Onions

So, as I say, we have a problem with onions. We love them, but they make Gary's eyes burn.

It's the gasses that make you cry, evidently, and when I chop up a gallon of them as I do when I'm making onion soup, even I will cry.

One thing I did the last time I caramelized onions is that I tested all the anti-tear strategies for cooking onions.

I had already used the two most popular: cutting off the base entirely and using sweet onions. Using a candle to create a chimney effect? That only worked in conjunction with using the vent over the cooktop, and the vent just vents back into the house.

You know what really works to keep the gasses out of your eyes? Goggles. I went out and bought swim goggles.

Works fine if you are the one cutting the onions, but what if you are Gary, trapped in a house with toxic onion gasses?

I went out again and bought Gary some swim goggles too. I think that will fix the problem. Also, he looks like a superhero.

Comments

[KC]

That is fabulous. That is all I have to say. :-)

[theQueen]

KC - - I think I am going to insist he put them on every time I cook. Just because he looks so amazing

[KC]

I'm sure you can figure out how to include some small portion of onion in every recipe... every savory recipe, anyway. (plain vanilla pudding: probably shouldn't try to fit onions in there, I suppose)

(also: I assume you know, when making caramelized onions for a recipe, to just make as many as your pan will conveniently allow since it takes almost as long to make a full pan as a partial pan, and then fridge/freeze any that aren't needed for what you're cooking right then, to add to other recipes later? I was so, so happy when I learned that trick and started stowing away my leftover flavor-boosters and odds and ends of things - it was great to be able to just plop an incredible long-cooked savory cube o' awesomeness into a quick soup or sauce. This trick does work better if you do improv cooking rather than precisely-by-the-recipe cooking, though, since leftovers probably rarely match up exactly to recipe quantities? And you do have to seal things tightly or everything in the freezer will taste like [?], but still: so useful to have a plastic tub in the freezer of flavor-imparters!)

[Jessica Fantastica]

I started keeping my onions in the fridge and that really seems to help with the crying

[TheQueen]

KC - I’m about halfway through the resulting quart of onions. I’ve got a system where 4 oz goes into a mug, topped by 4 oz of beef broth, topped by 1 slice of provolone = very easy low-carb French onion soup. I should freeze some, but I don’t cook that often any more. I thought Gary might use them, but he uses raw onions to gauge if a pan is hot enough to cook meat. I don’t understand it, but it’s his process.
Jessica Fantastica - you know, my family kept onions and potatoes in the fridge and butter was on the counter. Gary’s family does the opposite. I read that just popping the onion in the freezer for five minutes does the same, and the it doesn’t take up fridge space.

[KC]

That soup sounds good. That sounds really, really good. If Gary is cooking instead, then freezing doesn't make a ton of sense.

(whether potatoes should be kept in or out of the fridge depends, in my opinion, on the stability of the potatoes and the local climate [or whether you have a not-fridge but-cool place to store them, like a cellar or basement]. I discovered this when I moved away from fresh Idaho potatoes and not-too-hot-all-year-round and to midwestern potatoes and a second-floor brick-building apartment in a not-temperate climate. The means of discovery: not entirely pleasant. But yes, potatoes and onions take up a lot of fridge room...)

[theQueen]

KC - we were lucky storing potatoes in a basket in the laundry room. It's the same basket where we stored onions, but then Gary read you can't store onions and potatoes in the same place. Since then, we just haven't bought potatoes.

[KC]

That's... a solution, I guess? Hm.

[theQueen]

KC - not a solution. Low-carb diet.

[KC]

Ah, yes, a low carb diet (which was implicit in your soup recipe) would be a good reason to not keep potatoes on hand. (whereas for me, they are a staple: delicious, delicious, potassium-rich, digestively-inert potatoes)