12 votes

Why do recipe writers lie and lie and lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions?

8 comments

  1. [7]
    Akir
    Link
    It doesn't take that long to caramelize onions. The problem is that not everyone agrees on what it means to be caramelized. In my personal opinion, most people overcook their onions. 45 minutes...

    It doesn't take that long to caramelize onions. The problem is that not everyone agrees on what it means to be caramelized. In my personal opinion, most people overcook their onions. 45 minutes might be fine if you're making something like a french onion soup, but that's when you get into 'worm' territory; mushy threads of very darkly colored onion that likely has the consistency of paste. But I'm in the opinion that in most applications vegetables should still have at least a little snap to them.

    And of course any estimate for cooking time is just that - an estimate. 10 minutes can be 15 in reality, and 5+5 minutes may actually end up being closer to 20. I find that most recipes tend to estimate a shorter time then you'll actually take.

    A much better way to speed up the cooking of just about any vegetable is to add water to the pan and cover it. That basically steams it, which makes for better transmission of the heat to the food. This also inhibits the mallard reactions, so you'll want to uncover it for browning. But this works well for caramelizing onions because it's the initial cooking phase that breaks down the cell walls and lets the sugars come out to brown.

    4 votes
    1. [2]
      stu2b50
      Link Parent
      That's a separate but related issue. What many other recipes call "caramelized onions" would be better known as browned onions. Indeed, in many cases you wouldn't want "mushy brown worms" in your...

      It doesn't take that long to caramelize onions. The problem is that not everyone agrees on what it means to be caramelized. In my personal opinion, most people overcook their onions

      That's a separate but related issue. What many other recipes call "caramelized onions" would be better known as browned onions. Indeed, in many cases you wouldn't want "mushy brown worms" in your dish. In that case, it's more that "caramelized" sounds better than "browned", so amateur recipe authors substitute it to make their dish sound fancier.

      But it's equally true that in many dishes, caramelized onions are not browned onions. In the article linked, one of the examples used is french onion soup. The onions absolutely need to be caramelized, sweet and rich, with a consistency that practically melt away into the soup body. Their strong flavor is really critical to the recipe. Similarly, 10-15 minute browned onions on a burger is not caramelized. Onions of any kind is fine on a burger, but caramelized onions should be very sweet.

      You absolutely cannot caramelize onions in 15 minutes for french onion soup, as the article pointed to inside the article says.

      My personal "hack" for caramelized onions is to fry them at a high temperature, and add in brown sugar.

      10 votes
      1. Akir
        Link Parent
        I've never seen a recipe for french onion soup that says to cook the onions for 10 minutes. Most recipes say that it will take "a long time", with most estimates being over half an hour. The...

        I've never seen a recipe for french onion soup that says to cook the onions for 10 minutes. Most recipes say that it will take "a long time", with most estimates being over half an hour. The article's mention of the soup even has this rough figure.

        That onion hack is a pretty good idea in theory, but it sounds terrible to my pallet; I generally don't like sweet cooked veggies. I'm the kind of guy who only likes sweet potatoes in pie.

    2. [3]
      gpl
      Link Parent
      You can also add a pinch of baking soda to accelerate the caramelization process. I don't know exactly what is going on behind the scenes so maybe its not truly caramelizing but the end result is...

      You can also add a pinch of baking soda to accelerate the caramelization process. I don't know exactly what is going on behind the scenes so maybe its not truly caramelizing but the end result is pretty darn good and doesn't take as long.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        cfabbro
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        https://www.seriouseats.com/caramelized-onions#toc-does-baking-soda-speed-up-caramelized-onions Although, the funny thing is J Kenji Lopez-Alt actually recommends using baking soda to speed up the...

        Does Baking Soda Speed Up Caramelized Onions?

        Short answer, yes. Long answer, yes, but it's disgusting.

        Baking soda makes the onions more alkaline, which speeds up the browning reactions necessary for properly caramelized onions. But it also weakens the pectin that holds the onion's cells together, turning what should be soft but distinct pieces of browned onion into a nauseating stew of pea-green mush. The flavor is off, too, with a chemical bitterness that's just plain wrong.

        In my testing, I found no amount of baking soda that was acceptable, no matter how little I added. Even the most minimal quantities ruined the batch.

        https://www.seriouseats.com/caramelized-onions#toc-does-baking-soda-speed-up-caramelized-onions

        Although, the funny thing is J Kenji Lopez-Alt actually recommends using baking soda to speed up the caramelization in his French Onion dip recipe (also on Serious Eats). So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I guess it depends on the texture you're going for since the baking soda onions pictured in both do look far more broken down and mushy than the standard cooking method.

        4 votes
        1. Akir
          Link Parent
          Taste is subjective. Cook's Illustrated / America's Test Kitchen seems to like the flavor of baking soda (or at least this one guy who works there does). Personally I've never tried it because it...

          Taste is subjective. Cook's Illustrated / America's Test Kitchen seems to like the flavor of baking soda (or at least this one guy who works there does).

          Personally I've never tried it because it simply doesn't sound tasty and I'd rather spend the extra time cooking it.

          3 votes
  2. No-Exit-4
    Link
    For 6 big red onions it takes 30 minutes for me. I am using them to make chicken curries usually.

    For 6 big red onions it takes 30 minutes for me. I am using them to make chicken curries usually.

    2 votes