• GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
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    1 month ago

    I had someone arrive at a BBQ, saw me frying some onions, and ask “Are you going to caramelise those onions?”

    Yes mate. The onions I’m frying for a few minutes while the burgers cook, gonna be nice and caramelised in seconds, just you watch.

  • Johanno@feddit.org
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    1 month ago

    Hey guys. I am no cook and I don’t speak English natively. What the heck is caramelising onions?

    I thought caramelising is when the sugar liquifies and you get caramel. So caramelising onions would be to cover them in lots of sugar and cooking them until they are covered in caramel.

    But it sounds like you are just deep roasting them.

    • blackn1ght@feddit.uk
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      1 month ago

      It’s just a process of slowly cooking them on a low heat, they’ll naturally go quite sweet after a while without having to add sugar.

    • MagicPterodactyl@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      It’s just slowly cooking chopped onions in a pan until they are a deep brown and very soft and sweet. If you’ve ever had french onion soup, that’s basically just caramelized onions in broth.

    • general_kitten@sopuli.xyz
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      1 month ago

      Caramelization is the process of sugars browning due to high heat. The actual reactions that are happening is a combination of sugars and their chains breaking down into smaller compounds and those smaller compounds recombining into other compounds, all these new compounds gives caramelized foods their distinctive colour and taste.

      When making caramel the sugar liquification happens often in high enough temperatures for caramelization to occur. The process of sauteeing/high temperature cooking onions long enough involves the same exact reactions. In onions the bit longer chain sugars that dont taste sweet are broken down into simple sugars thus producing the sweet taste of caramelized onions and the further reactions produce the caramel colour and taste.

      Tldr: caramelization is a group of chemical reactions and ‘caramel’ is basically a taste and colour that results from it

      • Johanno@feddit.org
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        1 month ago

        Thanks. So I thought correctly, but didn’t think of the longer chain sugar in onions, since they usually don’t taste sweet.

        • Routhinator@startrek.website
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          1 month ago

          Many things can taste sweet if you caramelize them. Carrots will caramelize in butter if you sautee them on low heat in a cast iron and you can make them taste candied with no added sugar

        • EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month ago

          The Maillard reaction is different from caramelization

          Caramelization may sometimes cause browning in the same foods in which the Maillard reaction occurs, but the two processes are distinct. They are both promoted by heating, but the Maillard reaction involves amino acids, whereas caramelization is the pyrolysis of certain sugars.

  • socsa@piefed.social
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    1 month ago

    You can caramelize onions in five minutes, but the onions won’t be very satisfied afterwards

      • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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        1 month ago

        I’ve never had it break them down too much, nor create anything remotely soapy in flavor. Perhaps it chemically does create soap, I don’t know. But the end result is delicious and I’m a fifth the time.

        • Ham Strokers Ejacula@reddthat.com
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          29 days ago

          Interesting. That has not been my experience. The baking soda turns them green and mushy and they taste terrible and weren’t even really caramelized.

          I’ve since taken to steaming them under a lid for about 10mins before removing the lid, cooking the water off, and caramelizing them. It’s more involved but gives me consistent results, and is still faster than doing it without steam.

            • Ham Strokers Ejacula@reddthat.com
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              30 days ago

              Its been years since I tried so I honestly don’t remember, but yeah its possible I used way too much.

              I’m happy with my method though :)

              Good to know it works for some people! I thought the chemistry was cool.

  • SZComponents@thelemmy.club
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    1 month ago

    “Who’s caramelizing onions? Probably someone who knows the secret to happiness—turning tears into sweetness, one slow stir at a time! Or maybe they’re just trying to make their kitchen smell like a five-star restaurant while secretly burning their grilled cheese.” 😄 — Bostock Electronics

  • whome@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 month ago

    Unless your cooking Italian. I had an Italian tell me once, it’s either garlic or onions but not both together

  • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    30 minutes

    https://youtu.be/Ovqhzil3wJw?feature=shared

    We start our caramelized onions in a covered nonstick skillet over high heat with ¾ of cup water. The water and steam help the onions quickly soften. Then we remove the lid, lower the heat to medium-high, and press the softened onions into the bottom and sides of the skillet to allow for maximum contact with the hot pan. Instead of finishing with sugar or honey as many recipes call for, we add baking soda, which speeds up the reaction that converts flavorless inulin (a polysaccharide present in onions) to fructose.