Julie Bove wrote:
>
>As I was caramelizing onions for my baked beans, I recall seeing a pic that
>someone posted of his caramelized onions. Sf told him that they were not
>caramelized but just browned. I think she based this on the cooking time
>which was I think less than an hour.
>
>Anyway... Was wondering what the difference was? My caramelized onions sure
>do look brown.

The brown IS the caramelization.... how deeply browned, from light
golden straw to deep chocolate is a matter of degree, just don't go to
black, that's burnt/carbonized. It's the sugar contained in onions
that's caramelized, and it's not just time, it's also temperature. The
most critical element of caramelizing onions is *patience*, taking the
time to evaporate the water contained in onions at a low enough
temperature to prevent burning. If I'm going to bother caramelizing
onions I'll use minimally five pounds, what's not used keeps well
refrigerated, can even be frozen. Last week I caramelized onions to
have with my 12 oz burger, I used two 3 lb bags of Vidalias, on sale
at 2/$5. I used all but one retained for my salad.

There are also several methods for caramelizing onions, I use a large
deep skillet with neutral EVOO... at the end I leave the pan tipped to
drain the oil to one side and then scoop out the well drained
onions... the oil was retained for frying my burger and most will be
used for frying chicken breast cutlets which will be tonight's dinner.
Years ago when caramelizing huge amounts I'd use a large pot with a
french fry basket.