Low and slow just like you said… plus the meal I used them on. French onion meatballs.
by Last_Nobody_7649
11 Comments
SauronSays719
These are sautéed, not caramelized.
CompleteUtterSalmon
Did you add liquid to the mix? The heat won’t rise above 100°c with any liquid, which isn’t enough to caramelise the sugars that form. They look a tad boiled from the pictures. Best way to do it is butter, no salt till they’re finished (salt draws water out of the onions quicker) and just leave em be. Stir them every now and then, they’ll catch a little but as long as they don’t burn too much you can stir the caught little nuggets in the bottom into the mix. And just keep cooking them. They’ll be gooey and lush by the end. Best and simplest thing to do with cooking is have patience and trust the process. Don’t rush. That is saying you have time to watch over a pan every 10 minutes for a few hours which I know we don’t usually have the luxury at home..
Past_Economist6278
If you liked them that’s all that matters
zer0lunacy
I bet it was yummy regardless of what everyone else said. But You may want to use less liquid. You’re looking for the maillard reaction, where the sugars in the onion turn to caramel. It looks like your onions were too wet to caramelize.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. This is a skill, it takes practice.
Alternative_Fee_3084
Don’t throw them away. They’re wonderful looking. But they’re sautéed not caramelized.
KevinParnell
Pan is overcrowded tbh, onions are just simmering most of the time. You can get deeper flavor with a drier pan, and deglaze with water or your choice of alcohol when a fond starts to form. They still come out good but if you want closer to the restaurants you need to cook them differently.
Mobius_Peverell
Oil, not water. Right idea, wrong liquid.
catsplants420
They look delicious, if they tasted great to you that’s all that matters. 10/10 would eat!
TurnoverMysterious64
Low low heat. The lower the heat the longer it’ll take, but also the less liquid you will need to add. A thicker bottom pan (can’t tell what you are using) will also help as it’ll spread the heat out and prevent hot spots from burning whatever onion is unlucky enough to sit over that spot.
Learning to do it this way also makes dicing onions for other dishes a whole lot easier, as you do it this way first, with the end you _didn’t_ cut holding it all together until you then start slicing the way you did it.
11 Comments
These are sautéed, not caramelized.
Did you add liquid to the mix? The heat won’t rise above 100°c with any liquid, which isn’t enough to caramelise the sugars that form. They look a tad boiled from the pictures.
Best way to do it is butter, no salt till they’re finished (salt draws water out of the onions quicker) and just leave em be. Stir them every now and then, they’ll catch a little but as long as they don’t burn too much you can stir the caught little nuggets in the bottom into the mix. And just keep cooking them. They’ll be gooey and lush by the end. Best and simplest thing to do with cooking is have patience and trust the process. Don’t rush. That is saying you have time to watch over a pan every 10 minutes for a few hours which I know we don’t usually have the luxury at home..
If you liked them that’s all that matters
I bet it was yummy regardless of what everyone else said. But You may want to use less liquid. You’re looking for the maillard reaction, where the sugars in the onion turn to caramel. It looks like your onions were too wet to caramelize.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. This is a skill, it takes practice.
Don’t throw them away. They’re wonderful looking. But they’re sautéed not caramelized.
Pan is overcrowded tbh, onions are just simmering most of the time. You can get deeper flavor with a drier pan, and deglaze with water or your choice of alcohol when a fond starts to form. They still come out good but if you want closer to the restaurants you need to cook them differently.
Oil, not water. Right idea, wrong liquid.
They look delicious, if they tasted great to you that’s all that matters. 10/10 would eat!
Low low heat. The lower the heat the longer it’ll take, but also the less liquid you will need to add. A thicker bottom pan (can’t tell what you are using) will also help as it’ll spread the heat out and prevent hot spots from burning whatever onion is unlucky enough to sit over that spot.
Lastly, and this is probably more of a personal preference on my part, but I like to slice the onions [the other way](https://www.savorysimple.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/800-Main-How-to-Chop-an-Onion-042.jpg) when prepping for caramelizing. It’s a bit harder to do this way, but something about it produces a better caramelized onion in my opinion.
Learning to do it this way also makes dicing onions for other dishes a whole lot easier, as you do it this way first, with the end you _didn’t_ cut holding it all together until you then start slicing the way you did it.
This is pretty much exactly how I do them:
https://www.loveandlemons.com/caramelized-onions/
No