What Does Carmelized Onions Even Mean?

This isn't really a recipe post-more of a technique post. When you cook onions, I'm sure you've noticed that often times recipes say something like, "saute onions until they become transleuscent," or "until they soften," etc. When prepared this way, onions (I'm mostly talking about yellow/white ones) retain their savory oniony flavor and texture.

But, if you cook them on med-high heat with a few pads of butter (works better than oil), and allow them to do their thing by moving past the transleuscent phase, they start to carmelize. And this means exactly what is sounds like: when cooked for a while in butter, the sugars in the onion begin to develop and they get that sweet taste and melt-in-your-mouth texture. Now, when cooking onions in this way, there really isn't a way to ruin them (they can cook forever and just keep getting more and more delicious).

A couple of applications for you:

Add red bell peppers to pan as well and caramelize with onions to make a great side dish, fajita topper, or steak accoutrement.



 


Serve with Zoe's Cole Slaw (another post) and grilled chicken.