Cooking with onions is just about a daily exercise. Yellow onions are
the starter vegetable for many a dish here in South Louisiana and are
used not only for flavor but also for making a rich brown gravy. Red
onions are usually the choice for fresh dishes and grilling. White
onions are a bit sweeter and used in Mexican style dishes. Sweet onions such
as the Texas Sweet and Vidalia are used for just about everything and
are great for grilling and onion rings.
You should remember one thing when cooking with onions "High heat is a
no-no". Onions can have a bitter taste if cooked on a high heat which is
why we always cook onions low and slow.
I've received questions about cooking onions in a gravy, or using them
to make a gravy. Many of the problems accounted "not getting the onions
to brown evenly", "they release too much water", etc. Low and behold,
after asking a few questions, I found that most of the problems came
from the chopping technique. And that technique was using a food
processor to chop the onions.
Chopped onions for gravy need to cook evenly, so, all the chopped pieces
need to be the same size. Hand chopping will achieve this even size;
usually I cut them in 14/" pieces. A
food processor will chop indiscriminately leaving some large pieces and
some pieces almost as fine as sand. When trying to cook these odd sized
pieces the very smallest pieces will cook, brown and even burn before
the larger pieces get anywhere near done. If you've ever used a food
processor to chop onions you've probably noticed an excessive amount of
water released. That's because an onion is almost 90% water. The finer
the chop the more water will be released. The water is another obstacle
to deal with when cooking onions that are processor chopped. Bottom line
is, hand chop them and eliminate the fight.
If you really love onions you can chop an onion in large pieces and
throw them in your gravy dish once it's almost done. Cook them until
just wilted. In doing this you'll add a nice fresh onion flavor to the
dish. Browned onions have a different flavor than un-browned onions.
What about green onions, scallions and shallots?
There is always a debate about what the difference is. I've found, for
the most part, that green onions and scallions are the same and are a
small slender green. Shallots are a larger variety. When you hear "Onion
tops" that refers to scallions. If you watch any cooking shows you'll
see that when shallots are used they are mostly white. That's because
the bottoms are used. BUT, if you plant most shallots close to each other you
will get a smaller stalk and they work just fine.
If you're going to freeze onions you must chop them and should blanch or
steam them first. You want to soften them a little before bagging as
this helps them keep longer in the freezer. The only time I could think
of when you might freeze onions is if you're given a bunch or grow them
yourself. Fresh is always preferred. Also, fresh chopped and frozen
onions in seasoning packs sold in stores. I find frozen onions don't brown as well as
fresh chopped.
Here's some more info on the onion...
The National Onion
Association
Well I hope you learned a little about the onion here.... now go cook
that gravy!