this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024

1275 points (98.1% liked)

Microblog Memes

6027 readers

1876 users here now

A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, ~~Twitter~~ X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.

Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.

Rules:

Please put at least one word relevant to the post in the post title.
Be nice.
No advertising, brand promotion or guerilla marketing.
Posters are encouraged to link to the toot or tweet etc in the description of posts.

Related communities:

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

[email protected]

1275

Who's fucking carmelizing onions? (file.garden)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

146 comments fedilink hide all child comments

(page 3) 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 months ago (5 children)

30 minutes

https://youtu.be/Ovqhzil3wJw?feature=shared

We start our caramelized onions in a covered nonstick skillet over high heat with ¾ of cup water. The water and steam help the onions quickly soften. Then we remove the lid, lower the heat to medium-high, and press the softened onions into the bottom and sides of the skillet to allow for maximum contact with the hot pan. Instead of finishing with sugar or honey as many recipes call for, we add baking soda, which speeds up the reaction that converts flavorless inulin (a polysaccharide present in onions) to fructose.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (3 children)

5-8 hours. Slow cooker is the only way to go, imo.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Only way I've done em. I am basically incapable of standing in front of the same pot for 45 mins. Don't get me wrong, I love cooking, but some of the really tedious styles, especially if also monotonous, I can't do. I'd get distracted by something eventually.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (4 replies)

[–] [email protected] 77 points 2 months ago (19 children)

Remember, it takes at least 45 minutes to caramelize an onion. If you're doing it for less than 45 minutes, then you're just cooking it.

load more comments (19 replies)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

You can caramelize onions in five minutes, but the onions won't be very satisfied afterwards

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

Unless your cooking Italian. I had an Italian tell me once, it's either garlic or onions but not both together

load more comments (4 replies)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

It took me like at least an hour the other night for french onion soup.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

on a stick. caramel onion on a stick.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Y'all, pinch of baking soda and you'll have caramelized onions in no time flat. It's amazing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wait now, what? I wish to know more.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Yep, it's jump starting a process key to flavors we all like called the Maillard Reaction

E: guess I'm technically correct about baking soda speeding up caramelization, but not in regards to what the Maillard reaction has to do with caramelizing. Whoops.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Maillard browning is not caramelization. Maillard is an insanely complex mess of different chemical reactions involving proteins, while caramelization is just sugar and heat.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Alkalinity speeds up the Maillard reaction significantly. Baking soda. Magic.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I agree, but the comment above recommends using it to caramelize onions. Maillard reactions can happen to onions for sure but the result of that is not caramelized onions.

Not to say baking soda couldn't help, I don't know the exact chemistry behind this stuff, but I do know that onion + maillard reaction does not yield caramelized onions

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Huh, I guess I'd never really looked into the chemistry behind the distinction (which is strange because i am a chemist that loves food), but Maillard reactions involve the proteins, while caramelization involves the sugars. Though both are examples of nonenzymatic browning.

The good news is that the wiki page for caramelization says that either acidic or basic conditions speed up the caramelization processes, so i think we're good to go in either front!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

On that note, try adding a little splash of balsamic vinegar to caramelized onions 👌👌

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Oh shit. That is so cool! I knew lye was used in making pretzels, but i didn't know it was to get the Maillard browning to happen faster. The wiki page says that one way to reduce the formation of acrylamide, a carcinogen, is by adding carbon dioxide, which ~~is actually released when baking soda is dissolved in water~~ will be released during cooking (edit: see reply chain below for discussion on this point)... IDK for sure if it's enough to really help, but I'm gonna just roll with it and say it is because delicious food is delicious.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Baking powder releases carbon dioxide. Baking soda just creates aqueous bicarb ions and a more basic solution (which is the key to a faster reaction).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Heating a solution of aqueous bicarbonate will release carbon dioxide, too. But since we have delicious onions and stuff in there too, let's walk through my thought process: Baking powder is baking soda + weak acid + cornstarch (to prevent premature reaction). Since the speed-up for the Maillard reaction works by deprotonating amino groups to make them more nucleophilic, the acid-base reaction that releases CO~2~ when using baking powder will still occur with just baking soda + food (ie: the protiens in the food are acting as the acid). You're probably right that using baking powder would produce more CO~2~, or at least produce it faster, but reducing carcinogenic side products for Maillard reactions via CO~2~ is a low-priority concern for me anyway. Just a fun curiousity that occured to me when reading the wiki page!

Sorry if my carbon dioxide subscripts don't work. I don't think my client supports all the fancy markdown, but i tried my best.

load more comments