Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Folks,

I need to turn a large number of onions to a life of contemplative prayer and meditation on the Virgin Mary. Oh, wait, wrong "carmelize".

Sorry, I need to caramelize around 12-15 large onions (7-8lbs) in order to serve them with piroshki. Any shortcuts to doing this? Is there some way to caramelize onions in the oven? Or just get a really big pan?

Fuz

You can roast them in the oven with olive oil and salt; they will get a nice carmel color, I think they will taste as sweet but the texture will not be as limp. I think a huge saute pan, a little salt and olive oil is your best bet and do it in batches....but it will take a long time.
If the taste and texture is not much of a concern, I would roast them....slice them thin and let them go. Maybe do a test run to see if they turn out the way you want them.

ilene

Josh,

You can use a large roasting pan to saute the onions. Remember to add a little liquid every time the mix becomes dry to prevent burning.

tim

I would do this on a sheet tray often when I was working at the Peninsula. Toss them in a bit of oil, spread them out (you can line the tray with foil if you want), and stick them in a moderate oven for a long time. Count on at least an hour. Stir every 15 minutes or so. These will keep for ages. so don't be afraid of making too much.

Becky,

Would you say that's less effort than using a pan? If I have to stir them every 15min, I'm not sure that it is.

I know of no fast way to do this. I do 20lbs at a time, it takes 12 hours. However they freeze very nicely, so I've all these bags with 1.5 cups of sweated onions in the freezer. 1.5 cups just happens to be the put up for our version of Thomas Kellar's onion soup.

Somehow, I've never considered freezing them; I kind of assumed water would be forced out and they would be icky and watery on thawing. But considering it, they should already have most of the water removed ... Hmm. On thawing are they also good "as is" for a steak topping or the like, more mostly good as an ingredient (though I see pizza, burgers, and lots of other uses...)

Ooo yeah pizza. I hate raw onion on pizza (slimy little breath defoulers), but browned onions sound terrific.

I used a tray in the oven because I was in a bakery and only had one tiny burner. I do think it helps even browning and is faster, because there is more surface area and the evaporation is faster. You can stir less often-mostly you want to look at them and be sure they are cooking evenly.

Thanks, everyone. I'll tell you how it goes.