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Caramelized onions
Aug. 6th, 2008 02:13 pmSeveral days ago, my wife was talking about one of my meals with somebody online. The meal in questions involved filet mignon, hand-trimmed, and caramelized onions. Her friend said, "ooo!" and asked for my recipe for caramelizing onions.
The following is more of an artists' manual than a proper recipe.
Caramelized onions involve multiple forms of cooking. I have been able to make them by simply frying the onions, but it takes a longer time, is a more finicky process, and isn't necessarily more flavorful. The methods used for proper caramelization includes frying, deglazing, and the slightest bit of boiling.
I have been purchasing large onions, like Vidalia, large red onions or Mayan sweet onions from my local Costco. This works fine with any size onion of most any pedigree, but as it calls for lots of slicing I recommend the big ones. Really, I don't want to know about how you sliced two pounds of small white onions. If the onions are tiny you can likely get away with simply quartering them after peeling them, but it's still more work.
I sometimes use my medium 10" skillet with curved sides, other times use the enormous 6 quart frying pan - at least, I think it's 6 quarts and I'm a little too lazy to go downstairs and check right now. It might be 4.5 quarts. Point is, it's big. None of these, by the way, are non-stick. You need to get some browning in here. I use the 10" skilled for a single large onion, the huge frying pan for multiple onions.
The frying pan goes onto the burner at medium-high heat. I add at least one tablespoon of oil or fat to the medium skilled, two to the large, but feel free to put in more. I've used rapeseed oil, grape seed oil, extra virgin olive oil, butter and chicken fat, though not all at the same time. I recommend each of butter and chicken fat for the flavor and texture, and both the rapeseed and the grape seed oils as low-flavor versions. I do not recommend the extra virgin olive oil, as it has a low smoke-point, the flavor does not really shine through, and the cost is high.
Slice up your onion, preferably thin slices as it will keep down the cooking time. You can chop it up if you want small pieces, but I usually use full slices from a halved, peeled Vidalia. Put the onion in the pan and let it cook for several minutes until the onions have generally gone translucent and some browning has occurred. I usually, but not always, add a heavy pinch of either regular or Kosher salt. If the onions blacken a little, that is OK.
This is when you add some liquid to the pan. When I was much younger I made what I called a teriyaki onion relish, which involved me using too much sweet red wine and too much tamari. You only need about 1-1.5 ounces for the medium pan, sometimes called a 'shot' and a 'jigger' respectively if I have my feeble store of bartending terms correct. If you're using the huge pan, a quarter to a third of a cup might be a better bet. The kind of liquid you use depends on the flavor you're going for. For the onions that go with the filet mignon or some chicken I tend to use chicken broth or stock. For the teriyaki onion relish, which I haven't made in years, I would alternate between sweet red wine and tamari - it made for very dark onions. You can use most any liquid you want, even plain old water.
Evenly pour in your liquid. If you need a little more, pour in a little more. Do not turn down the heat. The liquid should evaporate after 3-7 minutes. I apply the liquid at least three times for best results, sometimes as many as 5. I can caramelize onions in as fast as 20-25 minutes if I've sliced my onions right and have the proper sized pan. Usually it takes at least a half hour.
It is fine to cook them in advance and put them in your refrigerator, but I don't recommend keeping them there for more than 2-3 days. The onions can be used for pizzas, hamburgers, hot dogs, omelettes, souffles, sauces - most anything where you want some onion flavor. If you want a sauce with onion flavor without using onion powder, use the caramelized onions and then blend your sauce with a blender or stick blender. For some applications, like souffles, you may want to drain the onions a bit, as they may have a little extra oil and may have some spare liquid from the pan.
If this little manual was not helpful for those of you who had no idea of how before and are giving it an early try, let me know.
The following is more of an artists' manual than a proper recipe.
Caramelized onions involve multiple forms of cooking. I have been able to make them by simply frying the onions, but it takes a longer time, is a more finicky process, and isn't necessarily more flavorful. The methods used for proper caramelization includes frying, deglazing, and the slightest bit of boiling.
I have been purchasing large onions, like Vidalia, large red onions or Mayan sweet onions from my local Costco. This works fine with any size onion of most any pedigree, but as it calls for lots of slicing I recommend the big ones. Really, I don't want to know about how you sliced two pounds of small white onions. If the onions are tiny you can likely get away with simply quartering them after peeling them, but it's still more work.
I sometimes use my medium 10" skillet with curved sides, other times use the enormous 6 quart frying pan - at least, I think it's 6 quarts and I'm a little too lazy to go downstairs and check right now. It might be 4.5 quarts. Point is, it's big. None of these, by the way, are non-stick. You need to get some browning in here. I use the 10" skilled for a single large onion, the huge frying pan for multiple onions.
The frying pan goes onto the burner at medium-high heat. I add at least one tablespoon of oil or fat to the medium skilled, two to the large, but feel free to put in more. I've used rapeseed oil, grape seed oil, extra virgin olive oil, butter and chicken fat, though not all at the same time. I recommend each of butter and chicken fat for the flavor and texture, and both the rapeseed and the grape seed oils as low-flavor versions. I do not recommend the extra virgin olive oil, as it has a low smoke-point, the flavor does not really shine through, and the cost is high.
Slice up your onion, preferably thin slices as it will keep down the cooking time. You can chop it up if you want small pieces, but I usually use full slices from a halved, peeled Vidalia. Put the onion in the pan and let it cook for several minutes until the onions have generally gone translucent and some browning has occurred. I usually, but not always, add a heavy pinch of either regular or Kosher salt. If the onions blacken a little, that is OK.
This is when you add some liquid to the pan. When I was much younger I made what I called a teriyaki onion relish, which involved me using too much sweet red wine and too much tamari. You only need about 1-1.5 ounces for the medium pan, sometimes called a 'shot' and a 'jigger' respectively if I have my feeble store of bartending terms correct. If you're using the huge pan, a quarter to a third of a cup might be a better bet. The kind of liquid you use depends on the flavor you're going for. For the onions that go with the filet mignon or some chicken I tend to use chicken broth or stock. For the teriyaki onion relish, which I haven't made in years, I would alternate between sweet red wine and tamari - it made for very dark onions. You can use most any liquid you want, even plain old water.
Evenly pour in your liquid. If you need a little more, pour in a little more. Do not turn down the heat. The liquid should evaporate after 3-7 minutes. I apply the liquid at least three times for best results, sometimes as many as 5. I can caramelize onions in as fast as 20-25 minutes if I've sliced my onions right and have the proper sized pan. Usually it takes at least a half hour.
It is fine to cook them in advance and put them in your refrigerator, but I don't recommend keeping them there for more than 2-3 days. The onions can be used for pizzas, hamburgers, hot dogs, omelettes, souffles, sauces - most anything where you want some onion flavor. If you want a sauce with onion flavor without using onion powder, use the caramelized onions and then blend your sauce with a blender or stick blender. For some applications, like souffles, you may want to drain the onions a bit, as they may have a little extra oil and may have some spare liquid from the pan.
If this little manual was not helpful for those of you who had no idea of how before and are giving it an early try, let me know.
