Onion Confit

[Joel Bussjaeger]

Onion confit=pork chop's best friend. Well, do you prefer to cook the onions in butter or olive oil?

Both

woodburner

Me too -- equal amounts of butter and olive oil.

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I prefer to start my onions in an olive oil canola blend. I finish the onions with butter & a hint of malt vinegar (2-4 drops) at the end. This helps deglaze the pan and adds a richness to the onions.

I also only use a little salt and pepper. If you cook the onions slowly enough you should not need any sugar to sweeten the confit.

[Joel Bussjaeger]

I've got my onions going...we'll see the results tomorrow!

Would it be wasteful to make this into a dip for my Ruffles?

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A good dip for ruffles is to take the onion confit, goat cheese, thyme, creme fresh, black pepper and mix that up. it blows french onion dip out of the water

[Richard Kilgore]

I did the onion confit using the recipe now available in RecipeGullet: 1/4 cup EVOO 1/8 + cup butter, two dried Bay leaves, Sherry, brown sugar, two frozen cubes of beef stock.

After 22 hours (back and forthj between high and low a couple of times), I put it in a jar although there was still some noticeable liquid in it. Should I pour this back out into a pot and reduce the liquid further?

[Lactic Solar Dust]

The method in which I make onion confit calls for an equal amount of red onion and yellow onion sliced very thin. Put them in a cold pan with some good olive oil, a dab of butter, salt & pepper, and some water. Cover and set on a very low heat for a hour and a half. After the suggested time remove the cover, turn the heat on high, and stir unitil all the moisture is reduced. It makes for a very sweet onion marmalade and excellent when tossed with spaghetti and a little parmesean.

Edited May 5, 2005 by Lactic Solar Dust (log)

[emmapeel]

The method in which I make onion confit calls for an equal amount of red onion and yellow onion sliced very thin....  It makes for a very sweet onion marmalade ...

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But is the color dark?

[Lactic Solar Dust]

The method in which I make onion confit calls for an equal amount of red onion and yellow onion sliced very thin....  It makes for a very sweet onion marmalade ...

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But is the color dark?

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Very

[fifi]

I did the onion confit using the recipe now available in RecipeGullet: 1/4 cup EVOO 1/8 + cup butter, two dried Bay leaves, Sherry, brown sugar, two frozen cubes of beef stock.

After 22 hours (back and forthj between high and low a couple of times), I put it in a jar although there was still some noticeable liquid in it. Should I pour this back out into a pot and reduce the liquid further?

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Richard, I cook the confit down until there is no "puddle" of watery stuff left in the pot, just the oil and butter. It will keep better if you get rid of the water. How you get there is anyone's guess. I have been known to move it to the stove top. But usually, I am able to get there in the crock pot leaving the lid off. Or, the same thing applies if using a Le Creuset in the oven.

[Kokh Leffle]

Whowoulda thunk that the common onion could generate 26 pages of posts?

I cook some up quite often. I just made up a batch last night while preparing dinner. I always do mine on the stovetop and it generally takes two hours or less.

I find that a heavy pot yields the best results as it maintains a constant heat. I slice up eight to ten medium yellow onions, set my burner on low and add about two tablespoons each of butter and olive oil and dump in the onions with a small pinch of sea salt. Give the onions a stir to coat evenly with the fat and leave them be.

The onions will go through several stages and require little attention until they start to caramelize and turn dark. You will notice that in about 15 minutes the onions will go translucent. Give them an occasional stir, stirring up from the bottom. At the next stage you will notice that the onions will give up their juice and you will have lots of liquid simmering away. Continue to stir occasionally. As the liquid begins to cook off, the onions will start to turn color. At this point, it requires a bit more attention. Continue to stir up from the bottom to the top every so often and watch to make sure your onions are caramelizing and not burning. Continue to cook and stir until you achieve a deep mahogany color.

At this stage I taste and adjust the salt. I don’t like deglazing the pan with the onions still in. I find that this changes the texture dramatically. I remove the onions and deglaze the empty pan. I use whatever liquid is available. Last night I had prepared a beef roast so I had some Au Jus available, at other times I have used some balsamico. Deglaze the pan with about two to three tablespoons of liquid. Pay attention to the sides of the pan, as you will notice lots of caramelized fond there. When the pan is deglazed, I reduce the liquid down to less then a tablespoon of thick, syrupy liquid and return the onions for a quick stir to coat.

Allow the confit to cool and transfer it to a clean jar for storage in the refrigerator.

No fuss or muss and you can do this whenever you’re planning on spending a couple of hours in the kitchen anyway. You now have no excuse not to keep this on hand.

Elie

Edited May 7, 2005 by Kokh Leffle (log)

[Stacie35]

Onion confit after 16 1/2 hours in the crockpot. I used three very, very large Vidalia onions, 1/2 stick of butter, ~1/4 cup of olive oil, and added salt and pepper 3 hours in to cooking.

I was afraid this was going to be too sweet for me so after reading all of the previous pages I decided to use sweet onions to cut down on the sweetness and omit all other ingredients. It worked!

I have other pictures but it took me so long to figure out how to post this one. I also need to work on my bread cutting technique.

[lovebenton0]

lovely confit, Stacie35.

you're right... the sweeter the raw onion the less sweet the finished confit. i seldom add any sugar to mine anyway. but i do like the demiglace and a splash of wine or basalmic.

[Stacie35]

lovely confit, Stacie35.

you're right... the sweeter the raw onion the less sweet the finished confit. i seldom add any sugar to mine anyway. but i do like the demiglace and a splash of wine or basalmic.

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I have to confess to not knowing what demiglace tastes like. I read up on it and was afraid that it would make the confit sweeter. I will try drizzling some balsamic on the finished product.

[k43]

For stocks, I recommend Formaggio Kitchen. Formaggio Kitchen. They reduce them to a powder that can be kept in the cupboard, and the quality and intensity is amazing. Their prices are also well below Demi Glace Gold.

[Kouign Aman]

I didnt read all thru (yet), so this may be redundant.

We cook ours with thyme and add a white wine reduction at the end. We plop it all onto a brie thats been skinned on the top, and bake til the brie is bubbly. This is served with sliced baguette.

Last year we 'confited' a 12lb bag of onions, and froze small containers. Had to open every window & outside door in the house and run the fans during the early stages.

[fifi]

Thanks for bumping this up. I need to review some of it and decide which version I want to do. I recall using thyme in my first crock pot try, I think.

But, I am curious. What did you use to cook 12 pounds of onions? I am thinking of doing a big batch to give some away. (I like to do things like that after the holidays. That always gets me a smile.) My 9 1/2 quart Le Creuset is calling me. I will put it in the oven.

[Shalmanese]

12lb is very easy to cook as long as you add them in batches. Fill the pot 3/4 full first and let it cook for 20 minutes and it should have shrunk to only 1/4 of the pot, then continue adding until it's all in there. In the end, it should only be 1/4 of the original volume.

[fifi]

As I think about it, 12 pounds isn't such a stretch. My usual 6 or so big onions for the crock pot is probably about 5 pounds.

[Mar Calpena]

Hi guys,

I hate you and love you all at the same time. Yesterday I arrived early at work determined to look up a crockpot onion confit recipe. I should have known better and checked eGullet first. I just know that I ended up reading the 18 pages iof this forum between assignments, and that at the moment of writing this my confit is reaching its 13th hour of cooking in my old, fruit enameled crockpot.

I've left it on low because I won't be home until half past three. When I left, the onions were a middle to dark brown and they smelled really good, although not sweet at all. I'm a bit afraid they'll burn, but in the back of my mind I know it's the same fear I always have when leaving my crockpot unattended. My recipe is more or less the basic one everyone mentions, but with a stock cube instead of a demi glace (I can hear the sirens of the foodie police closing on me!!!!). I'll let you know how it goes... Can't wait until the afternoon!

Edited February 10, 2006 by Mar Calpena (log)

[chappie]

I have a large oval Le Creuset dutch oven that would be perfect for this overnight, but I can't find a definitive answer on the lid-on-or-off philosophy. My thinking is to start in on the stovetop to caremelize a bit, then stir, maybe add some balsamic and thyme, and place in a 200 degree oven overnight, lid either off or slightly askew. If you left the lid on, where would the liquid go? How would it concentrate?

[Marlene]

I've never done confit in the oven, but I do leave the lid on the crockpot the whole time. I would leave the lid on as well or it has a potential to dry out.

[fifi]

I have done the confit in the oven, using my 6 1/2 oval LC. I think I did it at 225 F. As I recall, those onions had a lot of water. I left the lid on for most of the process, partly over night, then removed the lid for the last two hours or so to concentrate it. At least that is what I remember.

[Marlene]

Agreed fifi. I'd leave the lid on at least overnight. Take if off when you're awake to check on it!

[Rachel Perlow]

I've left it on low because I won't be home until half past three. When I left, the onions were a middle to dark brown and they smelled really good, although not sweet at all. I'm a bit afraid they'll burn, but in the back of my mind I know it's the same fear I always have when leaving my crockpot unattended. My recipe is more or less the basic one everyone mentions, but with a stock cube instead of a demi glace (I can hear the sirens of the foodie police closing on me!!!!). I'll let you know how it goes... Can't wait until the afternoon!

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Well? Did they burn?

Don't worry about stock cubes, it concentrates down along with the onions. Or wait, did you mean a dry boullion cube or a homemade stock ice cube?

[snowangel]

I have a large oval Le Creuset dutch oven that would be perfect for this overnight, but I can't find a definitive answer on the lid-on-or-off philosophy. My thinking is to start in on the stovetop to caremelize a bit, then stir, maybe add some balsamic and thyme, and place in a 200 degree oven overnight, lid either off or slightly askew. If you left the lid on, where would the liquid go? How would it concentrate?

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I'd be hesitant to add to much to the confit as it cooks because everything becomes quite reduced and concentrated.

[fifi]

What snowangel said. I did a batch one time with rosemary and wasn't all that crazy about it. Now, I just keep it simple and add anything else when I use it for whatever purpose.

[christine007]

I'ts a snowy day here and my first ever batch is on the stove in my Le crueset pan.

I'm making this to share with my mother who is a vegetarian, so instead of stock, I'm going with balsamic vinegar, so far so good.