I know that all onions are not created equal nor all uses for onions the same. Can someone please categorize by use or arrange
by order of hotness for me the onions called yellow, spanish, bermuda, red, white, sweet, and boiler. These are the only ones that I can think of now. When I go to the grocery I never know what to buy for the use I have in mind.

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I"m getting some help. In her show today Capriel said red onions had a mild flavor.

[m brown]

onions are yummy.
red onions i use fried in a light egg dip and flour with some cornmeal. great on top of warm goat cheese salad. or on top of a steak, fish etc.

red onions with lox and cream cheese, looks great and has a kick.

yellow onions for everything, like caramelizing and baking on puff pastry with calamata olives and tyme. or chop and throw on top of pizza dough with stilton and olive oil, bake ....mmmmm. soup, stock, baked chicken. your everyday onion.

white onions, don't use them often but the really little ones must be served creamed at thanksgiving!!!

vadalia, use on salads, soups and cakes. yes there is a dessert cake that uses these onions, they are that sweet.

scallions, great raw or tossed into miso soup at the last second. top nachos. mix with soy and ginger.

chives, great in biscuits, salad, top a baked potato. dip, etc. big flavor for a little blade.

just a quick note on onions from a dough head.(baker)

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Thank You,
mb

[lynne]

My take on onions:

Bulb onions(red, white, yellow): can be deep-fried, roasted, grilled or poached, etc. and are a major component in mirepoix and the cajun trinity.

In theory, larger onions are supposed to be milder while white & yellow medium sized onions are supposed to be more potent -- it seems to me that in the past couple of years, they're all getting stronger! The south's beautiful Vidalia or Texas' 10-15s are sweeter than the average onion and are perfect for salads and make an awesome onion ring!

Pearl onions can also be prepared in almost any manner, roasted, sauteed, boiled and are often seen in soups and stews (M. Brown, we have them with peas on Thanksgiving).

Speaking of onions, don't forget one of my favourites, the leek. Sweeter and milder than onions, leeks can add wonderful flavour to a dish!

Scallions are really just baby onions. They are milder than the bukb variety. Use in stirfries, salads, egg dishes. I love them in a wonderfully pouffy basil frittata!

Shallots look more like garlic in that they have cloves. They are more mild and add a nice dimension to your dishes.

Garlic: the Mexican pink is usually more robust while elephant garlic is larger and milder. Longer cooking time makes the garlic milder than does a short time.


Hope this helps! Use a variety for an awesome French Onion soup or sweat them with fresh thyme, reduce with some cream and spread over a puff pastry tart shell and you have a wonderful onion tart!

[Nicko]

Hey lynne and mbrown are right on the money. One thing I would recommend is that onions are cheap enough. Go out and buy several different types of onions and to a tasting to get a feel for the difference. Taste them in different states, cooked, raw, sliced, grated. Invite a friend who loves to cook, and have a good guide book to read the descriptions of each onion as you taste. Some onions are clearly better for certain preparations and they are very distinct in characteristics.

Hope that helps.

[chefjohnpaul]

Also to keep in mind is that the strength of the onion has partially to do with the sulpher and mineral content of the soil, that is why onions like Vidalia and Walla Walla need to be grown in the specific region they are grown in because of soil composition.

[chefjohnpaul]

Also to keep in mind is that the strength of the onion has partially to do with the sulpher and mineral content of the soil, that is why onions like Vidalia and Walla Walla need to be grown in the specific region they are grown in because of soil composition.

[OregonYeti]

I was thinking about starting a new thread on onions, but I did a search and found this one. I love onions, but I have some strong opinions about using them.

I'm really picky about raw onions in one way--if they are sliced and then exposed to air for a while before use, I cannot stand them. Maybe I am extra-sensitive to some taste/smell, but they are just nasty to me. However, when I make my "salsa" as in for tortilla chips, I mix diced onions with diced tomatoes right away, and the onions taste good days later.

When I make hamburgers, I really like a big slice of red onion, one that covers the whole patty, but it has to be cut just before serving. Yum!

If cut raw onions have been exposed to air for a while, but are then carmellized, then they taste good to me. Anybody think the same way as I do, and/or know why I might dislike the sliced ones that have sat out?

[amazingrace]

[quote=OregonYeti: I'm really picky about raw onions in one way--if they are sliced and then exposed to air for a while before use, I cannot stand them. quote]

I am the very same way. If an application calls for onions raw, I wait until the very last minute to cut them. I cannot stand that "funky" smell.

[DC Sunshine]

To get rid of that "funky" smell, try blanching them for for 30 secs, then shock them in icy cold water. Gets rid of the sulphur smell.

But onions...love 'em! Can hardly remember a night I haven't started off a dish without them. Garlic too, a lot of the time. Like the red ones raw in salad, brown or white in cooked dishes, chives and scallions (spring onions, green tips and all) with salads. Don't use shallots - they too small and fussy

Leeks - can take them or leave them, but they are good in soups. Lots of cleaning to do with them, don't like the grit.

Don't know what yellow ones are, not sure that we get them here.

Cheers,
DC

[jbd]

Originally Posted by DC Sunshine

Don't know what yellow ones are, not sure that we get them here.

Cheers,
DC

Hey DC you probably do know what yellow onions are
Yellow onion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ED BUCHANAN]

There is a website ''The National Onion Association'' I suggest you browse it. Also there is no such thing as a Bermuda Onion as Bermuda has almost no crops and does not export veges.
It is a variation of a spanish onion , only it is large globe shaped and white it is slightly sweeter then spanish, but not as sweet as vadalia. If you have diced or sliced onion and you dont want them to smell or turn color, after cutting dice them, wrap them in a clean kitchen towel ,run cold water over them ,then squeeze them out they stay white forever.

[Koukouvagia]

Originally Posted by DC Sunshine

Don't use shallots - they too small and fussy

Leeks - can take them or leave them, but they are good in soups. Lots of cleaning to do with them, don't like the grit.

DC

Shallots are great with seafood like chowders, or clam sauce pasta, they seem to be delicate enough not to overpower the subtle flavors of seafood.

Leeks are a must for soups, and I like braising them also. Have you tried keeping them in a water bath to loosen dirt?

[Dillbert]

the usage of the term Bermuda onion dates to 1876; furthermore, there's actually a reason it's called a Bermuda, which is actually because it was "developed" there.

Plant Answers

When you label an onion as a "Bermuda," you really haven't said much. The general term "Bermuda" usually refers to the white or red onion used on hamburgers. Actually, the white "Bermuda" onion is the Crystal Wax variety and the red "Bermuda" onion is the Burgundy Red Variety. The general term "Bermuda" is nomenclature inherited by onions, which at one time were propagated on the Bermuda Islands. This procedure was followed only to enhance seed production and did not signify any specific quality factors.

[teamfat]

In the thread about foods that should go away for a while, onion soup is mentioned a few times. Me, I love the stuff. As a matter of fact, I made a batch of onion soup for dinner tonight on this cold and wet evening in the Salt Lake valley. Maybe next time I'll do some pictures and write up a more exact recipe.

Basically I took a large yellow, a red and a sweet Walla Walla, peeled them and sliced into slivers, cutting from the north pole to the south, rather than slicing parallel to the equator, if that makes sense. Heated up a large sauce pan over low heat, melted a few tablespoons of butter in it. Put about 1/3 of the onion slivers in the pot, sprinkled with a good pinch or two of kosher salt. Then another third of the onions, more salt, the rest of the onions topped off with another bit of salt. Covered and let them cook for about an hour and a half, stirring maybe every 15 - 20 minutes or so.

The low and slow cooking combined with the salt pulls out a fair bit of moisture, the onions get very soft and soupy, not really brown and carmelized like you see in some onion soup recipes. But you pretty much cook out the sulphur compounds and are left with a sweet, syrupy mess of onions. I take the lid off, add a couple tablespoons of worcestershire sauce and maybe a cup or two of stock ( often chicken, tonight was beef ) a splash of sherry and some black pepper. Depending on how much salt you added at the start you may or may not want more. White wine and apple juice are also good liquids to add at this point, but I didn't have any on hand. Well, I could have raided the cellar and opened a bottle for just this purpose. Red wines tend to not go well with the sweetness of the onions. Anyway, add your liquids of choice to get your preferred consistency, bump up the heat a bit, let simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes.

I usually don't bother with the slice of bread and broiled cheese topping, just ladle it into a bowl and top with grated cheese. Tonight was some gruyere I had on hand and a bit of parmesan. Good stuff on this dark and stormy night.

mjb.