supper, not like cream with onions floating in it.
• •For a darker northern-style Zwiebelsoße, leave out the cream, use 350ml stock, and finish with a spoon of mustard or a splash of beer. Same bones, different region.
• •For Spätzle, keep the sauce a little looser. The noodles drink it fast, and a thick sauce turns the plate heavy before anyone sits down.
• •Don't rush the onions with high heat. A burnt onion tastes burnt through the whole pot. Das braucht seine Zeit.

Advance Preparation

• •The sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Reheat it gently with a splash of stock, because chilled cream sauces tighten as they sit.
• •The onions can be cooked a day ahead and refrigerated. Finish the sauce with flour, stock, and cream when you need it, so the texture stays clean.
• •Leftover sauce keeps 3 days. Spoon it over boiled potatoes or rye bread with a fried egg; Nicht aus dem Glas, and not into the bin.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 190g)