Unlike garlic, changing the intensity of onion is less a matter of how much you use or how you cut it and more a matter of how you cook it. If you've always thought that onions taste too sharp and astringent, we urge you to give them another chance!
Raw to Sweet: How to Change the Intensity of Onions
Cooking onions depends on two things: time and heat. Mince them up or double the amount, the flavor will still come down to how long and how hot you cook them. If you're not a fan of raw onions at all, take a look at the last two techniques.
If you're just starting out cooking or eating onions, stick with basic yellow onions. We find these to be the all-around best for just about any dish we cook and at whatever intensity we want them. Other kinds of onions have different flavors or characteristics that make them ideal for specific dishes, though they can all be cooked in the same ways.
• Raw - If you leave onions uncooked, their flavor will be sharp and pungent, and their texture will be crisp and crunchy. Raw red onions are especially good in salads. You can remove some of their astringent flavor by soaking them in cold water before adding them to the dish.
• Quick Cooking Over High Heat - A minute or two over high heat is just enough time to take the edge off the oniony flavor, but leaves the texture nicely crisp. This is exactly what you want in Asian stir-fries or when grilling onions for shish-kabobs. Don't leave the onions on high heat for too long or they will soon start to burn.
• Slow Cooking Over Medium Heat - Pour a teaspoon or so of oil in the pan and add the onions along with a pinch of salt. Stir them every few minutes until the edges of the onions start to soften and the middles turn translucent, about ten minutes. At this point, the pungent onion flavor is gone, leaving behind a mild sweetness. If you continue cooking until the onions start to turn brown, you'll notice nutty and caramel flavors starting to emerge.
This is the technique we use the majority of the time when cooking onions. It's perfect for the start of soups, sauces, pilafs, frittatas, and just about every other savory dish we cook. Once cooked, the onions no longer have such an upfront in-your-face flavor. They blend into the background and create a base for the rest of the flavors in the dish.
• Slow Cooking Over Low Heat (Caramelizing) - If you turn the heat down to low while you cook your onions, their flavor and texture transforms even further. They will gradually brown, become completely limp, and even start to disintegrate. They caramelize and taste sweeter the longer you cook them - even up to an hour or more. Caramelized onions can be used to make French Onion Soup, to top pizzas, in salads, or as a side dish all their own. Read about the full technique in this post on how to caramelize onions.
Do have a favorite way of cooking onions?
Related: Cilantro: Why Is the Taste so Polarizing?
(Image: Flickr member Muffet licensed under Creative Commons)
Comments (7)
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Cooked at medium-low heat in a covered sauté pan with a tablespoon or so of water the onions will be almost completely emasculated. Remove the cover at the end and allow any excess moisture to cook off. This technique has the advantage of requiring very little attention because the extra moisture prevents scorching or uneven cooking.
Subsequent cooking with the lid off will cause them to caramelize to the desired shade of brown, however stirring is required at that point. I usually use this method when I want to add savory sweetness and mild onion flavor to blended dishes such as hummus or baby ganoush (and want to have my hands free during most of the process).
Another option at the opposite end of the spectrum is adding grated raw onion into a dish (whether it will be cooked or served raw). Essential for chopped/ground meat and fish recipes.
Not to change the topic too much, but anyone here have opinions on the relative merits of longitudinal versus latitudinal cuts when slicing an onion?
view manjar's profile
One technique I've always counted on when using raw onions in dishes is to soak the cut up onion in either cold water or vingegar (if using them in a salad) prior to adding them to the finished dish.
view rosebud's profile
Manjar: I slice my onions in half, top to bottom, so each half has part of the root knob. It's easier to cut thin slices from the top to the root knob with all the layers still anchored in. Why would you cut the slices latitudinal? That's new to me.
view lona's profile
When slicing an onion, I never really have a method when doing it by hand. When looking for thick or thin even slicing though I almost always use my v-slicer!
view jamina1's profile
Some people *insist* on slicing onions latitudinally, which I really don't like to do because I believe it negatively affects the texture of the cooked onions. So I was wondering if anyone else held this view and was willing to explain it. I guess not! ;)
view manjar's profile
Onions are one food I will never eat raw. Even being within a few feet of pieces of raw onion will make my eyes start to burn. I do cook with them occasionally, but I have to ask my husband to chop them and leave the kitchen until the onion has been cooking long enough for the deadly fumes to dissipate. I do love them caramelized and in French onion soup, though.
view msbetsy's profile
msbetsy, you can apply this technique to reduce - if not eliminate the fume of onion - keep them in refrigerator. Cold onions almost do not have fume when you are cutting it.
view sayabu's profile