French Onion Potatoes

Warning: the following French Onion Potatoes recipe is bound to be a hit in your home. Effects of French Onion Potatoes include second and third servings, a strong desire to serve them with every meal, and the need for stretchy pants after eating. Cooker’s discretion is advised. But who doesn’t love cheesy potatoes, especially when you add in some caramelized onions? They just offer a melody in your mouth that you’ll wanna be singing along with all day long.

Caramelize me, Captain!

Caramelized Onions are a treat, something perfect in an imperfect world. But they take time. There are no shortcuts, there is no one neat trick, there is just the art of caramelizing. The reward for your hard work is well earned, and using them in these French Onion Potatoes? Oh, you’ll be in flavor heaven. All that caramelization is is a chemical change that makes carbohydrates turn brown after they’re heated to about 310 Fahrenheit or higher. Caramelized onions are best done with “sweet” onion, this is because they’re higher in sugar content and we need that sugar for the browning. This entire process will take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

To begin this process, you need about 2 Tbsp of Olive Oil, or clarified butter, and or a mixture of the two. You’ll then need 2-3 Sweet onions that have been sliced thin. Start by letting the oil get up to temperature, you want it around 310 Fahrenheit. Next add your onions, moving them around the pan so they don’t burn. These will shrink in volume, so it’s normal to start with a full pan and then see it shrink. Now, you’ll let the onions turn translucent but keep moving them around. Keep going until they start to soften and shrink by a fraction of their original size. They might start to stick at this point, that’s due to the sugars being released. They’ll soon develop a golden-brown color, we’re almost done at this point. Once they’re sticking and browned all over, they should be done.