this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2024
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chapotraphouse
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Asking this because I don't eat onion in my dishes - is "caramelising onions" just cooking them in a pan?
Yes and no - you want to cook them to between 120 and 180 degrees celsius to cause them to brown, which is usually done with oil in a pan.
You can also oil things and roast them (roasted garlic for example) in an oven to get the right browning/caramelization reaction.
Oil is used because it can be heated above 100 degrees (unlike water) and because charring food is quite difficult to do without burning it (except for corn which is very easy to char properly).
Mostly cooking them so the sugars in them turm brown and it makes them kinda sweet. They're really delicious this way and have totally different flavors than onions do raw or lightly cooked. Caramelized onions take a while to make but not 90 minutes. Just do them on high for like 15 or until they're all brown and mushy and they'll be fine, people who think they need to take all day to make are just wasting their time.
15 minutes isn't caramelizing them though, it's browning them. It's the same reason you can't cook a cake at 450° for a shorter time when directions are 350°
You might bring them to the same end temperature, but there are reactions occurring which take time in both examples that higher heat will not make happen faster.
A French onion soup with 15 minute caramelized onions would not be good
This isnt correct lol. You're browning them, which can be fine, but taste and texture are significantly different. With the amount of onions in the OP, and with the pan being too small, I could easily see it take a couple hours, on low.
Like what you're describing is fine for stir fry, but not if it's an onion forward dish like French onion soup
Sure, and this is why French cooking is fucking garbage. The only thing people can think that a hot 15-20 minute cook won't work for is Highly Sophisticated French Cooking. I don't make french onion soup because it's a humongous pain in the ass, and for pretty much anything else that you want a nice sweet mush onion for this is more than good enough. French food isn't meant to be cooked in a home kitchen by a home cook, it's too much work. Making a good French onion soup requires a ton of other work too, it takes hours to do properly. Who is doing that with any regularity that it's worth saying shit like ALL RECIPES THAT SAY IT TAKES LESS THAN 90 MINUTES TO CARAMILIZE AN ONION ARE WRONG
It's good tho
French cooking is good cooking tho, i'm sorry it's hurt you
I make caramelised onions for work in a professional kitchen and trust me, if the owner of the establishment could reduce the cooking time (and man-hours) required for caramelizing onions down to 15 minutes, he'd force us. He's read these internet articles and tried to get the chef's to do that, and then tried to do it personally. We went back to the old method. This man has us pre-cook burger patties in preparation for lunch, and even he knows it takes longer than 15 mins to caramelise onions (well, now anyway). It tastes sweet and mildly onion-y.
We also prep browned onions, which similar to what you describe. Tastes different. It's a different thing.
Like, risotto and paella are similar but you can't just use them interchangeably.