Everyone Eats

Had a conversation a couple weeks ago with a friend when the topic turned to carmelizing onions, and how one can tell if the onions are carmelized. Well, here's a tutorial to get you started.

I first carmelized onions when I was making French onion soup. But now I carmelize them to use in various crockpot recipes, as a topping for homemade pizza, soups, added to mashed potatoes, or used to make various inventive dips or cracker toppings.

There are a multitude of ways to carmelize onions. Like most recipes, once you learn the basic process, you can make it your own.

Don't be afraid of this recipe. If you use the "low and slow" technique when cooking, there is no way you can screw this up.

First, select your onions. Add dimension to your onions by choosing two large onions of different varieties. I usually choose a red and a yellow. You don't need the sweet onion variety, but it will work just fine if you prefer those.

To avoid "crying" keep your onions in the refrigerator (where they store best anyway) until the very last possible minute. When you cut the onions, you will want to try and cut the slices thinly and as uniformly in size as possible. I usually half the onion, peel and remove the tops, and then start by putting the cut side down on the cutting board. I then half the half of the onion (so now it's quartered) and begin by thinly slicing downward. Repeat this process until your onion is sliced.

After both your onions are sliced, put the onion into a large frying pan. Don't be worry if your pan is now filled to the brim. The onions will cook down considerably. Begin by adding about a tablespoon of unsalted butter (or a tablespoon of olive oil, if you prefer). The butter will create better browning and flavor on the onions. Turn the stove on medium heat.

You will want to stir every five minutes or so until the onions are translucent. But in the meantime, you can add various flavorings of your choice. If I'm making French onion soup, I add worcestershire sauce and a bit of red wine. You may also want to add minced garlic to the mix if it fits your needs.

So continue stirring until 1) The onions are completely cooked AND 2) The bottom of the pan is dry. This means all the liquid that cooked out of the onions or added in the form of red wine, butter or worcestershire, has evaporated. If the pan is dry, your carmelization will work much better.

Once you have met both those requirements, turn your stove down to low (or about 10:30 or 11 O'clock on the stove dial) and cover the pan tightly with a lid or aluminum foil. Now, set your stove timer for 1 hour. After 30 minutes, you can stir the onions around a bit. But avoid checking them every 5 minutes... it is the steady and low heat that will carmelize the onions.

At 45 minutes you can check them - feel free to taste. If you taste a bit of sweetness in the onions, they're carmelized. If they aren't sweet, or not sweet enough for you, leave them for the full hour.

Like I said, stoves and settings do vary, but you know they're done when they get a bit sweet. Gosh how I love melty sweet carmelized onions! Tonight I ended up adding carmelized onions to my barbecue beef stew. The lentils and veggies add lots of fiber. You can serve over rice or with crackers. Delish!

Barbecue beef stew:
1 19 oz can of diced tomatoes (liquid too!)
1 can of beef broth
1.5 pounds of beef stew meat
2 large carrots, roughly chopped
2 medium potatoes, roughly chopped
3/4 cup of green lentils (or other lentils or beans of your choice)
1/4 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
8 roughly chopped garlic cloves
2 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
Simmer in a crockpot for 8-10 hours. Stir in 1/2-3/4 cup of carmelized onions near the middle of the cooking time. Just before serving, mix 1/4 cup of flour into 1/2 cup of water until smooth. Then add the flour water mixture to the crockpot and stir quickly. It's done!