Onions and Garlic

[Mordax Praetorian]

Greetings

I'm home from university at the moment and wishing to cook a surprise meal for my parents when they get back from work

I do have a fair bit of cooking background, and regularly experiment with dishes at university, however I've only once tried to cook with onions and the dish went badly because of it

I know that Onions would enhance the flavour of the dish that I am planning, but want to avoid things going as badly as last time

I am planning to pan fry the onions (with some other ingredients later), and was wondering if anyone had any tips for doing so, weather its tastier to fry them in oil or butter for instance, or simply how hot the pan should be

I'm also considering adding garlic, and was wondering weather garlic cloves are also pan friable, as I think having the tastes of the onion and garlic together should help the dish as well

Also, I do already know how to chop onions, having being called upon to do this for my parent's dishes many times during my childhood

[mcnerd]

Onions should be sauted until they caramelize. You can use butter or oil. Add garlic if you think it would go with whatever you are making.

[Semigourmet]

If pan frying onions (sauteing) it should be done at a medium to medium low heat so that you don't burn them. use butter or live oil, a little salt and pepper, and or any herb you might want to flavor the dish with. As for garlic, be careful not to pan fry for too long about 2 minutes would be sufficient to take the RAW flavor out of it. if it starts to brown it CAN become bitter. so add it at the last minute or two just before you are ready to add everything else.

What kind of dish are you trying to make? that might make it easier to help you out. I use Onions and garlic all the time. I rearely make a main dish without both in it.

[gwydion]

It depends on what you're going to cook as to whether you just want your onions softened (this gets rid of the harsh sulphur chemicals that can make onions taste bad) or whether you want them caramelized (this enhances the colour and flavour of a dish). Typically frying the onions over medium heat for about 6 minutes will soften them, about 12 minutes to lightly brown and 15 to caramelize quite heavily. Which type of onion you want will depend on what you're making. Also, garlic can be pan fried. You can either cook for about 3 minutes or you can add the garlic to your oil or butter first, fry until very well coloured (about 5 or 6 minutes) then remove and discard the garlic. This then just flavours your oil or butter with the garlic and is a typical Indian way of using garlic.