Onion and Shallot Jam

Sometimes, when you're going through your farmer's market or grocery store, an ingredient just calls to you. There you are, minding your own business, when you see a big pile of onions. And, I dunno, maybe you're hungry, or sulfur-deficient, or they're just so pretty. And you must have them.

So you come home from the market, and your significant other looks at the three large bags stuffed full in your arms, and asks what you've bought. "Onions…" you reply, hoping that will be the end of it even though you let it trail off as if there were more.

"Great, we were getting low on onions. What else?"

"Ah."

And then you have to confess that, no, there was nothing else. No magic beans, no fresh fruit, no yummy breads, no pies. Just a big bag of onions.

"And what are you going to possibly do with all of those onions?"

Now, this may not happen to everyone. It may, in fact, not happen to anyone but me. Regardless of whether you need to answer that question or if you just want to make an incredibly simple, versatile, and tasty treat, onion jam is what you're looking for.

I'm not going to try to fool you: if you haven't had onion jam, it's not the prettiest thing in the world. I know people who could probably make a simple picture of onion jam appetizing, but I don't appear to be one of them. Of course, if you have had it, what you're looking at is as pretty as a field of spring wildflowers.

The bad part about making onion jam is that it takes what seems like forever. The great part is that most of that time is hands off. After things get started, you only have to drop by every twenty minutes or so. The ingredients are: a big pile of onions and/or shallots, the sweeter the better; butter; salt; pepper; apple cider vinegar; and some thyme if you want to get fancy. Although I'm normally all for swapping out fats as the situation calls for it, butter and onions have a special relationship, so you'll be missing something if you use olive oil here.

Slice the onions and shallots. I recommend something around 1/4" wide. Don't go crazy dicing or anything like that. You have a lot of onions to get through and you don't want to be all day about it. The part that will take the longest is probably the peeling. After that, cut the onion in half, bisecting the root, and cut rows 1/4" thick or thereabouts. You've seen the picture above, nothing's going to make the onions pretty, so as long as the pieces are roughly going to cook for the same amount of time, you're good.

The limiting factor on how much jam you can conveniently make at once is your cooking vessel. I use a 6-quart, ceramic-coated, cast-iron dutch oven, so I can fit about three pounds of onions in. Scale according to your pan's ability, but try to go with something wider than it is tall.

Melt your butter in the bottom of the pan on medium heat, and add all of your onions and/or shallots and sprinkle the salt over the whole mess. Stir the onions around a bit to let them all get a taste of butter, and cover for 20 minutes. This will steam the onions and reduce them in volume quite a bit. Remove the lid and set it aside, as you won't be using it for the rest of the day. If you have a bundle of thyme, throw it in at this point.

Stir your onions, and walk away for 20 minutes or thereabouts.

Now, that previous step is going to get ingrained in your mind, because you're going to be doing it for the next 2-4 hours, depending on the number of onions and how hot your stove is. The goal is for the onions to rid themselves of most of their water and to develop into a lovely dark brown color. You are looking for something just this side of mahogany. Once it's there, you've fully developed the sweet, complex flavor of the onions. You may be tempted to write poetry about it. That's cool and all, but you're not quite done with the jam.

Remove the onions from the heat, remove the sticks of thyme, and add the vinegar and pepper, plus any extra salt if needed. Eat it immediately, or store it in the fridge for a week or two. I've had some for over a month, but if it gets fuzzy, throw it out.

You'll note that the onions and shallot jam is very sweet, especially if you went crazy and used Vidalia onions or similar. It's not quite a breakfast treat, because there's still lots of complexity and definitely onion-y overtones, but it makes a great balance to a savory meal. Serve it with a hearty cheese, on top of any kind of meat, on toast, as a spread for a sandwich, with a spoon, or whatever strikes your fancy. For variations, feel free to play with the vinegar you use. You could even do something crazy like use a bourbon or dark rum for the finishing liquid. If you come up with something that you like, please post it in the comments.

Onion Jam

Ingredients

3 lb. of onions, shallots, or any combination

4 Tbl. butter

1.5 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. pepper, freshly ground

2 Tbl. apple cider vinegar

3-4 spring of thyme, tied together with butcher's twine

Directions

Melt butter in a large, wide pan over medium heat.

Add onions in pan, stir, and cover for 20 minutes.

Remove lid.

Stir onions. Leave for 20 minutes

Repeat the last step until onions are dark brown.

Remove what's left of the thyme and remove pan from heat.

Add cider, pepper, and salt as necessary.