Bangers and Mash with Caramelised Onion Gravy

Good sausages, a mountain of buttery mash, and a dark onion gravy you’ll want to pour over everything. It’s a pub classic that lives or dies on the quality of the snags, so this is a recipe worth buying well for. Pick up your sausages and potatoes at Queen Victoria Market – delivered straight to your door or via Click & Collect!

Serves 4. Cooking for 2? Just halve the ingredients.

Ingredients

Mash

• 1kg Desiree or Dutch Cream potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 80g butter, cubed
• ½ cup (125ml) full-cream milk, warmed
• Salt and freshly cracked white pepper

Sausages

• ½ tablespoon olive oil
• 8 thick pork sausages

Caramelised onion gravy

• 25g butter
• 2 large brown onions, halved and finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 2 cups (500ml) beef stock
• ¼ teaspoon dark soy sauce
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

To serve

• Peas or steamed greens

Method

Mash

1. Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water and add a good pinch of salt. Starting them in cold water means they cook evenly rather than going to mush on the outside.
2. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until a knife slides into a piece with no resistance.
3. Drain well in a colander and let sit for a few minutes to release the steam; this keeps the mash creamy rather than watery.
4. Return the potatoes to the warm pot, add the butter and mash until smooth. Pour in the warm milk a little at a time until you get the texture you want. Cold milk will seize the starch and make it gluey, so warm it first.
5. Season with salt and white pepper. Cover and keep warm.

Sausages and gravy

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausages and cook for about 8 minutes, turning every couple of minutes, until browned all over and cooked through. Resist the urge to prick them; you’ll lose the juices that keep them tender.
2. Transfer the sausages to a plate and cover loosely with foil.
3. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Leave about 2 tablespoons of fat in the pan and add the butter. All the browned bits stuck to the base go into the gravy, so don’t wipe the pan out.
4. Add the onions and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until deep golden and jammy.
5. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
6. Sprinkle over the flour and stir constantly for 1 minute to cook out the raw flour taste.
7. Pour in about ¾ cup of the stock and stir until it forms a smooth paste, then add the rest gradually, stirring as you go. Adding it all at once is how you get lumps (switch to a whisk if any appear)
8. Stir in the dark soy sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until the gravy coats the back of a spoon. It thickens further off the heat, so pull it a touch thinner than you want it.
9. Season to taste. Return the sausages to the pan for a minute to warm through and pick up the gravy.
10. Serve the sausages over the mash with plenty of gravy, and peas or greens alongside.

Adapted from RecipeTin Eats