Maxwell St. Depot -- Onions

Does anyone know the best way to cook their onions? I've cooked onions down with a little olive oil for about 8 hours and they didn't come out as good as theirs

Hi,

Just out of curiosity, have you ever asked them what type of onion they use and their method? Surprisingly, sometimes a direct question gets a direct answer and occasionally the brush off.

Is the place you refer to at:

Maxwell Street Depot
411 W 31st St
Chicago, IL 60616
312-326-3514

or another location?

Regards,

Chief, eight hours seems like an awfully long time. When I carmelize my onions (and they resemble Jim's) they take about an hour.

I use white onions in olive oil over low/medium heat. Add salt and pepper and a little bit of suger as catalyst. They require little baby sitting, maybe an occasional toss of the pan for effect.

chief wrote:Does anyone know the best way to cook their onions? I've cooked onions down with a little olive oil for about 8 hours and they didn't come out as good as theirs

Chief,

Not Maxwell St. Deopt, but here's a picture of onions on the grill at Jim's Original.


IIRC at the old location once the pork chops were done they were held nestled into a pile of slowly caramelizing onions, in this picture the pork chops are resting on Polish.

Either way, the finished product looks and tastes pretty damn good!




As an aside, I agree 8-hours is a VERY long time to caramelize onions. I do mine with olive oil and either a little salt or beef/chicken base. Not sure exactly how long it takes, but it's well under an hour. I don't always do it, but sometimes add a wee bit of sugar, as Ramon suggested, when I go straight olive oil/salt.

Enjoy,
Gary

Usually when I have a hankering for grilled onions, I can't wait long. So it's either a trip to someplace I can get it OR a 'quick' (30-40 min. or so) version. I use olive oil plus ghee*, then salt and a sprinkle of sugar sometime after 10 mins. or so. For about 2 large onions (approx 2 cups sliced) I add about 2 Tbsps of water (or sometimes a splash of vermouth) after about 15 mins and a few (~5 mins) later cover with a loose lid for 5-10 mins (depending on the onions, sometimes I don't add water). This has the effect of steaming the onions a bit, and I think approximates the steaming the onions on the top of the pile get.

*Ghee (clarified butter) lends a nice nutty fragrance and sweetness that butter doesn't. I prefer Ziyad brand to others.