Peeling Back the Layers

My love-hate relationship with caramelized onions.

I’m fairly sure that my daughter’s first word was “onion”.

Now, it came out a bit more like “nyun nyun”, but it makes some sense.  When Little Fish was very little I was working as a production chef at a busy restaurant.  In addition to all the stock, soups, sauces, and other stuff we made for the restaurant we also made ingredients for the associated wholesale bread bakery.  And, boy, did they use a lot of caramelized onions!

I’m not talking a few pounds here and there.  I’m talking as much as 16-18 kilos a day.

So my clothes smelled like onions.  My hair smelled like onions. Mommy smelled like onions.

It’s no exaggeration for me to say that I’ve chopped more than a metric ton of onions and could make caramelized onions its own line on my CV.  They were the bane of my existence.

We used a lot of different cooking vessels and techniques to speed up the process, many of them driven by the unholy combination of desperation and necessity.  I learned through trial and many errors that you can make caramelized onions quickly but awful, or slowly and incredibly delicious.

Anyone who says you can make proper caramelized onions in 15 minutes is straight up full of shit.

That said, if you peel back a few layers (ha!) of technique and do some science-stuff you can shorten the time a bit and make the process pretty darn foolproof.

You’ll need some onions, a sharp knife, the widest heavy-bottomed skillet or pan you own, a heat-proof spoon or spatula, some butter and/or oil, some salt, and the magic ingredient: baking soda.

• Start with peeling your onions.  And start with a LOT. It’s not worth the effort to start with less than a couple of pounds but thankfully caramelized onions keep in the fridge a few days and freeze really well.

• Slice the onions lengthwise (root to stem end).  How thick or thin you slice them is entirely up to you and your knife skills.  A sharp knife is your best bet to cut down on the tears, but if you want to try a weird trick (and don’t mind looking a little ridiculous) clench a crust of bread between your teeth while you’re slicing.  Don’t ask me how this works but it seems to work for me!

• Heat up your skillet or pan to medium-high and add a couple of tablespoons of butter and/or oil.  I like using a combination of both as the oil keeps the butter from burning, but this is entirely up to you.

• Toss your onions in the pan and stir to coat with the butter/oil.  After a couple of minutes, turn the heat to medium-low.

• Stir the onions occasionally for the next 45 minutes or so, and more frequently as their water evaporates. You don’t need to hover, but don’t go take bubble bath either. Within a few minutes the onions will start to brown but will still be quite juicy.  If they are getting a little charred turn down the heat.  When they start to stick (and they will stick) deglaze the pan with a couple of tablespoons of water. This stickiness is good: in French cuisine it is called the fond (foundation) and it’s where the flavour begins.

Now here’s where we get science-y. 

• If you want soft and jammy onions, almost puree in texture:  add your salt early.  The salt will cause the onions to release water more quickly and they will break down faster.

• If you want firmer and more intact (though still thoroughly soft) onions: add your salt near the end of the cooking process.

• There is no magic amount of salt.  It really depends on your taste, but do keep in mind that as the moisture evaporates the flavours will get more concentrated, including the saltiness.  Use some restraint at the beginning because you can always add more later on.  Same goes if you want to use wine or another liquid to deglaze the fond from your pan.  A little goes a long way!

• Now here’s the real magic.  Near the end of the cooking process, when your onions are soft and browning nicely, add a pinch (and I mean a tiny pinch!) of baking soda.

About 1/8 of a teaspoon of baking soda per pound of onions (raw weight) increases the pH, making them more alkaline. This change increases the Maillard reaction, a chemical process similar to caramelization.  I promise to write a column on the Maillard reaction and its many applications in the near future, but for the moment you’ll have to trust me.  This little tiny chemical reaction will push those not-quite perfect onions over into golden-brown sweet caramelized awesomeness.

Here are some onions before the baking soda.

And here they are a few minutes later after some baking soda.

Now, too much baking soda will give your onions a weird chemical taste so err on the side of a very tiny pinch. The baking soda will also cause the onions to soften a bit more and brown much faster, so as with the salt add early if you want them very jammy and near the end if you want them more intact (like shown above). The precise point of doneness is, like in many things in life, a matter of personal taste.

And what to do with this delicious mass of sweet yumminess?  Soup, sandwiches, burgers, dip, and pizza are all great choices.  Pro-tip:  babies LOVE caramelized onions (though tone down or drop the salt) especially with apple or root vegetable puree.  Freeze whatever you have left (if any!) and enjoy for weeks to come.

Like I said a couple of weeks ago about poached eggs, the simpler the task the more important the details. But once you know the technique the possibilities are endless.

Like this tip? Let me know what you think at heykettleoffish@gmail.com