Caramelizing onions in just 15 minutes

Kenji Alt over at Serious Eats writes an always-intriguing science food blog – and we pay special attention when he has cooking tips. His latest is how to caramelize onions in just 15 minutes – without adding either sugar or baking soda. We encourage you to watch the video, which demonstrates that the keys are good stirring and temperature regulation.

But the fundamental question is – Are they just as good as onions slowly caramelized? We’ll let him answer that: “After using the method dozens of times and comparing it against traditionally caramelized onions, I’ve come to the sad realization that there are no real shortcuts here. That’s the bad news. The good news is that they’re about 90% as good as traditionally caramelized onions,so unless you’re planning on a recipe that absolutely requires perfectly caramelized onions – a French onion soup, say – then these’ll do you just fine.”