Video produced by Marisa Mito
Savory and sweet caramelized onions are a welcome addition to almost every dish graced with their presence. While caramelized onions may transform a haphazard meal into something more gourmet, they suffer from the most evil of sins — preparation time.
Classically caramelizing onions can take somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes, something that, as dorm-dwellers and apartment autochthons, we do not have time for. However, with a few little tweaks and a little bit of chemistry, you can cut that time in half in three simple steps.
1. Portioning: It’s easy to go overboard, so make sure you use a pan large enough that your onions only form one layer instead of having pieces piled on top of one another. This will mean that your onions will need less stirring.
2. Surface area: Cutting your onions into smaller pieces will increase the rate at which they caramelize. This means that you can spend less time sweating over that hot stove.
3. Chemistry: Caramelizing onions makes use of two different groups of chemical reactions. Don’t worry, you don’t need to put on a lab coat and goggles to make this work. Just add some vinegar (balsamic is a good choice) to your onions after they have become clear, and enjoy better living through chemistry.