Fried Onions Ready-to-use!

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• 5 lbs onions (2 1/2 kg)
• oil (for frying)
• water
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (or use cider vinegar)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt (or to taste)

Recipe

• 1 sit outside where a breeze is blowing, and peel the onions.
• 2 slice thinly on a wooden board. best is to stay outside even if you need a parka, because inside you'll cry a lot over so many onions.
• 3 use the largest pot you have, like a soup pot, and heat. when hot, add about an inch of oil (2 1/2 cm). let oil heat well.
• 4 slowly add onions to the pot. the good thing about a deep pot is that there is less spattering. you might have to add in batches if you peeled a very large amount, and you might have to add more oil.
• 5 stir every now and then. this will take a long time, so have a nice paperback nearby --
• 6 fry the onions with patience until they soften. add a few splashes of water if they threaten to catch. you could add more oil, but you cannot keep adding oil as the end result will be too oily.
• 7 when at long last the onions have collapsed and actually starts to colour slightly, add the vinegar, sugar and salt. stir through. this improves the flavour -- add more or less, to taste.
• 8 read your book and keep stirring as you don't want to burn the lot at this late stage.
• 9 when the onions are done to your taste, pull off heat and cool.
• 10 the least bulky way to freeze them is to put them in ziplock bags. you will know how much sauteed onions you use per average dish -- rather put in too little because you can always use more than one pouch. if you freeze too much in a bag, some might go to waste.
• 11 push out air, seal, label, cool completely, and freeze.