Who's fucking carmelizing onions?

I saw somewhere there exists a saying along the lines of 'start sauteing onion, add some garlic, then you figure out what you are going to cook.' When my wife and I have time to actually cook, this is basically what we do. everything is better with garlic and onions, from German to Korean. The rest is just details.

Apparently it's a Ukrainian saying
- Having an Asian extended family, I think it's universal.
  
  Absolutely universal because garlic and onion are amazing for any tongue.
  
  And people who dislike garlic or onions are always super sus, because no the fuck you don’t. You just think you don’t like it.
  
  I knew someone who said she was “allergic to onions if she could see them”… that is not how allergies work dumbfuck, you are just a super basic bitch with no taste.
  
  I knew a guy who said he was allergic to diced or sliced tomatoes. Happily ate ketchup and red pasta sauce.
  
  Hi, it’s me 😜. Seriously, I have a minor tomato allergy where I’ll get a bit of a rash if I have tomatoes 2-3 days in a row. It’s annoying. I also don’t like the taste or texture of tomatoes.
  
  However the taste and texture of so many things with tomatoes are so good, that I’m fine if I develop a rash. Adding onions, cilantro, and jalapeños to chunks of tomato turns it into something entirely different. Cooking it down with oregano, thyme, etc is also completely different in taste and texture.I’ll avoid the tomatoes themselves and I’ll still probably try to avoid the rash by not eating tomato meals too many days in a row though
  
  I think there are people who really are allergic to only uncooked versions of the produce
  
  That's actually a thing. Raw tomatoes vs cooked. I think it's called oral allergy syndrome.
  
  That guy was also a super basic bitch with no taste ;)
  
  I mean don’t get me wrong, I don’t really like tomatoes either. But I’m not a giant tool about it, and just say “I’m not really a fan of fresh tomatoes, but I’ll try it”
  
  What a weiner. People are so weird.
  
  So there's a salt in a lot of canned diced tomatoes (not all) that's used as a preservative that some people can be sensitive to. It helps keep the tomatoes firm while canned. (I worked briefly in a tomato cannery). IIRC it's one of the sodium citrates, but I can't remember which right now.
  
  Really? I never knew that. I wonder if that’s what I’m actually allergic to
  
  if you can have whole peeled tomatoes from the can but not the diced, that could be it. the salt set off my pancreas when my gut was going through a sensitive decade.
  
  Maybe. The difficult part is the delay -it usually takes more than one such meal to get a reaction
Garlic first, surely!! Otherwise, this is how I cook.

I usually start my meals by sauteing onions and without fail whoever is in the house will say "Ooo, that smells good what is it?"

Literally just onions

Saute onions and garlic, then decide what you're making for dinner
- Garlic makes your meal taste thicc. Trying to force myself into a lite and airy phase. Not sure why.. think I'm just wanting to lose weight, not as if that's how foods work though. Garlic isn't fattening haha
  
  Garlic makes your meal taste thicc. Trying to force myself into a lite and airy phase.
  
  Try making toum.
Saute carrots, onions, and celery. Everyone will think you're making something incredible. And, fortunately, you'll have the base to follow through, if you so desire.
- I do need more dishes in the back of my pocket that start with mirepoix. If y'all got favs, pop a holler.
  
  Got me thinking it's time for chicken pot pie again...
  
  I use it for a lot of stuff. I roast pork on top of mirepoix, I make soups with it, pasta dishes, I make it alone with lots of butter and herbs and then blend it and use it as a rich sauce, I don't blend it and then serve it as a side with chicken and fish (adding rice is an option here), add bell peppers and make gumbo, use it as a base for braising basically anything... I do truly just start a mirepoix when I don't know what to make, then, once it's started, I dig around for other ingredients. It's so forgiving and really just makes almost anything more savory and flavorful.
  
  The last time I made it (Saturday), I ended up transferring it to a roasting pan, then roasted pork. I took off the pork when it was done, then while it rested, I deglaced the pan with white wine, put a portion into a pot, added ketchup, vinegar, etc. and used an immersion blender to make a bbq-style mirepoix sauce. Shredded the pork and made pulled pork. It was a huge hit with the family. I know mirepoix-bbq sauce sounds a little weird, but it was incredibly good.
  
  It's an very versatile base, which, I think, is why different food cultures all have a version of it. And you can do a lot of different things with the same base just by changing the technique. Smaller or larger chop, longer or shorter sautee, add ingredients to change the character (classically, tomato paste to make a pinçage, but you can also swap it to a Holy Trinity or sofrito very easily), and so on. It's a great thing to play around with.
  
  This is inspiring! I'll have to give some of these a go.
  
  Thanks for the thoughtful write up. 😊 Already excited to get a bit more adventurous with it!
Haha, I can cook but I don't really know what I am doing. It usually starts with some oil and garlic or onions in a pan, then I figure out what to actually cook. But if someone walks in at just that step they think you're some culinary genious.
- Haha, I can cook but I don't really know what I am doing.
  
  Bruh, don't sell yourself short. If you know how to just throw shit into a pan and have it come out both edible and tasty (or even only the first one), you have a decent idea of what you're doing.
  
  Being able to do that is a skill that takes work, and is something my wife has worked hard to develop. He k, just knowing what spices go well together or with what meats is a skill in and of itself.
There's a reason why cooked onions are common across almost every international cuisine on earth.
That's probably why they call it an aromatic.

Best way to stop a small argument? Saute onions in olive oil then add some garlic. Guarantee a head will poke around a door frame and all arguments melt away.

hedge magic

So how do you do it?

I'm asking because I learned not a long time ago to somewhat heavily salt the onions beforehand (in olive oil ofc) and it's great. Burst for some minute or three, keep hot while stirring til done (hard, melted, ...).

I don't put garlic in it though, I'd put that in the rest of the food if I do.

I made a big batch yesterday (4 large onions).

Butter and olive oil. Add onions. I add water at the beginning so I don't have to pay as much attention as the beginning. Once the onions are soft, turn it low and take your time. Only stir occasionally.

I used the instant pot yesterday and it was super easy.
- 4 large onions
  
  So, like, 6 tablespoons of caramelised onion?
  
  3 if you are lucky
  
  Yeah in normal countries but in America they have huge onions
  
  Also high-sugar varieties like Vidalia and Candy onions. Don't knock us for our onions - at least our onion farmers aren't dropping bombs on brown people.
  
  Yeah it wasn't meant to be a knock, just an observation about onion size really. I haven't tried them enough times to judge if I think they're good or bad. But they're definitely big!
  
  The larger the onion, the more water is in it and the less it tastes, from my experience.
  
  I never realized Americans had particularly big onions, but a lot of them are bigger than my fist and definitely full of flavor. Now something like a shallot is small and delicious but it's a different flavor.
  
  To be fair, I don't know anything about american onions. Just remsrked that on varying sizes in general.
  
  Maybe: it does seem like the larger onions tend to be the sweeter varieties. That’s great though, when one slice covers your entire burger, and you get the satisfying crunch of a nice thick slice of onion without all the bitterness.
  
  That being said, Ive tried caramelizing red onions instead off the more standard yellow, and I’m not sure the final result is any different
  
  That's different variants though, and they're great too ofc, like sweet or red onion in the salad.
- What do you do you with a big batch? Saving some for later or just gorge on sautéed unions?
  
  I needed some for käsespätzle, and it's one of those things where if you make it a little little might just as well make a lot. It will get used. Caramelized onions go well with just about everything.
  
  on top of meat, like a steak or a burger
  
  incorporated into mashed potatoes
  
  I’ve been seeing various recipes for “French onion soup style” g occhi
Really I just lightly spray some canola oil in the pan and add sliced onions and heat.
- When you think they're ready, stir them up and let them cook for another half hour.
I put the sliced onions (vidalia or candy) with a small splash of olive oil into a skillet on high heat (no salt) and cook them for 10-15 minutes, stirring them around every couple of minutes. They always come out perfectly. I don't know why people are saying 30 to 45 minutes or hours in a slow cooker, or adding water, butter or sugar or whatever - all unnecessary and time consuming. Adding water in particular seems like the worst possible thing you could do as it's just going to steam them, which isn't what you want at all (adding salt essentially does the same thing by drawing water out of the onions).

I also don't add garlic, as garlic will just burn under the same conditions that caramelize the onions.
- Sauteed onions in olive oil for 10 minutes is delicious, but it's not caramelized onions. They're talking about something completely different.
  
  They are absolutely caramelized. I know the difference between sauteed onions and caramelized onions.

I like to add them to mac and cheese

Ooh sauté, well lah-de-dah Mr Frenchman!