they don’t like the taste of onions, they like the flavor.
I don’t think the distinction between “taste” and “flavour” is the right way to frame it. Raw onion on its own can be overwhelming. If you eat a hamburger with raw onion on it, the amount of raw onion per bite will be pretty small, and it will be one taste in a whole bunch of other tastes. Your kids probably wouldn’t like eating pure salt, or pure pepper either. But, food with some salt tastes great.
Having said that, fried onions are a whole different game. After 5 minutes the onion loses a lot of its potency and gets a bit sweet. After 30 minutes it’s basically a very slightly pungent candy. For a French Onion Soup, you can cook them for up to 2 hours before they’re ready. A pot that’s full to the brim of raw onions reduces down to a thin layer at the bottom, and they taste more like gummy worms than onions at that point.
I love French Onion Soup, and occasionally make it. I’d make it more, it’s just that slicing up more than a kilogram of onions is a whole process. It’s so difficult it makes me cry every time I do it.
A second hand mandoline a game changer in that regard! Chopping/slicing/cutting evenly suddenly to a fraction of the time. Would drivel recommend (second hand because first hand are stupidly expensive if you rent good quality)
Yeah, I’ve used a mandoline to do it before. Frankly, that’s really the only way I’d do it these days. But, even then, it’s a lot of work and it’s hard on the eyeballs. Plus, mandolines are scary. I know what not to do when using one, but it’s like a fear of heights. Even if you know you’re doing it safely, it’s still nerve wracking. Maybe if I had a chain-mail glove I could do it without fear, but I don’t have one.
I don’t think the distinction between “taste” and “flavour” is the right way to frame it. Raw onion on its own can be overwhelming. If you eat a hamburger with raw onion on it, the amount of raw onion per bite will be pretty small, and it will be one taste in a whole bunch of other tastes. Your kids probably wouldn’t like eating pure salt, or pure pepper either. But, food with some salt tastes great.
Having said that, fried onions are a whole different game. After 5 minutes the onion loses a lot of its potency and gets a bit sweet. After 30 minutes it’s basically a very slightly pungent candy. For a French Onion Soup, you can cook them for up to 2 hours before they’re ready. A pot that’s full to the brim of raw onions reduces down to a thin layer at the bottom, and they taste more like gummy worms than onions at that point.
I love French Onion Soup, and occasionally make it. I’d make it more, it’s just that slicing up more than a kilogram of onions is a whole process. It’s so difficult it makes me cry every time I do it.
A second hand mandoline a game changer in that regard! Chopping/slicing/cutting evenly suddenly to a fraction of the time. Would drivel recommend (second hand because first hand are stupidly expensive if you rent good quality)
Yeah, I’ve used a mandoline to do it before. Frankly, that’s really the only way I’d do it these days. But, even then, it’s a lot of work and it’s hard on the eyeballs. Plus, mandolines are scary. I know what not to do when using one, but it’s like a fear of heights. Even if you know you’re doing it safely, it’s still nerve wracking. Maybe if I had a chain-mail glove I could do it without fear, but I don’t have one.
I found a plastic handle for the mandoline. If you mess up, the handle gets cut but your fingers survive unscathed.