Caramelized Onions!!

Something that I have received many compliments over the years is caramelized onions.  I love them.  I could honestly eat them with a spoon and have on several occasions.  They are a wonderful addition to anything.  I almost always put them on pizza, but they are wonderful on Italian Sausages on the grill.  You know a nice soft roll, wonderful sausage, caramelized onions, a squirt of mustard, now that is a picnic!!  In my opinion they are a perfect condiment.  Many people say "Oh, I don't like onions."  Well they clearly have not had these.  They are sweet and delicious!

It takes a lot of onions.  I always like to have extra.  They keep great in the fridge and are excellent reheated.  If I am not sure on whether or not that is enough I always grab another. In these photos I have used "yellow onions" I believe there are about 3 pounds here.  But you can use your onion of choice.  I love red onions, Vidalia onions, those big white ones, really there isn't an onion I wouldn't slice thinly and throw in a pan. 

My giant pile of onions.  You can see my chef's knife in the picture to give you some perspective.  This is a big cutting board.  It's bigger than a half sheet pan. 

It doesn't take much oil just a little to get them started.  I live to use olive oil.  As I have said in previous posts I like the taste of butter.  I have seen TV chefs put both in.  I worked in a place where they just used a pound of butter.  Now it was about 20 pounds of onions, but they were delicious.  So add the fat to suit your fancy. 

I put mine in when the oil is hot, but not smoking.  I like high heat to really get them going, until they start sizzling. Then you stir and turn them back. You have to be patient or you will burn them. There is a fine art between letting the pan do it's job and keeping them from burning. My knob goes from 1-10.  Ten is Ultra High.  In this picture I am sure my knob was on Ultra High until I stir them the first time then it goes to 9.

It is at this stage where your variety of onion comes into play.  Some are more dry than others.  This just depends on the time of year and where they are grown.  Vidalias are typically more watery than most.  So sometimes you have to cook the water off so they will brown.  You need to stir gently in this case because you could break them up too much and they will disintegrate. My knob is at 8 but about to move down to 7.

On my range 6 is my sweet spot.  This picture is steamy, and you can see that pile is disappearing right before our eyes.  They spend some time at 6.  But I keep stirring.  It's almost like everyone need their turn on the bottom of the pan to get brown.  So I am just gently exchanging places. You will have to find your sweet spot on your range.  I have a harder time making them in another kitchen just because I am unfamiliar with how high their high is and so on. 

Once they get to this color, I move from 6 on down.

These last 2 pictures there is more time lapse than the others.  It does take time.  You just have to stir and turn them down the slightest bit each time.  I work mine all the way down to low. This picture is probably at 4 on it's way to 2.

Here they are.  Yum!