Monday, July 12, 2010

Invasion of the Red Onion

I have a friend who is fiercely against cilantro, an herb I love. Then another friend who, if he could, would lead the charge against mayonnaise (something I still use in my cooking).

Other than eggplant, I don’t know if there is something that I’m so staunchly against. (And even with eggplant, I’d still eat it if it was accidentally mixed into a dish.)

But lately, I have to say, I’m starting to get annoyed by red onions — probably because people seem to be using them too often in dishes around town.

Have you noticed them? How can you not. They’re so vibrantly red-purple, for starters. What started out as a burst of color in a salad now shows up in pizzas and appetizers. It’s the parsley of this century.

I know chefs probably like to use them because red onions have the reputation of being sweeter than a normal yellow onion. And yes, there’s that color. Is it purple? Is it red? Thinly sliced, it can be quite beautiful.

But to me, it’s still an onion. And I’ve never been a fan of onion because of the odor. Sure, they’re healthy for you, but I’d rather have garlic breath over onion breath. That’s probably why you’ll often see in my recipes that I use just half an onion, and often I’d specify a sweet onion like a Vidalia or Maui onion.

The red onion is now obligatory in salads and with hamburgers. But that’s not a major issue because I’ll just pick them off my plate or keep them off my burger. When they’re cooked into the dish, then that becomes a problem.

Some of the dishes, it’d just seem wrong without red onions. For example, ceviche has to have the red onion as one of its components. When eating ceviche, I just eat around the onion pieces.

In a pizza, though, they can be tricky. Thinly sliced red onion can be found in at least one pizza option at most pizzerias. So many times I bypass a pizza because red onion is one of the ingredients, but then I feel like I’m missing out on the other things on the pizza. I end up having to make a special request to have the pizza made without the red onion, which gives me the reputation of being a picky eater.

Recently I had an amazing pizza at Dopo, but the only two ingredients for the toppings were prosciutto and red onions. So if I asked to have the pizza without the red onions, it basically would just have been prosciutto and nothing more. So I ordered it with the red onions and picked around it.

Now that I think about it, the red onion’s color is very similar to the eggplant. I knew there was another reason why I didn’t like it.

So how about you? Are you a red onion lover or, like me, am a red onion picker, picking red onions off your plate? Is it about time to call for a ban on the overuse of red onions!?

16 comments:

Carolyn Jung said...

I am a red onion lover. I also love cilantro and eggplant. Hah! But I confess I am not a fan of natto. ;)

Patrick said...

I like onions but far prefer yellow onions and sweet onions that are mellower. Red onions and raw white onions are too sharp for my taste and seem to obliterate everything else they touch.

The first time I cooked down a bag of onions into onion marmalade/jam/confit, I was surprised at how sweet they were after so much caramelization. It was like candy.

Single Guy Ben said...

Carolyn, curses! The more red onion for you then! :P

Patrick, I actually don't mind caramelized onion or onion jam. But that's not what I'm seeing. It's red onions everywhere on everything!

Nate @ House of Annie said...

I don't really like raw onion (white, yellow or red - it doesn't matter). I generally pick around raw onions in salads or pull them out of burgers. But what would lomi salmon be without it? So sometimes you gotta live with it :-)

FoodTherapy4Me said...

I do love onions...and on occasion have created a dish so good I've i.d.'ed them as one of the most flavorful vegs out there. Weird right?!? However I must admit as of late, I too have been a bit red onion'd out! Usually my go-to, I have been using sweet onions instead...

Amy Sherman said...

I'm with Carolyn on the food likes and dislikes. Though I'll eat them either way, I do prefer cooked rather than raw red onions. When red onions are cooked they become very sweet. You won't end up with onion breath, I swear.

agent713 said...

I'd take red onion over cilantro ANY day!

I do agree that they seem to be everywhere though. I went out for dinner last night and my "vegetables" with my steak and potatoes were three asparagus spears and a chunk of red onion.

Kim said...

For me, red onions served as my "gateway," if you will. Much the same way some say marijuana leads to harder drugs. Red onions were innocuous enough to get me to try other onions. Now, I like Maui or Vidalia.

robertjm said...

Too funny! I LOVE red onion. There's a pizza place in El Cerrito that sells pizza by the slice and the one I've usually got in the past has been red onion, sometimes with garlic for a difference :-)

I do agree that it's sometimes used way too much. Just remember the flatter the onion, the sweeter it is and use them quickly. The more they age on your counter, the hotter AND GASSIER they get!!

Single Guy Ben said...

Wow, didn't realize there would be so many red onion lovers! No wonder people pile them on at the restaurants! Ha! FoodTherapy, Agent713, RobertJm, thanks for acknowledging that maybe it's way too much of the red onion right now. Like I said, I might take it in ceviche, cooked to caramelization or pickled, but not piled on in every salad (noticed it's always in spinach salads?) and pizza.

foodhoe said...

wow single guy, I had no idea you were a hater... well I am a big fan of onions and can't imagine my beloved burger without slices of the weepy orbital vegetal unit!

W. Brannen said...

Glad you don't specifically hate our Vidalia sweeties, Single Guy!!

Enjoyed the posts, and check us out for recipe ideas!

W. Brannen, Director
Vidalia Onion Committee
VidaliaOnion.org

beth said...

Ha, this comment thread is too funny (esp. the Vidalia Onion folks!). But really, with a line like "It’s the parsley of this century." you've got to expect some silliness. :)

I don't like raw onions, period, so I pick around them for the most part. I would probably eat the fancy pizza and deal with the consequences though, because I too hate to be perceived as a picky eater!

Lacey said...

Yes! Another cook who hates onions!

I absolutely abhor onions and find it particularly annoying when people (who don't cook) ask me how I can like to cook and not eat/use onions. I typically reply, "garlic." It's not like onions are the only thing on the planet that can flavor a food, I've often told me mother that if you always use onions then everything just ends up tasting like onions! Expand the horizons - garlic, ginger, cilantro, paprika, rosemary, mint, thyme, oregano are all dying to be used!

Anonymous said...

I hate red onions. I don't understand people who say they have a strong taste or 'bite' to them. To me they just taste sweet. I can eat plain raw yellow onions but red onions just don't even taste like onions to me. Shame so many restaraunts are using them exclusively.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree i don't like red onions i think they have a nasty taste to them and i am so mad at those places i go to because they have switched over to red onions. i like those white or yellow onions in my food.