Raw to Sweet

Unlike garlic, changing the intensity of onion is less a matter of how much you use or how you cut it or a matter of how you cook it. If your like my wife and think that the taste of onions have too sharp and astringent flavour, then I urge you to give them another chance. Here is a recipe that I use all the time for catering. This will make any hater of onions fall in love.

Ingredients:
          90 ml           Vegetable oil
          30 ml           butter
          2 lbs            onions thinly sliced (1/16 slice)
          90 ml           white sugar
          10 ml           thyme
          2 fl oz           white vinegar
          5 ml             course black pepper
          5 ml             kosher salt

          

Heat the oil and butter in a pan, add the onions, white sugar, thyme and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Stir them every few minutes until the edges of the onion start to soften and the middles turn translucent. At this point, the pungent onion flavour is gone, leaving behind a mild sweetness.  Then add the vinegar and cook for 10min. Cook until the onions start to turn brown, you'll notice nutty and caramel flavours starting to emerge. They will gradually brown, becoming completely limp and even start to disintegrate. Once cooked, the onions no longer have an upfront in-your-face flavor. They caramelize and taste sweeter the longer you cook them. Remove from the heat and add the salt and pepper for seasoning. Then cool.

Now these onions will blend into the background and create a base for the rest of the flavors that you add to any dish. One canape that we make is a Seared AAA Ribeye Beef with Roasted Onion Jam and Black Truffle Tapenade.