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Scalloped Onions
Peel 1 dozen white onions of moderate size and boil in salted water until tender, changing the water two or three times, according to the delicacy of flavor desired. Prepare 1 cupful of white sauce using 1 tablespoonful of butter, I heaping tablespoonful of flour, 1/2 of a teaspoonful of salt, ¼ of a teaspoonful of white pepper and 1 cupful of milk. Drain the onions, turn them into a buttered baking dish, pour over them the white sauce and cover them with 1/3 of a cupful of fine dried bread crumbs mixed with 1 teaspoonful of melted butter and a dash of salt. Bake in a hot oven until the crumbs are browned.
A straightforward baked onion gratin. The only real technique is the white sauce, and the only real judgment call is how many times you change the boiling water.
- Oven temperatureA "hot oven" of this period is roughly 400-450F. The dish is already cooked through, so the oven's only job is to brown the crumbs, which should take about 10-15 minutes.
- Changing the waterDraining and refilling with fresh boiling salted water two or three times pulls out sulphurous bite and leaves a mild, sweet onion. One change is plenty for most palates; skip it entirely if you want the onion to taste of onion.
- White onions of moderate size"Moderate size" points to small or medium white onions rather than the large globes sold as cooking onions; a dozen will run somewhere around 1.5 lb. Boiling whole onions takes roughly 20-30 minutes depending on size; test with a skewer through the center.
- PeelingTrim the root end flat and drop the onions into boiling water for a minute before peeling. The skins slip off and the onions hold their shape instead of falling into rings.
- The white sauceOne tablespoon butter to one heaping tablespoon flour to one cup milk gives a thin sauce that will loosen further as the onions release liquid. Cook the roux a minute before adding milk, and add the milk warm to avoid lumps.
- DrainingDrain the onions well and let them steam dry a minute in the colander. Wet onions thin the sauce into a puddle under the crumbs.
- White pepperCalled for so no dark specks show in the sauce. Black pepper will serve if appearance is not a concern, though the flavor is not identical.
- YieldServes four as a side dish, six alongside a roast. Best straight from the oven; the crumbs soften on standing.
Scalloped vegetables were a fixture of American cookery from the mid-nineteenth century onward: anything bound in white sauce, topped with buttered crumbs and browned counted as "scalloped," a word often said to derive from the scallop shells in which such dishes were once baked. Onions kept for months in a cellar or a barrel without processing or ice, and a cupful of milk, a spoonful of flour and a handful of stale bread turned them into something that read as a dressed dish rather than plain boiled vegetables. The repeated changes of water reflect a period preoccupation with taming what cookbooks of the day called "strong" or "rank" flavors.