One of the popular ways to cook onions is to saute them and another favored way is to caramelize them. So, here's how to do onions two ways:
Frying or sautéing onions versus caramelizing onions are both delicious. "Caramelize” simply means frying onions slowly on very low heat.
Sautéed onions have a slightly crispy outside and a very soft center. Caramelized onions are very soft and very sweet. You don’t need to add anything to make them sweet, since the natural sweetness of the onion develops through the slow cooking process.
Both approaches to cooking onions require: onions, butter, olive oil, salt and pepper.
How to Make Sautéed Onions
For 2-to-4 servings of the sautéed onions, pull out your measuring spoons and measure these ingredients into your glass bowls:
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Peel and slice the onions into 1/4 inch slices. Melt butter and olive oil in a very large fry pan over medium high heat. Add the onions.
Quickly cook the onions, moving them around the pan with a wooden spoon or spatula. It should take no more than 10 minutes for the onions to get nicely browned.
How to Make Caramelized Onions
To make caramelized onions, all you need is time, and you don't need to be a seasoned cook.
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds onions
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dry white wine or water
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Peel and slice the onions. In a really large fry pan melt the butter and olive oil over really low heat. Add the onions to the pan. Sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of salt.
Cook the onions over the lowest heat possible for about 1 hour. (Yikes! That’s a long time!) Don’t be tempted to increase the heat. You cannot speed up this process. Over the course of 1 hour they should not turn brown. Be sure to give them an occasional stir. This is what they will look like after 15 minutes of cooking.
After about one hour increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the onions are well browned. That could take another 25 minutes. There will be a lot of brown bits stuck on the bottom of the pan. Those bits are full of flavor. To get them off the bottom of the pan and incorporated into the onions turn off the stove and pour 1/2 cup of dry white wine (or water) into the pan.
After the wine is added turn the stove back on. This will ensure the alcohol doesn’t catch fire and flame up. The wine will dissolve all the bits and make the onions even darker.
Now remove them from the heat. Add salt and ground pepper and even a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese.
Caramelized onions are great on their own or can be added to stews and sauces.
By the time you finish caramelizing the onions they will have cooked down to about half their size.
* Source: Adapted from: Joy of Cooking