Caramelized Onions

It's Always Freezer Season

Since the other caramelized onions took me much longer than anticipated, when I saw that this method was different, I thought I'd try it out. It seemed like it would fix the problems I had, and definitely be a little faster.

While this one still took me longer than the recipe said it would, it definitely was quicker than the last one. It made almost exactly the amount it was supposed to, and even after I used a some for our next recipe, I now have two cups of caramelized onions in my freezer waiting to be put to use!

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Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with heather on today's episode we are
[00:08]: going to be cooking once again from
[00:10]: ashley christensen and katelyn golin's
[00:13]: um it's always freezer season
[00:15]: and i'm going to be making again
[00:17]: caramelized onions so we made it before
[00:20]: the r rated onions from
[00:23]: um
[00:24]: this will make it taste good by vivian
[00:26]: howard i'll link that up here
[00:28]: didn't work so well for me i had to mess
[00:31]: with the heat a little bit it took a
[00:32]: while to get them caramelized
[00:34]: this one is a little bit different so
[00:37]: hopefully it will work for me
[00:39]: i have
[00:40]: thinly sliced
[00:43]: these onions there are
[00:45]: a lot of them you can see my dutch oven
[00:48]: she says in a dutch large heavy pot or
[00:50]: dutch oven
[00:52]: got all of these onions it is um
[00:55]: a lot a lot it's even more than the ones
[00:58]: for the r-rated onions um
[01:02]: and it's supposed to make like a half
[01:04]: cup more at the end so
[01:06]: but we're first going to start by
[01:07]: combining the salt with the onions off
[01:10]: of the heat
[01:13]: i'm going to give it a stir that's not
[01:15]: quite all the salt yet but i'm going to
[01:16]: give it a stir here just to kind of get
[01:18]: the
[01:19]: salt
[01:21]: dispersed a bit
[01:23]: stirred in and i'm going to add
[01:26]: the rest and then give it another stir
[01:33]: there we go
[01:35]: so i'm gonna stir this up a little bit
[01:36]: and we're gonna let this sit off of the
[01:39]: heat
[01:40]: for
[01:41]: 10
[01:42]: minutes that will help
[01:44]: start drawing some of the moisture out
[01:47]: of the onions
[01:49]: and
[01:50]: so i guess when we start cooking them it
[01:53]: won't take as long for the moisture to
[01:55]: come out i don't know whatever that's
[01:58]: what we're doing right now we're just
[01:60]: going to let this sit for 10 minutes
[02:02]: and then we will meet you over at the
[02:04]: stove to actually
[02:08]: cook these caramelized onions so we'll
[02:10]: be right back our onions have been
[02:12]: sitting with the salt for 10 minutes and
[02:15]: you can see
[02:16]: that they have
[02:17]: a little more moisture on them
[02:20]: and now what i need to do is add extra
[02:22]: virgin olive oil we're just pouring it
[02:24]: right on top and then we're going to
[02:28]: mix it in
[02:31]: just coat the onions with the oil a
[02:35]: bit trying to stir them up from the
[02:37]: bottom that's why i got this
[02:39]: sort of
[02:40]: sturdy
[02:41]: wooden spoon instead of my usual
[02:44]: uh silicone spatulas
[02:47]: and now i'm going to turn this heat on
[02:50]: to
[02:51]: high
[02:53]: not powerful high and we're going to
[02:55]: wait until
[02:56]: it just starts to steam
[03:02]: yep till steam begins to rise from the
[03:04]: pan so
[03:06]: we're going to wait for that right now
[03:08]: i am starting to see
[03:11]: steam
[03:12]: uh coming up from the pan it might be a
[03:14]: little bit hard to see for you guys but
[03:16]: i'm definitely starting to see that so
[03:18]: i'm going to turn the heat
[03:20]: down to medium
[03:22]: cover it
[03:23]: and we're going to let this go for 20
[03:25]: minutes undisturbed
[03:28]: so we'll see you back in 20 minutes
[03:30]: so this has been sitting here
[03:31]: undisturbed at medium heat for 20
[03:34]: minutes so now i'm going to take the lid
[03:36]: off and it's supposed to
[03:38]: a lot of
[03:39]: moisture is supposed to escape when i do
[03:41]: this and i want to use
[03:43]: a hot pad because that is very warm at
[03:45]: this point
[03:47]: and
[03:48]: yes
[03:50]: definitely steam
[03:52]: and so now
[03:54]: i'm supposed to
[03:56]: turn the heat up to medium high
[03:59]: and cook stirring constantly for 15 to
[04:03]: 20 minutes until it's all caramelized
[04:06]: now
[04:08]: this is where i'm a little bit concerned
[04:11]: because
[04:13]: there's still a lot of onions in here
[04:15]: and only really the bottom will get
[04:17]: caramelized and in the book
[04:20]: she says uncover the pots
[04:22]: plural
[04:24]: and
[04:25]: as you lift the lids
[04:27]: lots of moisture will escape
[04:30]: so i'm like should there's no indication
[04:33]: that you should separate this into two
[04:34]: pots
[04:37]: i don't know i i don't know if that's a
[04:39]: typo or if there's something not
[04:40]: included i tried to look it up online
[04:42]: and it's not out there anywhere just yet
[04:46]: um
[04:47]: so we're just going to keep doing this
[04:48]: and hopefully it will caramelize
[04:50]: hopefully with it being at high heat
[04:52]: we'll get a little bit better um
[04:54]: [Music]
[04:56]: well medium-high heat will get a little
[04:57]: bit better caramelization than we got
[04:59]: with the
[05:01]: other recipe which tried to caramelize
[05:03]: at a lower heat but basically at this
[05:04]: point i think we really have to get all
[05:06]: of that liquid out
[05:09]: um however if it starts to stick and
[05:12]: burn
[05:13]: we're supposed to put water in a
[05:15]: tablespoon at a time and she says it
[05:17]: could be up to two cups of water um
[05:21]: so now we're just
[05:23]: trying to caramelize these
[05:26]: [Music]
[05:30]: so 10 minutes on um
[05:33]: still has a lot of liquid in here the
[05:36]: onions look fully cooked and nice and
[05:39]: [Music]
[05:41]: soft
[05:42]: but there's no caramelization yet we're
[05:44]: still kind of waiting for all of that
[05:46]: liquid to
[05:47]: evaporate boil off
[05:50]: so i'm not stirring it constantly right
[05:53]: now because it's not browning on the
[05:56]: bottom yet so
[05:58]: i'm just kind of coming back every so
[05:59]: often uh and waiting for
[06:02]: this to happen so
[06:03]: 10 minutes in i think it's going to take
[06:05]: us at least 20.
[06:07]: we'll see
[06:09]: [Music]
[06:12]: okay so we are 20 minutes in now and we
[06:16]: are still not seeing any browning
[06:18]: there's still quite a lot of juice here
[06:21]: but
[06:22]: we're gonna keep cooking
[06:24]: [Music]
[06:28]: all right so we're finally as i let it
[06:30]: go for a little bit and we're finally
[06:32]: starting to see some brownness happen on
[06:34]: the bottom
[06:36]: so now i think i'm gonna have to
[06:38]: um
[06:39]: stir it way more often
[06:45]: you're starting to see it actually turn
[06:47]: colors finally i think we're like 25
[06:50]: minutes in
[06:53]: [Music]
[06:56]: 30 minutes in we're at least starting to
[06:59]: get color so that's good
[07:02]: but we're still cooking so we're gonna
[07:05]: keep stirring keep cooking
[07:08]: [Music]
[07:13]: okay i think we
[07:15]: are 40 minutes in just about
[07:19]: still waiting for the deep amber color
[07:22]: but
[07:24]: it's getting a little bit darker every
[07:25]: time i feel like i need to
[07:28]: not touch it for a little while for it
[07:30]: to actually get browner on the bottom so
[07:33]: i'm letting it go a little bit stirring
[07:35]: letting it go a little bit concerning so
[07:43]: now so this has been
[07:46]: about 55 minutes and i'm gonna call it
[07:49]: good here
[07:50]: um it's not super dark
[07:53]: but i think it's a little bit darker and
[07:56]: i definitely am gonna call it at this
[07:58]: point because i think
[08:00]: that's probably good enough for me
[08:03]: um
[08:04]: it's getting harder and harder to i mean
[08:06]: it's definitely thick
[08:09]: and sticky
[08:11]: and i think that it is probably done
[08:15]: so i'm going to add just a little bit of
[08:17]: water just to make sure i get all of the
[08:19]: dark
[08:21]: caramelized bits off the bottom and cook
[08:23]: that for just a couple more minutes
[08:25]: until it's not watery
[08:27]: and we're gonna call that done
[08:32]: i'll let you know what i think about
[08:33]: this recipe in just a minute and show
[08:35]: you what this looks like when we've got
[08:36]: it all packaged up for the freezer
[08:39]: [Music]
[08:47]: on this episode of cooking the books
[08:48]: with heather you watched me make
[08:50]: caramelized onions from it's always
[08:52]: freezer season by ashley christensen of
[08:55]: pools diner and caitlyn golan
[08:58]: and uh this was after i tried another
[09:01]: caramelized onion recipe from vivian
[09:03]: howard
[09:04]: this one worked a little bit better for
[09:06]: me i liked that she kept the heat high
[09:09]: after and didn't
[09:11]: didn't cook it with the
[09:13]: lid on for quite as long
[09:15]: and when you took the lid off you kept
[09:18]: the heat higher than the other recipe
[09:20]: because of that
[09:22]: it took less time
[09:24]: although it still took me like
[09:27]: three times as long as she said i was a
[09:29]: little
[09:31]: confused because there is mention of
[09:34]: putting things in one pot and then
[09:36]: uncover the pots and lift the lids so
[09:39]: i assume if i had separated this into
[09:41]: two pots because it is a lot
[09:44]: of onions um
[09:46]: it probably would have cooked a little
[09:47]: bit quicker because there would have
[09:48]: been less liquid to have to evaporate
[09:51]: after you've cooked the onions
[09:56]: but i will definitely
[09:58]: do
[09:60]: this
[10:01]: method again
[10:04]: because i just don't think my onions
[10:06]: needed as much time with the lid on as
[10:09]: uh the vivian howard recipe r-rated
[10:11]: onions
[10:13]: required or asked for
[10:15]: um i think they were done way before
[10:17]: that and this one took a lot less time
[10:20]: so
[10:21]: so with both recipes you end up with um
[10:25]: two to two and a half cups at the end
[10:27]: which is enough for several you know
[10:29]: different recipes i froze mine in
[10:33]: half cup portions
[10:35]: this time last time i used almost all of
[10:37]: what i had because mine reduced a little
[10:39]: bit more than she said
[10:41]: so i used almost all that i had
[10:44]: in the
[10:45]: um
[10:46]: pinch me frenchie bread recipe
[10:49]: so i didn't actually get any in my
[10:51]: freezer from that one
[10:54]: but
[10:55]: so i
[10:56]: froze mine in small
[10:58]: plastic containers you could use
[11:02]: the
[11:03]: a
[11:04]: any size ice cube tray really that you
[11:07]: want but it might end up making your ice
[11:09]: taste funny if you want to use it also
[11:11]: for ice so i would keep like a food one
[11:14]: um
[11:16]: so you can use it really large ones that
[11:17]: would hold about a half a cup or you
[11:20]: know smaller ones and just
[11:22]: you know
[11:23]: take those out
[11:25]: either way would work just fine whatever
[11:27]: works for you
[11:29]: would work fine in these
[11:31]: onions freeze and defrost very very well
[11:35]: as far as cooked onions so there's no
[11:38]: real worry about that she says they will
[11:40]: freeze for three months honestly i will
[11:43]: go longer than that probably unless you
[11:45]: know we end up using them
[11:47]: um
[11:48]: and just
[11:50]: either thaw them in cold water she says
[11:52]: or in the refrigerator um
[11:55]: mine probably overnight for that small
[11:57]: of amount
[11:59]: maybe a little bit longer but
[12:02]: yeah
[12:03]: i would certainly use this method again
[12:04]: i might not make quite as many
[12:07]: it was a lot
[12:09]: a lot of onions
[12:11]: but then it all cooks down so
[12:13]: we'll see how i'm feeling the next time
[12:14]: i need to make caramelized onions
[12:18]: if you enjoyed watching me make this
[12:20]: give me a thumbs up hit the subscribe
[12:21]: button and come back and watch me make
[12:23]: something else next week
[12:25]: probably with these onions
[12:27]: [Music]