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Onions Glazed
Peel twelve good-sized onions, throw them in boiling water, boil twenty minutes. Drain and throw them into cold water, peel off the first two skins; scrape out the middle of the onion with a teaspoon, making a well about the size of a hickory nut. Put an ounce of butter in a frying-pan, stand the onions bottom side down in the butter. Put a half teaspoonful of sugar in each onion and cook slowly over a fire until soft and slightly colored. Do not allow the butter to burn. Add a half pint of stock, cover the pan and let them cook slowly until the stock is reduced to the consistency of molasses. Baste the onions constantly with this liquor until they are thoroughly glazed, and they are ready to use as a garnish for roast beef or broiled steak, or are frequently served as a garnish to baked rabbits.
A straightforward glazing method with one unusual step: the onions are hollowed out so the sugar sits in a well and the syrup builds inside as well as around them. The hinge is heat control — the sugar and reduced stock will scorch long before the onions are done if the pan runs too hot.
- MeasurementsAn ounce of butter is 2 tablespoons; a half pint of stock is 1 cup. "About the size of a hickory nut" suggests a cavity of roughly an inch across.
- "Peel off the first two skins"This most likely means the outer two fleshy layers, which go slippery and loose after boiling, rather than the papery skin removed before the pot. Removing them gives a smooth, pale onion that takes a glaze evenly.
- Choice of onionUse yellow or Spanish onions of even size, about 2 to 2½ inches across, so they cook at the same rate. Very sweet varieties such as Vidalia may soften too much in the initial boil.
- The parboilTwenty minutes suits large onions; smaller ones will be soft enough in 12 to 15. They should yield to a knife tip but still hold their shape, since all the frying and basting is still to come.
- Heat and the panKeep the burner at medium-low throughout. A wide heavy skillet or sauté pan holds all twelve in one layer without crowding; once the stock goes in, the pan must be covered, so a lid or a tight sheet of foil is needed.
- Reducing and basting"The consistency of molasses" is a heavy syrup that coats a spoon. If it tightens before the onions are glossy, add a splash more stock rather than pushing the heat up.
- StockBeef stock matches the roast beef and steak the onions are meant to accompany. Modern commercial stock is often salted, so taste before seasoning; a cup reduced to syrup concentrates whatever salt it started with.
- YieldTwelve onions garnish a roast for six to eight, allowing one or two each.
Glazing is one of the oldest tricks in the classical vegetable repertoire: a little fat, a little sugar, and stock reduced until it lacquers whatever is sitting in it. The same treatment was applied to carrots, turnips and small onions, which might appear as a garnish around a joint of beef or in a dish of their own. The mention of baked rabbit is a reminder of how routinely rabbit is said to have appeared on the table in this period, when it was often ordinary market meat rather than game. Books of this sort, aimed at cooks who had a range and a household to feed, treated the garnish as part of the work of serving a roast properly.