Onion confit: ninety minutes and two kilos of onion that become two small jars
Caramelised onion is the best illustration that in cooking time cannot be bought or shortened. There is no trick: two kilos of onion must cook an hour over low heat while it gives up its water and its sugars brown. Every shortcut — more heat, bicarbonate of soda, sugar at the start — gives you onion that is scorched, mushy or merely sweet, but not caramelised. Two kilos become two small jars, and that too is part of the answer to why it tastes so good.
Your own work in that: 1 h 55 min.
- Slicing 15 min
- Caramelising 70 min
- Reducing 30 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSlice the onions into thin half-moons
Halve the onions lengthwise and cut them into 3 mm half-moons, with the grain, not across it. Cut with the grain they hold their shape through an hour of cooking; cut across they collapse into paste much sooner.
Ingredients: 2000 g onions · 50 g butter · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1½ tsp salt
TipTwo kilos of onion is about twenty minutes of slicing and a good many tears. Put the onions in the freezer for 15 minutes first — chilled, they release fewer of the irritating compounds.
With the grain, three millimetresEverything into the pot, then salt
In the widest pot you own, heat the butter with the oil and add all the onion. It will fill the pot to the rim — within ten minutes it halves. Salt it: salt draws out water and speeds the whole process up a little.
Pot to the rim; half of it after ten minutesCook an hour over low heat
Cook over low heat 60 minutes, stirring every 5–10 minutes and scraping the base. The onion passes through every shade: translucent, straw, gold, and finally deep brown and sticky. The volume falls to a fifth.
Ingredients: 2000 g onions · 50 g butter · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1½ tsp salt
TipDon't raise the heat to hurry it. The onion must first give up its water and soften before it can brown — over high heat it scorches at the edges before the middle has softened.
Sixty minutes, to a deep brownDeglaze with wine
Pour in the wine and scrape the base with a wooden spoon — the brown residue stuck there is the most concentrated flavour in the whole recipe. Simmer 10 minutes, until the wine reduces by half and stops smelling of alcohol.
Ingredients: 200 ml dry red wine · 60 ml balsamic vinegar · 80 g dark brown sugar · 2 tbsp honey · 1 tsp dried thyme · 2 pcs bay leaves · ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
Scrape the base: that is where the flavour isAdd sugar and vinegar, then reduce
Add the sugar, honey, balsamic, thyme, bay leaves and pepper. Cook 20 minutes, until the mixture is thick, dark and glossy and a spoon drawn across the base leaves a trail. Remove the bay leaves.
Ingredients: 200 ml dry red wine · 60 ml balsamic vinegar · 80 g dark brown sugar · 2 tbsp honey · 1 tsp dried thyme · 2 pcs bay leaves · ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
Spoon into jars
Pack the hot confit into scalded jars, pressing down so no air pockets remain. Seal, cool and keep in the fridge for three weeks, or freeze in portions for six months. Do not store it in the pantry — onion is a low-acid vegetable, and in a sealed, airless jar botulism bacteria could develop.
Hot, pressed down, no air pockets
Before you start
What to serve it with
Blue and goat cheese, burgers, roast beef, a cheese tart, a pulled pork sandwich. In French cooking it accompanies pâtés and terrines.
Which onion
Yellow gives a sweeter, more classic confit. Red keeps a hint of purple and is slightly sharper. Shallots give the most delicate result, but peeling two kilos is a lot of work.
Without wine
Substitute vegetable stock with an extra spoon of balsamic. The confit is less complex, but the difference is smaller than you might think — most of the flavour comes from the onion itself.
Freezing
Spoon into an ice cube tray and freeze. One cube is a portion for a burger or a sauce; it keeps six months and thaws in a pan in moments.