dsi1 wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> On Monday, July 3, 2017 at 4:34:22 PM UTC-10, Julie Bove wrote:
> > Anyone know where SF is?
> >
> > As I was caramelizing onions for my baked beans, I recall seeing a
> > pic that someone posted of his caramelized onions. She 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.
>
> You can brown onions and they will be caramelized to a degree. You
> can also get a big heap of onions and cook that over low heat for a
> long time turn them into a limp brown mass that doesn't look much
> like onions and tastes very sweet with a mild and smooth onion taste.
> I've made an onion frittata this way. It's pretty good but it takes
> more time than I want to spend.
>
> The truth is that the onions will start getting sweet a long time
> before it gets to that stage. If you want to call limp white onions
> "caramelized" that's fine with me. Be warned that some people will
> find that to be offensive. Those people should get a life.

Agreed. Most recipes I read today call it 'carmelized' when the
sweetness first comes out and it doesnt take 3 hours or more to get
there (unless in a crockpot).

It's a combination of level, and some being 'purist' where nothing
short of their version counts.

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