Bangers and mash with rich onion gravy

Ingredients

Mash

• 1.2 kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled, chunked
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 150 ml whole milk, warmed
• Salt + white pepper

Sausages

• 8 good pork sausages (Cumberland or Lincolnshire)
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil

Onion gravy

• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 30 g butter
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 400 ml beef stock
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• Salt + black pepper

Method

1. Potatoes. Boil in salted water 15 minutes until very tender. Drain well.
2. Mash. Return to the pan over low heat for 1 minute to drive off steam. Mash with butter, then milk. Season. Keep warm.
3. Onions. Melt butter in a wide pan over medium-low. Add onions. Cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until deep golden.
4. Gravy base. Stir in flour and mustard. Cook 1 minute.
5. Stock. Pour in stock, Worcestershire, sugar. Simmer 10 minutes until thickened. Season.
6. Sausages. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium. Cook sausages 12-15 minutes, turning, until browned and cooked through.
7. Serve. Big mound of mash, sausages on top, drowned in gravy.

Tips

• Use a proper butcher’s sausage. Cheap ones split and weep.
• Rest the mash 1 minute after milk goes in. It soaks up better.
• Caramelise the onions slow. 30 minutes minimum. Sweet, dark, unctuous.