apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Totally the pan. Even if you buy a Log Cabin cast iron pan for $20 you'll see the difference. The same thing happens to me.

It can also be size difference in the pieces.... smaller ones cook faster than others, hence the buring happends to some and not others.... even dicing helps....

Also, you could be cooking them at too high of a heat. Depending on the intended use, I don't think you generally need to cook onions at anything higher than medium or medium high. If you have your burner turned all the way up it might just be too hot to cook them evenly.

I find I get the best flavor out of onions for meat dishes and stews when I sweat them for a longer period of time over low heat - 20 minutes or so, and let them brown very gradually. A lot of Indian dishes call for an extended cooking time for onions, where they sweat out the oil, leaving the spices concentrated in the onions themselves. Quick cooking won't accomplish that.

What may also help is a sprinkle of salt on your onions, shortly after they enter the pan. That'll bring out some of the water in the onions and help them cook more evenly. Plus, added flavor!

To be honest, my first thought wasn't the quality of the pan. I used to have that problem, then I figured out I'd been sweating them at the wrong temperature.

To get your diced or minced onions beautifully translucent and soft before adding the rest of your ingredients, you should have your flame at medium-low or low. There shouldn't be a vigorous sizzling sound, but more just a soft shhh sound. Proper sweating should take 4 minutes or so, not just 60 seconds.

I've noticed that pieces from the outside layers can sometimes burn/brown faster than others. You might want to make sure you're peeling absolutely all of the dried skin off, and cutting off the bits of it at the end as well.

I agree with the comment above about the temperature. I had the same problem you did, not getting the right cooking level of my onions, and after watching some Alton Brown, I realized I was cooking on much too high of a heat. This evening I cooked some onions perfectly on a low/med-low heat for about 20 minutes with a big pinch of kosher salt, came out great.

Also, if you stir the onions into the center of your pan, you can make a mound which will cook most of the onions just through steam. That way, you can get them nice and transluscent over a lower heat and it requires less stirring (although it is good to stir them out and then back in a few times). That's the "Unplugged Kitchen" method at any rate, and it works very well for me.

I have just cooked a load of onions over a low heat. I then added a large amount of fresh chopped ginger (root) and garlic. The onion mixture has turned a bright shade of green. Any suggestions welcome about what I do next!

Ed

how do you cook onions for hot dogs like in the fair ground my son loves them but i just cant get it right

yeah, it's definitely the pan. thin pots have trouble distributing heat evenly. Allclad and enameled cast iron do a much better job. ;-)

oh, I should add how I actually caramelize my onions for french onion soup...

enameled cast iron pan on about 30% of max gas flame. about 4T olive oil, and 3 huge onions sliced thin. Add salt. First, liquid will come out of the onions and they will steam. Stir occassionally. Then, the liquid will dry up and the caramelization will begin. Once the onions begin to take the slightest bit of color, stir every 3 min. If they begin to stick, add oil. Scrape the pan down every time you stir (don't burn the fond at the bottom of the pot!). The whole process takes about 35 min for 'hot dog onion' stage, and about 45 min for french onion soup stage. (if you want to make the soup, then add about 3 liters of water and extra salt, scrape the fond from the pan and let simmer for about 25 min. adjust salt, and transfer to a bowl containing a small piece of french bread and some shredded gruyere). the enameled cast iron pot is key for proper onion fond