Burnt Onions for Gravies
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and chop the onions finely.
Make the burnt onion liquor
Put the onions into a stewpan with the water and let them boil for 5 minutes.
Add the sugar and simmer gently until the mixture becomes nearly black and throws out bubbles of smoke.
Have ready the proportion of boiling vinegar, strain the liquor gradually into the mixture, and keep stirring with a wooden spoon until it is well incorporated.
Bottle
When cold, bottle for use.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Onions (in the method)
- Provide the main flavour base, which darkens and turns bitter-sweet as they caramelise and char.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Caramelises as it darkens, adding colour and a deep, sweet-bitter flavour.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity and sharpness that balances the sweetness of the caramelised mixture.
The step that matters
Simmering until nearly black. The mixture must darken to a near-black caramel without tipping into acrid burnt flavour. Sugar and onion sugars caramelise and then scorch quickly, so heat and timing need watching to keep the colour and bitterness balanced.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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