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Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

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Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#171

Post by tourmalinetaco »

nvy wrote: post #90
Larrikin wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the home cook, its usually a better strategy to spend money up front on quality, but ignore specialized tools, than try to cheap out. Alton Brown's advice about unitaskers is terrible, except for the first time you start cooking at home and don't know what you need. Someone could spend days looking for the specific slow cooker you found and maybe your onions from it are good. The idea of saving 50 dollars by buyi…

I have a le creuset and cook with it often. I also have lots of cheap kitchen stuff. Specifically what aspect or quality of yours do you think makes better caramelized onions?

According to their other replies, the brand name.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#172

Post by 7speter »

spoonjim wrote: post #35
pbj1968 wrote: post #20

Sifting flour. Sautéing spices “to release the flavor” and then adding them to stew where they’ll simmer for an hour or more. Pretending “restaurant quality” is anything besides twice as much butter and salt as you’d dare use at home. “One tablespoon of olive oil” to brown absurd amounts of meat at high heat. Once you start recognizing recipe BS, you see it everywhere.

Restaurant quality is real and it’s because high end restaurants usually buy the best produce at wholesale and pay for stuff a grocery store can’t. For example they get much better blackberries in top restaurants because they need to be handled extremely gently when ripe: a grocery store can’t put that stuff out on shelves or it would get destroyed.

Also salties (the ultra high heat broilers) and stoves that go from cold to the fires of hell in 3 seconds. Talk about caramelized anything…

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#173

Post by wenc »

7speter wrote: post #148
wenc wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can cook steaks without adding any oil at all -- in fact, this is how to cook steak in an apartment without getting it all smokey. According to America's Test Kitchen, do this: Pat dry. Start cold in nonstick/cast iron — no preheat, no oil. Flip every 2 mins. Start high, after few flips, turn heat down to medium. Keep flipping every 2 mins until done. Most cuts worth eating have some fat on them (filet mignons mi…

Even better is a reverse sear in stove on an elevated rack on a baking sheet at 230 degrees for 30 minutes, then you finish the steak off on a hot oiled (avocado or maybe peanut oil) skillet for 1 minute on each side.

I went from sous vide > reverse sear (faster than sous vide) > oil-free pan-sear, in the decreasing order of time of it takes.

I find the pan-sear delivers almost the same results in much less time (of course, you won't get the uniform insides of a reverse sear, but close enough since you're flipping so much). I'm also at a stage of life when I can afford better cuts of meat.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#174

Post by boo-ga-ga »

Was thinking exactly the same recently, but about all the recipes across the Internet. I need an "honest cooking time recipe" website where people will not tell about the whole meal in 20 minutes, but calculate the time honestly, and include all the preparation stages.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#175

Post by palotasb »

isaacfrond wrote: post #131

My sister in law writes recipes. She has a recipe column in a newspaper and wrote a few high quality recipe books. I saw them in a bookstore. So she's reasonable successful. Her pieces are charming, her recipes inspiring. The thing is. At a birthday party when I was talking to her, she confessed to me that she never actually tries her recipes. When it's time to do a new piece, she sits down at her computer and makes…

> she claims that virtually all recipe books are made like this

Most recipe books have pictures, how are those created then?

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#176

Post by BiteCode_dev »

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #128
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #118

For the same reason devs lie about installing arch linux without any problem. When you are good at something, you don't realize how much you do anymore. This article is unrelated, but has a good explananation of the problem in one section : Why not tell people to simply use x https://bitecode.substack.com/p/why-not-tell-people-to-simpl...

This is different. If you learn enough about Linux, you can install Arch in 15-20minutes no problem. Especially since learning about Linux means reinstalling your OS many times until you finally learn how to keep it clean and rescue it from any situation. You are not going to be able to cook chicken in 3-4minutes per side like so many recipes claim. It's just not possible to have a good outside temperature and a good…

True, in this extreme version that goes clearly against the laws of physics.

But without going there, I can clearly hear my mother answering me that once again "it's very simple honey, 20 minutes top", when asked how she did the lunch.

She consistently does this, yet when I copy everything she does, I'm lucky to get 40 minutes.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#177

Post by omnicognate »

pbj1968 wrote: post #20

Sifting flour. Sautéing spices “to release the flavor” and then adding them to stew where they’ll simmer for an hour or more. Pretending “restaurant quality” is anything besides twice as much butter and salt as you’d dare use at home. “One tablespoon of olive oil” to brown absurd amounts of meat at high heat. Once you start recognizing recipe BS, you see it everywhere.

Don't underestimate the amount of butter and (Maldon sea) salt I'm willing to use at home.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#178

Post by tourmalinetaco »

onion2k wrote: post #135
mattlondon wrote: post #127

Hmm I dunno. Are people using a stone-cold pan or something? You can brown (I presume this is what most recipes mean when they say "caramelise") onions brown fairly quickly in ~5 mins or so on a good induction hob and normal (i.e. not absurdly weighty) day-to-day saute pan. It was equally as fast on gas hobs when those used to be a thing too. A non-induction electric hob of course is a total different matter as they…

You can turn onions brown fairly quickly in ~5 mins.. Caramelized onions are not the same as browned onions. Going from raw to brown takes 5 minutes, and going from brown to caramelized takes about another 25 to 45 minutes.

looks at username

Now you, you I can trust on this topic.

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#179

Post by astrange »

treeman79 wrote: post #30
jonstewart wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can conceivably get a Maillard reaction with toasting some spices (e.g. cumin seed) where you wouldn’t just by throwing them in a stew. But I agree with your overall point. The 1-2 tbsp olive oil is -everywhere-. Also, better to use canola oil for browning meat.

Canola is more likely to cause inflammation. Olive oil and coconut oil are much better from that stand point.

If you're worried about omega-6:3 ratios then canola oil is better than every other vegetable oil, including olive oil.

Also see https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-...

Re: Why do recipe writers lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? (2012)

#180

Post by codeflo »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #118

For the same reason devs lie about installing arch linux without any problem. When you are good at something, you don't realize how much you do anymore. This article is unrelated, but has a good explananation of the problem in one section : Why not tell people to simply use x https://bitecode.substack.com/p/why-not-tell-people-to-simpl...

Python packaging is a special kind of dependency hell, you get the feeling that forward compatibility is an unknown idea and everything depends on the precise version of anything else. Last time I checked, some of the most popular packages hadn’t even been ported yet to a stable Python release that was six months old at the time, forcing me to downgrade. It’s essentially the most unpythonic aspect of working in Python: a zillion incompatible ways to do things, and nothing works out of the box.
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