ONIONS: Key Flavor Ingredient

Beef Stew, Meatloaf, Potato Soup, Hash Brown, Potato Salad, Eggs MUST HAVE ONIONS! I don't care if you use Pearl, Yellow, Sweet, Purple (a.k.a. red) or White ONIONS just use them.They are a key flavor ingredient in so many foods that to cook without them is a waste of ingredients and your time. I know there are people out there who just refuse to eat onions but if they can't see them they don't know they don't know they are eating them. So slice, chop, dice, mince and for the really difficult ones get sneaky grate them [just watch your knuckles you don't want to grate them it hurts {yep! I've done that. Ouch!}] or just process them into pulp in your food process. But please, please use onions.

If you don't believe me I want you to try something [you can even do this with your kids or grand kids] make some Potato Salad, take 2 or 4 potatoes of your choice [I use red skin potatoes] and cook them in the microwave, oven or in a pan of boiling water I don't care just so long as you have 2 or 4 cooked potatoes. Also cook 3 hard boiled eggs [if you are boiling the potatoes you can cook the eggs right in with the potatoes just be sure and take them out when they are done if the potatoes are not done yet.] Let the potatoes and the eggs cool down enough for you to handle them. Peel the eggs and if you want peel the potatoes [I don't]. Set one egg aside for later and chop up the other 2 eggs and the potatoes and divide between 2 separate bowls [be sure to use different bowls so you can tell them apart]. Now to each bowl add a little salad dressing or mayonnaise, a touch of mustard, salt and pepper to taste and a spoonful of pickle relish [i use sweet relish]. Now to 1 bowl add a little onion [I use a purple onion for the color], chopped, grated or minced your choice. Now for each bowl stir the ingredients together. Slice the remaining egg and use it to decorate the top of your potato salads and sprinkle a little paprika over the salad. Cover the salads and refrigerate them for a 1/2 hour to 1 hour, until chilled.

Now gather your taste testers together and compare your 2 salads. Don't forget to try them for yourself also.

An onion enhances the flavor of everything it touches [the down side is after cutting onions your hands smell like onions, but with a little soap and water that will come off, but the flavor it lasts until the last bite]. My son learned this the hard way. He wanted to learn how to make my Beef Stew. So into the kitchen we went and I thought him how to make my Beef Stew. [I let him do all the work {I may be dumb but I'm not stupid} seeing as how he wanted to learn how to cook it.] We decided on how big of a stew we were going to make, we gathered all of the ingredients. Pulled out my pot and we started cooking.

We browned 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of stew meat ( any meat cut into cubes works ) in a little olive oil, seasoning the meat to taste with pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and just a smidgen of salt. When the meat was almost done we added cut up vegetables; 2 onions, 3 stalks celery, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 carrots or a half of a pound bag of baby carrots, and then we added the potatoes we used 1 or 2 per person [depending on the size of the potatoes] and 2 or 3 extra potatoes for the pot and 1 or 2 sweet potatoes [depending on the amount our making] for thickening. Add one envelope of dry onion soup mix [I prefer the Country Fair brand from HyVee], beef broth of choice to cover [be sure to rinse out your containers with a little water and add it to your stew also]. Reseason the stew with pepper, garlic powder, and paprika then add some thyme, marjoram, a touch of rosemary and some parsley flakes. Add a couple of beef bouillon cubes or 2 teaspoons of beef base [ sometimes you just need to add a little more beef flavor] to the stew. Stir well to combine. Bring the stew to a boil and let it boil for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Then lower the heat to just above medium heat. Cook uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. If necessary add more liquid, taste the broth if necessary and add more seasoning's and beef bouillon or beef base if needed. Return to a boil if meat and vegetables are almost done lower the heat to medium-low and continue cooking until the vegetables are fork tender and the meat is falling apart, this could take a 1/2 hour to 1 1/2 hours more. Stir occasionally and check for doneness after 1/2 hour. When the stew is done if you want a thicker broth combine 1/2 cup broth with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch/ flour/ or arrowroot and then add into the boiling stew while stirring. Boil and stir until thickened a couple of minutes.

Beware of the taste tester. That's the guy who runs around with a piece of bread to dip into the stew to taste it from time to time. Did I mention the glint of glee in his eye every time he goes by you into the kitchen, to stir the pot. Like we don't know what he's up to . Just yell at him to leave some broth for everyone else.

So my son and I made my stew a few times he even had me write out my recipe into the cookbook I'm making him. So I did it and now I get to help him make his Beef Stew cause he took mine and tweaked it to make it his own. [Which is the correct and proper thing to do with any recipe you make it your own. Any recipe is a good starting point and then you tweak it to suit your taste.]So for his recipe he's doubled the meat and the potatoes, adds pearl onions [he can see them] garlic, no celery, no carrots, and sometimes no sweet potato. The rest is basically the same as mine. Sometimes he adds a little hot sauce to it. And it is good, actually very good. So good in fact that his Grandmother (my Mom) had him cook it for Christmas Dinner a few years ago. And he's cooked it every year since than for Christmas except for last year the year we lost her, but he intends to cook it again this year because his Grandmother would want him to.

So one day when he was going to cook his stew he decided not to use onions"he doesn't like onions and he wasn't going to use them." I tried to talk him out of it cause you need them for flavor if for no other reason, you could cut them as small as possible and by the time the stew was cooked they would have disintegrated into nothing. Non existing little bits of pure flavor. But no he was firm [brick wall firm] no onions. So I walked away and left him to his cooking [it was my job you see to cut the onions so with no onions I didn't need to be in the kitchen] and off I went to do other things. I will not say it was the worst stew I've every had, but it was one of the worst.

But a mother like a teacher must let her student branch out and learn from their mistakes. My son now uses onions in his Beef Stew. Last year he started adding celery, another key flavor ingredient into his stew. Now if only I can just get him to add carrots.

This is why I''m calling my blog "MUST HAVE ONIONS". Some things just have to have onions.

This is of course my opinion and you will obviously have your own opinion. But hey, if you are an onion hater try the Potato Salad test. Be open for a challenge a new experience. I myself don't like raw onions but in some instances I will eat them. Now if you cook them just give me the dish cause I've already got a fork.

Now for mushrooms that's a whole other matter, you do know that mushrooms are fungus don't you.

Have fork will travel. Chief Cook and Bottle Washer. ttfn