Onions

[Tropicalsenior]

2 hours ago, gulfporter said:

Once in a rare while I will see a fresh batch of these green onions with some of the green shoots still firm.  

It's gotten a little better but in the past, all we could get was the tops. I asked somebody in the Farmers Market why they never sold the white part of the onion and they said that they cut off the top and then the bottom grew out again so they could cut it off and sell It again.

Quite a few years ago there was a man in the market that sold the tops of chives and I talked to him into bringing me several bunches with roots on them. I took them home and planted them and had a nice little chive patch for about 7 years until we got too much rain one year and it just drowned them. That's okay, I can't use them now anyway.

[kayb]

Worked wonderfully for me. Perhaps there are some finer points of caramelizing stovetop that I have missed.

[Anna N]

25 minutes ago, kayb said:

Worked wonderfully for me. Perhaps there are some finer points of caramelizing stovetop that I have missed.

There were others who are quite happy with this preparation. It just didn’t work for me.  

[heidih]

46 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

It's gotten a little better but in the past, all we could get was the tops. I asked somebody in the Farmers Market why they never sold the white part of the onion and they said that they cut off the top and then the bottom grew out again so they could cut it off and sell It again.

Quite a few years ago there was a man in the market that sold the tops of chives and I talked to him into bringing me several bunches with roots on them. I took them home and planted them and had a nice little chive patch for about 7 years until we got too much rain one year and it just drowned them. That's okay, I can't use them now anyway.

@rotuts has often mentioned re sprouting the tops by putting the root/white ends in a jar of water.  have not tried but seems an easy experiement.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Darienne said:

kayb said this.

Indeed, I am not sure why the  quote picked up your name. I apologize for that technical glitch.  

Edited December 25, 2022 by Anna N
Typo (log)

[rotuts]

current ' crop ' :

 

 

that's indoors , over the sink.

 

not outdoors , its  14 F.

[Darienne]

23 minutes ago, rotuts said:

current ' crop ' :

 

 

that's indoors , over the sink.

 

not outdoors , its  14 F.

Mine is in my den window  and I'm now harvesting for the 6th time from the same little white roots. 

[liuzhou]

Here is why I am so easily confused.

 

These two images are from my online shopping portal of choice.

 

This one is captioned 白皮洋葱 (bái pí yáng cōng), white skinned onions.

 

 

This one, on the other hand, is captioned 白皮洋葱 (bái pí yáng cōng), white skinned onions. These ones are marginally cheaper.

 

[heidih]

The color - prce differential is same here. I've never side by side compared the tastes.

[weinoo]

Fresh Direct's thoughts on onions:

 

https://www.freshdirect.com/srch.jsp?pageType=search&searchParams=onions&pageSize=30&all=false&activePage=1&sortBy=Sort_Relevancy&orderAsc=true&activeTab=product

 

FWIW, "white" onions are always available here.  And Rick Bayless pretty much always calls for "white" onions in his recipes. Except when he calls for red onions.

 

Quote

 

Onions in Mexican Cooking

Onions (and garlic) form the warp in a Mexican sauce, into which more assertive flavors are woven. They add texture and brightness when stirred in raw (see notes on Deflaming Onions, page 30, for the Mexican way to tame their bite); they enrich with a delicate sweetness when cooked.

North of the Río Grande, we think of onions as yellow; south they are white. Yet despite the similarity of the two, they really are not interchangeable. Yellows have a more complex, herbal, sweeter flavor; whites are tangy and sharp with a clean, crisp flavor and texture. In Mexican food, that yellow-onion complexity translates as a muddy taste, I feel, especially when used raw.

Thankfully, white onions are readily available in most grocery stores throughout the United States. The green-tops-on variety that Mexicans love to slice raw over finished dishes can be found in Mexican groceries and farmer's markets.

Red onions are used extensively in Yucatan and regularly throughout the rest of the country (though, to my understanding, they're thought of as a specialty onion- one used for pickling). Supersweet types like Vidalia are not part of the general offerings in Mexico, and I doubt they ever will be. Their pure sugariness seems inappropriate for the role of onions in the cuisine.

Stats: All the recipes in this book were cooked using an exact weight of onion that corresponds to whole white onions as follows: a small onion weighs 4 ounces, a medium 6 ounces and a large 8 ounces. A medium red onion weighs 8 ounces.

 

 

Of course, I'm sure this still does not answer the question (s).

[Tropicalsenior]

I vaguely remember my grandfather calling the first ones fresh onions because he would pull them from the ground during the growing season. The second kind he would let dry in the field so that the skins hardened. They could then be stored through the winter. He called these fall onions. They were the same variety but the only difference was in the harvest time.

[heidih]

I can't get to the Asian markets now so stuck with Ralphs/Kroger. The green onions are skinny and skimpy so I've been buying these more sturdy ones. 99 cents for this bunch. The Los Angeles Times this morning confirmed the mess of lettuce and other greens we grow in California wih disease and cost skyrocketing. This link also explains green onion mess a bit Oh my!  The tag says Boscovich Farms, Oxnard CA as grower/distributor, name BBQ green onion, and produce of Mexico.  https://www.organicproducenetwork.com/article/1772/green-onions-in-the-pricing-stratosphere

 

 

[FauxPas]

57 minutes ago, weinoo said:

In Mexican food, that yellow-onion complexity translates as a muddy taste, I feel, especially when used raw.

 

Completely agree with this, I learned to use white onions instead of yellow for Mexican cooking, unless a red is specified!  🙂

The taste is just not right with the yellow ones. 

[gulfporter]

On 12/25/2022 at 8:15 AM, rotuts said:

current ' crop ' :

 

 

that's indoors , over the sink.

 

not outdoors , its  14 F.

So what do you harvest....cut off some of the greens and leave the roots to make more shoots?  Or do you take the entire plant from root to tip of greens?  

[Darienne]

10 minutes ago, gulfporter said:

So what do you harvest....cut off some of the greens and leave the roots to make more shoots?  Or do you take the entire plant from root to tip of greens?  

I cut off almost all of the onion and leave only an inch or two above the roots.  No problem so far. 

[rotuts]

gulfporter 

 

I use these as a green onion garnish

 

I usually have two 1 qt containers 

 

and if I get 2 - 3 bunches in the Super 

 

I rinse them , and then they have their own Qt

 

but more or less , now I use the green parts

 

for a garnish 

 

working from the outside to 

 

until i get a few noer

 

for  several weeks 

 

I got to MarketBasket 

 

before they put out the fresh , bunched greens

 

so 

 

maybe nest seek , I get 2 - 3 more 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[Darienne]

Tried kayb's recipe for caramelizing onions.  After about 12 hours, I really just gave up.  No doubt, my error...but the onions were so wet that I wondered if indeed that kayb, living far south of both @Anna N and me, had a different onion available to her.  (I must say however that they are delicious.)  Possibly in a similar vein , I thought of making cucumber salad out of English cucumbers.  How when I first made the salad, I added the called for 1 cup of water in the mix...and now I never add even a smidgen of water...the cucumbers are so very wet.        

 

So I found a recipe online, Spendwithpennies, for a slow cooker french onion soup.  That will be what my onions become.  Alas, without the French bread and Emmenthal and Gruyere cheeses.  Oh, and the dry sherry.  And Bay leaf.  Which leaves mostly the onions and beef broth.  Sorry about that.   

[Tropicalsenior]

52 minutes ago, Darienne said:

different onion available to her.

That's very possible. The people in the South talk about onion sandwiches with just a big thick slice of onion. Except for the Walla Walla onions that we used to get, I can't imagine using any onions that I have had for onion sandwiches. They would take the top of your head off.

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Darienne said:

Tried kayb's recipe for caramelizing onions.  After about 12 hours, I really just gave up.  No doubt, my error...but the onions were so wet that I wondered if indeed that kayb, living far south of both @Anna N and me, had a different onion available to her.  (I must say however that they are delicious.) 

I noticed that @kayb gets a 6 cup yield from a slow cooker batch. Not sure how many pounds goes in but I get about 1.5 cups of caramelized onions from 4-5 lbs on the stovetop so I’m thinking the slow cooker must yield a wetter product. 
 

Onion soup sounds perfect!

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, Darienne said:

Sorry about that

I've got you beat. I could put in all that other stuff that you don't have, but I just can't put in the onions. And I love French onion soup.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I noticed that @kayb gets a 6 cup yield from a slow cooker batch. Not sure how many pounds goes in but I get about 1.5 cups of caramelized onions from 4-5 lbs on the stovetop so I’m thinking the slow cooker must yield a wetter product. 
 

I do think that is the issue. To me caramelized onions have given up most of their moisture, which concentrates the flavour wonderfully. Beyond that, though I love the smell of onions cooking, after 12 to 18 hours of them stewing I don’t want to see an onion for quite some time. I think it’s a matter of too much of a good thing, but yet I do know that people swear by this method.

[FauxPas]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

I do think that is the issue. To me caramelized onions have given up most of their moisture, which concentrates the flavour wonderfully.

 

I noticed that Martha Stewart's version of Instant Pot caramelized onions, she used the pressure cooker function on high for only 5 minutes, then drains the onions to reduce the liquid and returns them to the pot on Sauté for another 5 minutes. In her example, 2 lbs of onions are equal to 8 cups sliced and give a final yield of 2.5 cups cooked. That still sounds a bit wet, compared to @blue_dolphin's ratios. 

 

This is the Martha Stewart link. 

https://www.marthastewart.com/1540713/instant-pot-caramelized-onions

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by FauxPas
To add link (log)

[kayb]

On 12/27/2022 at 12:00 PM, Darienne said:

Tried kayb's recipe for caramelizing onions.  After about 12 hours, I really just gave up.  No doubt, my error...but the onions were so wet that I wondered if indeed that kayb, living far south of both @Anna N and me, had a different onion available to her.  (I must say however that they are delicious.)  Possibly in a similar vein , I thought of making cucumber salad out of English cucumbers.  How when I first made the salad, I added the called for 1 cup of water in the mix...and now I never add even a smidgen of water...the cucumbers are so very wet.        

 

So I found a recipe online, Spendwithpennies, for a slow cooker french onion soup.  That will be what my onions become.  Alas, without the French bread and Emmenthal and Gruyere cheeses.  Oh, and the dry sherry.  And Bay leaf.  Which leaves mostly the onions and beef broth.  Sorry about that.   

 

H'mmm. Not sure. I typically use "sweet onions," which are yellow. I have occasionally used white. Yes, they're somewhat wetter than those caramelized stovetop, but most anything cooked in the slow cooker is "wetter," as there isn't as much evaporation. I've occasionally propped the lid open a bit with a knife after the first two or three hours' cooking.

 

You won't get caramelized onions in 12 hours with this method. I would typically put them on after dinner, say around 8 or 9, and let them cook on low until I got home from work the next day, about 5:30. The "stinkiest" time was about 3 in the morning.

[billyhill]

On 12/27/2022 at 1:14 PM, blue_dolphin said:

I noticed that @kayb gets a 6 cup yield from a slow cooker batch. Not sure how many pounds goes in but I get about 1.5 cups of caramelized onions from 4-5 lbs on the stovetop so I’m thinking the slow cooker must yield a wetter product. 
 

Onion soup sounds perfect!

Anyone ever tried Basque chicken? Onion heaven. 

[Smithy]

57 minutes ago, billyhill said:

Anyone ever tried Basque chicken? Onion heaven. 

 

Description, please?