Onions are one of my favourite ingredients: they are always to be had, they are cheap and there are plenty of kinds to choose from. An onion also tastes good both raw in a baguette and cooked in something from the oven. And then of course there is garlic, which everybody either hates or loves, but that is another story altogether. Do tell me, by the way, if you know where I could find really big heads of garlic, I mean ones the size of a small fist.
I have always imagined that the noblest thing an onion can be is softened in a pan or baked in the oven. Ah, how wrong I have been! Rachael of Fresh Approach Cooking in Los Angeles blogged a while ago about caramelising onions, and naturally I had to have a go myself. So off to my local K-Supermarket, and from there two kilos of onions at 50 cents a kilo, one euro's worth. A small grocery bill for once!
While the onions sat stewing in the pot - for almost four hours - I had plenty of time to look into the chemistry of the process. To simplify outrageously, as an onion caramelises its long sugar chains break into shorter ones and at the same time fall apart into hundreds of chemical compounds, a large part of which are still unknown. The brown colour typical of caramel appears along the way. Surprisingly enough, not all the stages of caramelisation are properly understood, so complicated is the whole business. Luckily for us, though, the result is delicious and the making really easy.
Three large onions might seem a sensible amount, but a small heap takes exactly as long to cook as a mountain of onions that looks alarming. So I dug out a four-litre pot and filled it right to the brim. During the first hour the heap shrank to about half, and the next couple of hours went on boiling off the liquid. I sat by the cooker with a book and got up to stir every 5-10 minutes.
What had seemed a huge heap, four litres and 1.7 kilos of peeled onions, left me with a small pile of about half a litre, weighing 450 grams, which fitted into a glass dessert bowl. So nearly three quarters of the weight disappeared. That is no wonder, since an onion is apparently almost 90 per cent water. The finished onions freeze well, and they can go on top of a steak, say, into a hamburger or into a pissaladière, the onion tart of Nice. I made my own batch for French onion soup, and the gruyère is already waiting. Now I only need to get hold of a slice of stale bread from somewhere and buy a little port. I shall return to the subject shortly.
Recipe card
Caramelised Onions
- about 450 g, or half a litre
- Pot 4 litres
- Hob setting 2-3 where the highest is 6
- Cooking 3-4 hours, uncovered
You will need
| 12 | large yellow onions (about 2 kg) |
| 1 tbsp | butter |
Method
- Three large onions may seem a sensible amount, but if you have decided to embark on this project I recommend digging out your biggest pot. A small heap takes exactly as long to cook as a mountain of onions that looks alarming.
- Halve and peel the onions and cut a small piece off the top and bottom ends. Put the pot on the hob at half power (at most) and drop a knob of butter in the bottom. Although the amount of onion is fearsome, you really do not need much butter. 1 tablespoon was plenty for my 12 large onions.
- While the pot heats up, start cutting the onions. Slice the halves radially into very thin crescents and tip the finished slices into the pot after every onion or two. Try to stir after each addition, so that the butter spreads evenly. The number of onions in the recipe is only a guide. Go on filling the pot right up to the brim. Do not worry, the mountain of slices soon shrinks as it cooks!
- At this point I recommend making yourself comfortable near the hob, with a good book for instance. Let the pot stew over a low heat (setting 2-3, if the highest is 6), uncovered, for 3-4 hours, and stir every 5-10 minutes.
- The heap of onions shrinks to about half during the first hour, and the next couple of hours go on boiling off the liquid. If the wait is agonising and the water seems never to disappear, raise the heat to setting three at most. But do not pour the liquid out of the pot!
- Your patience will be rewarded, and when the mixture begins to dry out, lower the heat back to two. Now you have to be more careful with the stirring, because the caramelising and the colouring speed up at this stage. On no account let the onions catch on the bottom, as that easily ruins the whole batch.
The finished onions freeze well.
The most important thing nearly went unmentioned, and that is the taste. If I had not made this batch myself, I would swear blind that honey or syrup had been poured in. That is how nutty-sweet and unbelievably aromatic the onions turned out.
9 comments
Jee, juuri tämäntyyppiseen sipuliohjeeseen olenkin toivonut törmääväni! 🙂 Pitääpä ottaa ohjelmaan joululomalla.
Sipuleita viipaloidessa meni puoli tuntia, joten jos sulla on sellainen tvshoppisuikalointijuttu, työ nopeutunee huomattavasti 🙂
Tein tuon satsin eilen illalla, ja kun tulin tänään kotiin, koko asunto tuoksui vielä huumaavan makealle. Nam!
Viipalointi on sinänsä hauskaa puuhaa, mutta tuommoista sipulikasaa kun lähtee suikaloimaan, niin voi olla, ettei kohta näe kyynelehtimiseltä koko leikkuulautaa. 🙂 Tvshoppisuikalointijuttua ei keittiöstä löydy (mikä se sitten lieneekään), mutta jospa yleiskoneen viipalointiterällä pääsisi edes jokseenkin toivotunlaiseen lopputulokseen.
Palaan asiaan, kunhan saan oman sipulikattilani tulelle.
I'm guessing you can read English, or else you wouldn't have been able to read my site (Fresh Approach)...pathetically, I cannot find a translator for Finnish to English, so I can't make an exact statement, but...thanks for the link and I hope the recipe worked for you!
I think it's amazingly cool that I am writing to you on your Finnish blog! It looks excellent.
🙂
Happy Holidays,
Rachael
Los Angeles, California
Hi Rachael, I was so excited to find your comment in my inbox!
I can assure you I have only used superlatives when referring to your recipes. The caramelized onions were out of this world (I cooked them for 4 hours), and the french onion soup simply divine!
I'll definitely be checking your blog out for other great recipes.
Happy holidays,
Antti
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[...] Karamellisoiduista sipuleista kertoessani olin jo hieman huolissani siitä, mitä muut ajattelisivat huikean pitkältä tuntuneesta neljän tunnin kypsennysajasta. Tänään lohdutan itseäni sillä, että paukkupakkasten päättyminen on keventänyt Fingridin kuormitusta, ja näin ollen yhdeksän tunnin yhtäjaksoinen sähköuunin käyttämiseni ei liene moraalisesti arvelluttavaa… [...]
Ajattelin kokeilla reseptiä isoin kattila on 24,5 litraa, en ehkä sitä käytä toiseksi isoin on 16 litraa joten en ehkä sitäkään käyt
Lisään vielä että kilo sipuleita 2011 oli 1,55€, aikamoinen nousu.