Caramelizing Onions

[TriPolar]

Use sweet onions to minimize that sulphurous smell.

[Chefguy]

@drastic_quench

Slicing that way gives you carmelized onion jam. It has a uniform consistency, I’ll grant you that. I like slicing the whole onion into wedges like an orange, and yes, the knife cuts parallel to the grain. Then, cut off the ends/root, and into the pan. The result is not “a stringy mess” but nicely stackable onions that look of onions, not onion jam. They pile nicely on burgers and steak sandwiches. One can “achieve height” with ease. They are not stringy or difficult to chew or bite through either.

If you want spreadable, like for crackers or toast, across the grain works. Everything else gets wedges.

Slicing WHICH way gives you onion jam? This thread is a muddled mess of mis-description.

[kittenblue]

@TruCelt

Well, it’s the smell of a really big mound of onions cooking. You know the smell, we’ve all been through the stage in the pan, when they smell strong but “raw” and haven’t yet developed that rich scent we’re going for. It’s going to be pretty strong, and for quite a while, but if she sleeps through the night she probably won’t encounter it at all.

ETA: A dollop of sherry helps.

E again TA: You are intended to put the sherry in the crockpot.

Damn. Out of sherry. Maybe I’ll run to Trader Joe’s. And I only have yellow onions, so I’ll just warn her and keep the kitchen door closed.

[kittenblue]

Further research recommended the standard yellow onions instead of sweet ones like Vidalias because sweet onions have a higher percentage of water so collapse and lose flavor with long cooking. I’ve got about four pounds in with olive oil and butter, and a splash of sherry per the advice above. Plus the kitchen exhaust fan is running and Great-Grandma has been warned…

[Ferret_Herder]

@Chefguy

Slicing WHICH way gives you onion jam? This thread is a muddled mess of mis-description.

Yeah, I’m confused.

Are we talking about slicing “vertically” / stem to root?
Are we talking about slicing “horizontally” / into rings?

[TruCelt]

OK, so vertically - stem to root - with the grain - leaves the strings intact. They are saying this gives you intact onion slices, I’m saying it leaves you with a stringy mess. I reckon both can be true depending upon how long coook them and what sort of onions you started with.

Slicing horizontally - across the grain - severs each string and leaves you with a tenderer slice, or onion jam, depending upon what you started with and how long you cook it.

[kittenblue]

Ok, so here we are after ten hours of cooking on high in the crockpot, and while they are lightly golden, they are nowhere near caramelized…except for the section that burnt to the wall of the insert. I’m giving them another hour, uncovered, as one recipe suggested. But I may need to finish them off in a frying pan. And I’m missing the great flavor of my usual recipe. Hopefully when some evaporation happens the flavor will deepen.

[purplehorseshoe]

Next time, maybe stir a couple of times. Lifting the lid lets some steam escape, and plsu, that way you can redistribute the heat from the insert.

[TriPolar]

@kittenblue

Further research recommended the standard yellow onions instead of sweet ones like Vidalias because sweet onions have a higher percentage of water so collapse and lose flavor with long cooking. I’ve got about four pounds in with olive oil and butter, and a splash of sherry per the advice above. Plus the kitchen exhaust fan is running and Great-Grandma has been warned…

Vidalias are always too wet. I stick to other varieties for that reason. The cure though is to cut them up and leave them spread out on a sheet for a while, or cook uncovered for a while until they dry out. The cooking part is tricky, too low a temperature and it all turns soggy, but as they start to dry the temperature has to be lowered.
As for the slicing thing, who cares. I usually dice them into 3/4 inch squares or make strings. If you’re worried about mush, don’t use the crockpot method. Do it on the stove top and watch your heat carefully.

[kittenblue]

@purplehorseshoe

Next time, maybe stir a couple of times. Lifting the lid lets some steam escape, and plsu, that way you can redistribute the heat from the insert.

If I ever do it again that way, I will force myself to break that “don’t open the crock-pot” rule and stir them! I so wanted to when I went into the kitchen at 2 am. At least there wasn’t a ton of burned stuff, but still…I ended up dumping them into the good ol’ cast iron pan and finishing them off because they just weren’t caramelized enough. And I added a tiny bit of brown sugar and thyme and a splash of balsamic vinegar and now they taste much better. Sorry, purists! but I did like the addition of the sherry. I just don’t think it was worth the twelve hours of electricity and the 11 hours of unrelenting onion smell…I was up half the night just hungry from the scent!

[TruCelt]

I can’t imagine how it would ever work if you never open the lid. The water has to be able to evaporate, or else how would they brown? I never put the lid on when I do them.

[Rachael_Rage]

After reading several articles and blog posts and this thread on the crock pot method, I gave it a try last night to tremendous success! I have not used caramelized onions much in the past but having tried this, they will now probably be a staple of my kitchen.

The one other time I did it, I used the stove-top method, and either I used the wrong temperature, the wrong onions (Vidalias) or just wasn’t patient enough because my stove-top onions never turned brown, just deep yellow and soft, but not the caramelization I wanted. Now I’ve got batch #1 of the crock-pot onions in the fridge and batch #2 cooking now, and I’ll probably never use the stove-top method again. Here are some tips that helped me, if you are interested in trying crock-potting onions:

1. Use a high-sided crock pot. One blogger said the high-sided pots provide more surface area for browning. Mine is a small one, 1.5 qt I think, which only cooks at one temperature (“high,” I believe). My pot less than 10 years old, I’ve heard the vintage pots cook at a lower temperature.

2. Use regular yellow onions. I cut them in half through the root, then in half-moons, which I think is agreed to mean “against the grain.” The result was small pieces and quite “jammy,” which works for me.

3. Fill the pot full, apparently this also helps. For my small pot this was 3 medium onions. I broke up the “half moons” so they were jumbled up, not flat slices.

4. Use butter, sliced into pats and layered on the top. I think I added more than necessary - about 2-3 Tbsp for 3 onions. Others say Olive Oil works just fine too.

5. I added about a tsp of sea salt. This might not have been necessary, considering I used salted butter, but they did not come out excessively salty, so it’s up to your preference I think.

6. I read that this method actually does not “caramelize” onions in the technical sense. The browning comes from Maillard reactions rather than true caramelization of the sugars, apparently. I am sure I couldn’t tell the difference but a chef probably would, so keep that in mind if you’re trying to impress (or be) a true foodie.

I put these on about 11:30 last night. Early in the cooking I got a whiff of that strong, sulfur-y almost-raw onion smell but I wouldn’t say it permeated the apartment to the point of distraction. My husband has the nose of a bloodhound - coffee brewing in the kitchen wakes him up - and he did not stir. Shortly thereafter, it mellowed into a pleasant cooking-onions scent.

About 3.5 hours in (I blame YouTube) I checked on them before going to bed and they were already starting to brown and had reduced by about half and were quite watery. I gave them a stir and cracked the lid, leaving a note for DH to stir them again and put the lid back on before he left for work (about 3 hours later). When I woke up about three hours after that, the onions were very brown and I worried they were burnt but actually were perfect. I ended up with about 3/4 cup of onions and a teaspoon or two of leftover oniony fat (which I saved for sauteeing).

Now I just need a good thing to serve these with…maybe it will be a burger night.

[Big_Norse]

@Rachael_Rage

Now I just need a good thing to serve these with…maybe it will be a burger night.

I put them on pizza, yum.