My late mother used to put onions in our open coal fire, rap them in tinfoil, and roast them...They were delicious with salt and brown homemade bread and Irish butter... Brings back memories. Regards from Ireland 🇮🇪
It’s almost midnight, my freezer is full of frozen food, and the onion on my counter is, strangely, looking more appetizing than any of the other stuff in my house.
@@darkstalkerkaathe4582 I did, with limited success. I used a white onion, and after about an hour in the oven it still wasn’t fully cooked. But if you’re desperate or desperately bored, and you have an onion sitting around… That said, maybe not the best midnight snack.
My Mexican parents loved to wrap up onions in foil and toss them in hot coals while they grilled meat outside. The onions would caramelize beautifully and we'd add salt and lime
I am on a very tight budget, and onions are a mainstay of my diet. I eat one every day- in some form. But I have never thought of roasting one in the oven with the skin on! This looks absolutely delicious and adds to my uses of onions. They are loaded with nutrients, too, and are good for the health. And crazy simple. Thank you, Sir!
One a tight budget I actually did a variety of onion, potato, and cheap packaged brown gravy meals. I could get two meals out of 1 potato and one onion plus the gravy. Easiest was probably bake 1 potato and onion. When they are about 20 minutes in make the gravy. Get out two bowls. When potato and onion are done you half both. squish the potato halves into the bottom of the two bowls, top the potato with half an onion (I'd usually give each half a chop or three), top with gravy. Also, if you peel potato, you can try to get the strips of skin to be semi evenly sized and fry them up (or bake them), top with salt when cooling and you have the most potato-y potato chips ever. Very easy to burn though.
What a world we live in. 5 million people have said to themselves, “Self, should I watch a guy bake an onion while dressed like Ben Franklin? Yes, Self, you should.”
I mean your not wrong there . All I can say if sticking you tongue out and rolling your eyes makes some young ladies 5 million per year I dont see why papa smurf here shouldn't be getting more love. I mean I find it quite interesting and learn to cook 1800 center to me has real appellation today. But that's come from some that would struggle to boil water in a microwave.
It's a historical reenactment. He's got the old timey kitchen set up, paired with an old timey outfit, making old timey dishes from an old timey recipe book with old timey ingredients/cooking methods
Yeah I feel ya on how...humorous these older recipies are, ya know? Like, nowadays a lot of recipies are complex. Even more simple dishes have a few steps to them. But just a literal recipe that says “onion + oven = good” is just a comedical expectation subversion. It’s neat to see how far we’ve come in lots of little things even like cooking recipies.
Roasted onions are really nice like this, and this is definitely authentic, but to everybody reading this....... Cut them in half (vertically) with the skin on, and place the halves flat side down in a pan with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan....add a few sprigs of sage or rosemary (or both), and cook them as long as you would like, adding any additional seasoning at the end (salt, pepper, etc). The onions caramelize on the flat side while remaining tender from leaving the peel on. This is not to bash what is in the video, but you should definitely try it out. The pan can go in the oven at room temp, no need to get it hot first!
Afterburner No, the skin being left on will help retain most of the moisture. The flat (exposed) part of the onion will be cooking gently in the olive oil, so while that side may crisp a little bit, it shouldn’t dry out or burn in any way. This is why the pan should be at room temperature. If the onions are put on hot oil/preheated pan, that side might get too dark by the time they finish roasting.
Afterburner Yes, you should cut it in half so that from the scaly leaves to the stem, it is split down the middle, and end up with mirror-image halves (they will cook evenly this way).
Brendan Haley I appreciate your advice. I’m going to give it a try and I will let you know how it turns out. This sounds like the perfect dish to go with a steak.
I am roasting 4 yellow onions as I type this out. 2 in foil and 2 bare. I prepared a pot of grits with bacon grease and cheddar cheese. A rustic supper for a cold evening.
They were quite tasty! Next time I will wrap them each in a thick bacon slice and roast them. We use bacon grease often in baking cookies, too. @@samscarletta7433
Here in Mexico at any outdoor barbecue, we put green onions with their tails right along with the meat on the grill until they are charred. They are served alongside the meat and eaten with salt, lime juice and maybe some salsa. Delicious!
It stems from a Spanish tradition in which they bbq’d calcots (green onions) and served them alongside a tart/savory romesco dip with wine and bbq’d meat. Traditional Mexican cuisine is Mayan and azteca ZERO bbq. What you see in traditional Mexican “carne asada” is 100% Spanish.
Here in Chile, my granny always bakes onions like this, sometime she makes a cold salad with chopped roasted onions, chopped hard boiled eggs, some oil and salt. It´s simply amazing and delicious 😋😊
@@baderminahdin9450 Well, I believe I read it either in the Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England or some other historical book related to food history. If you didn't have the cash, you could use crops and onions were used frequently. Another ingredient we think of as a recent development is almond milk, it was used extensively in medieval cooking.
Gonna try making this using a Vidalia Onion Update: Made last night, 3 Small to Med Vidalia Onions. Cooked 350• 45 Minutes Squeezed into Bowl as seen in this Video, Salt, Pepper Butter.....Delicious as a Side Dish with my Steak. It was unusual tasting an Onion not off BBQ Grill or Sauté in Olive Oil I liked it.
There is really no point in frying them in olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil, unless you specifically like the taste, as high temperature diminishes advantages of extra virgin olive oil over cheaper oils. I like to fry onions in sunflower oil. Will try to bake them over this weekend with some potatoes.
I did this not too long ago and decided to bake a potato to go with it. I then scooped out the insides of the potato and mashed them with the onion, some salt, pepper, and a bit of butter, then put the mashed mix back into the potato shell...legitimately one of the best things I've ever made. It was almost disappointing to me that it was so good simply because of how little culinary muscle is required. I like making complex dishes as a general rule...but this one threw me for a loop.
My friend does this then freezes them in an ice tray then pops the roasted onion/garlic ice cube in a bowl before pouring hot soup on it. A billion times better.
My grandmother used to tell me about going to the movies in New York City in the 1920's and they served baked onions to enjoy. Onions are seriously underrated.
It always shocks me that so many people don't really eat onions, haha. Where I'm from, eating onions is very common! :) I've been eating them raw and bakes since I was a child, along with garlic. The red (purple) ones we usually eat raw - you just eat it with some cold food, like smoked & salted ham, bread, sour cream, and sometimes even some boiled potatoes. (That's what we call the Peasant's dinner!) You can also chop them up, pour some vinegar on them and mix it with some sugar and salt (basically you make a real quick brine) and let it sit for a couple hours, or maybe overnight. It goes well with so many dishes, sandwiches too. It helps with digestion as well! As for the cooking onions (white / yellow), we very commonly bake them whenever we bake potatoes. Though, in my family we usually slice them in half, it makes them bake faster and allows you to add some salt or other seasonings on top if you feel like it. We also like to put in many cloves of garlic (the skin should be on!) in between the potatoes, and let those bake as well. You just peel the skin off when it's ready, and you can enjoy your caramelized onions and garlic along with your baked potatoes (and the potatoes taste better too if you bake everything together)! It's tasty stuff and healthy as well! Not to mention that onions are usually quite cheap. I really recommend eating them!
THIS. habits changed so much. I think the fact that onions and vegetables in general are less tasty than before plays a big role. I moved to the UK recently and they don't hit the same way as they did in my hometown.
@@legrandarkan Yeah, I think so too. I think it's the effect of growing them in masses in effective ways, not growing them naturally, and sometimes harvesting before they're fully ripe. Last summer we planted a few tomato plants. We mostly left them alone, no chemicals, only manual removal of bugs (ofc we could do this because we only had 3 plants, not 300), and only harvested them after the sun got them nice and ripe. And oh boy. Those tomatoes and the ones from the store couldn't be more different. The store-bought was dry-ish, didn't have a lot of taste, and it wasn't very sweet - it's sometimes kind of bitter, actually. Ours was juicy, had A LOT of taste (and a very good taste at that), it was pleasantly sweet but not to an overwhelming amount. I can't wait for it to be summer again, the store-bought tomatoes just don't do it for me anymore. And I think that's the case with almost all veggies and fruit...
I am from Mexico and in my family we always do baked onions when we do a Carne Azada (mexican bbq), we quarter them, add a little butter and a splash of soy sauce, wrap them in foil and throw them on the grill while the rest of the stuff are getting cooked. Yummmm, they taste awesome with the tacos 😋 Thanks for sharring Keep up the good work God bless you
That salad sounds nice. We use it like that in Britain and other anglophone countries. I like a bit of chopped raw onion with raita dipping sauce (raita is an Indian sauce, at it's most basic it's just mint + yoghurt)
@@vegasbattleborn1594 Middle Easterners (Levant area like Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan) use the sour pomegranate juice too. Ours is sweet as well as sour, I'm not sure how that compares with Turkey. It's called dibs rumman, you can Google it for more info
It's not uncommon to put onions in with a meat roast here, especially with some carrots or potatoes. We also cook our onions in different ways & add them to meals all the time, but I think what's so special about this recipe is that the onion stands on its own.
I've done this for years, except I peel the onion, score either side, place a pad of butter on both sides. I then wrap it foil, and bake. Sometimes I add Allegro seasoning, and serve with a good steak. Love this! Thank you!
We tried this today. I roasted two onions of the same size but one was a yellow onion and one was a sweet onion. Made exactly as instructed in the video.Served it along side of a baked potato and meatloaf....delicious! The yellow and the sweet tasted much the same however the sweet one was not as well baked although they were done at the same time and they were the same size. Ate it with a little butter and salt. They were so smooth and so mild. I'm waiting to see if it will be kind to my stomach being prepared this way. We would gladly do this again. Thanks so much!
I've made this recipe as the video instructs and ate with butter and salt. Surprisingly delicious! But you have to like onions to start. Baking them takes most all of the "bite" out of them. Haven't tried yet but I just got some Vidalia (sweet and mild) onions and gonna see how they turn out.
I made this for Friday lunch once at work. I looked up a video on how to make it just to make sure I didn't loose my mind. As I recall everyone ate at least one onion that day, and other people had brought in smoked pulled pork, mac and cheese, and chips and salsa.
This is in our Pakistani culture particularly in sindh province . Where i learned this technique from my gramdmother , one time i remeber got an spike stuck in my right foot and it was very hard to take out spike with needle . So she backed this in traditional (oven- different from western ovens) and put a slice of onion on my foot where the spike was stuck . Thirtee minutes later i took off the slice of onion from my foot and there it was the spike was literally just peeking out from the skin and rest of the onion was a delicacy to enjoy.
we (least our family) still does this in britain, especially near christmas, only difference is we add lard, bit of oil and roast them with the potato's, you know they're done when the inner layers start popping out. it's good to appreciate simple wholesome ingredients like a fresh vine-picked tomato or an apple.
and on the other side of the globe, where it is summer in December, we have our Christmas meals etc, sometimes doing a special meal.... with a pork or sheep roast (mainly lamb or hogget, but mutton is popular too), with the onions, sweet potato (specifically kumara), parsnips and any other root vegetables..... slowly roasted in with the meat...OMG !!! But as it is our summer.... we sometimes just travel light, have a sandwich or two, and go for a swim at a river or beach..
@@colonelfustercluck486 I remember my mother roasting onions, with lamb mainly, along with the roast potatoes. That was back in the 1950's and early 60's. I don't think I have ever done that myself, but i can still remember the taste.
There's a wonderful Italian cookbook called Cucina Fresca that has a very similar recipe for whole onions, roasted with their skin on, but with balsamic and olive oil, along with salt and pepper. Also very delicious
@@LewisGreyChemGeek Yea exactly,, butter and beer in the north, and olive oil, balsamic and (red) wines in the south. Common misconception BC so many immigrants to English speaking countries come from the south as it's poorer with higher immigration
Team Punk but they are so sweet and delicious.. broke or not roasted onions are yummy 😋. Best served hot out of the coals when camping don’t remove skin you can wrap in foil or not best to not. Cover in coals bake 20 mins while you bbq then remove, dust it off, peel and eat. Nom nom delicious
I'm Portuguese, we use a lot of onions in our culinary recipes and salads, I also bake them and caramelize. Caramelized onion+ baked apple/pear+ baked egg+ bread slices is delicious!
Wow, I just remembered that my aunt used to bake onions and serve them just like this. This is a memory from when I was a kid. The taste is sweet and mildly oniony, and it has a very interesting texture.
My grandma was from WWII era, and she’d eat raw onion sandwiches, just a thick slice of onion with buttered bread. I’d rather eat onions with your aunt. In fact, my mom hates onions even today because my grandma put so much in her dishes.
A long time ago I read a book named Bound For Glory, by Woody Guthrie, about his experiences during the depression in America. Many times he would hardly eat. But he told of a memory, on occasion, with things so bad that it was a treat to get hold of an onion, eat it, and felt like he'd eaten all day. What a score. Good book by the way. I'll try this simple pleasure soon. Thanks.
I actually tried it and y’all... it was actually really good! I was scared that I would still be tasting the rawness and pungent of an onion but nope I was wrong plus it tasted better than actually fried onions after adding some white and black pepper🤷🏾♂️
Have you never eaten cooked onions lol. Onions get SO SWEET when they're cooked. They don't taste the same at all it's crazy. Can't believe people don't know this :P
I just tried this with a large yellow onion. Wow , I wish I had baked two now! It was amazing! Kosher salt worked great with it, offset the sweetness of the onion. Thanks for this!
You have a very soft and well spoken voice and the music added to the experience. I love learning about historic dishes and i think this might be my favorite channel yet!
We basically do this when we grill. We wrap a few onions in tin foil and throw it on the grill and eat it with our meat. Not sure if its a Mexican thing but its really easy and goes good with anything
Romanian here. We usually just throw the onions in the embers(is that the word?) after the fire's died down. Just peel off the charred layer and you're good to go. Goes grreat with some bread that's been spread with the dripping from some smoked pig fat(slănină).
When we make a campfire in the woods and grill skewers we just throw the whole onion in the ember. The outer layer burns (discard that), but inside is beautiful caramelized sweet onion.
Devexia :3 uhh don’t listen to this guy definitely not directly into the fire. Next to the fire will be fine. You could even put a few coals on top of the onions.
no srsly. put a fro & facial hair on mr. townsends & he'll look like ross' ancestor-descendant! (i can't tell which) he's got the face for it, i tells ya
This is the first Townsend's video I saw, years ago. Have since watched every new video and went back to watch many that were posted before this. And here I am 4 years later watching roasted onions again. Love you guys!
@@willlienellson7451 Biden's closest competitor in the primaries was also in his 70s, and the current president is as well. "Old" and "running for president" usually goes hand in hand.
Stop by their shop some day. We did on a whim while traveling. Everyone was nice, I didn't expect to get to meet Jon and was shocked when he walked up to us.
I would line to hang with this guy talking history also. My husband is a history major but his focus was in war, I on the other hand am more interested in the culture, clothing, food, what did the average person do. Food is a type of loving archeological history. Many recipes from centuries to millennia ago are still being used, even if they came from the other side of the world.
My grandmother made something very similar to this to go with liver and mashed potatoes once. Everyone was incredulous at the whole onions on their plate until we tried them. They were delicious!
@@redtobertshateshandles War is hell, and makes savages of us all. You'll kill a man for a meal, and his friend for some salt to put on it. I wish for times when no person need be that hungry. Best wishes to you 😉👍
I mean the most onion the average person gets is in their mcdonalds burger. They probably had a more accidental nutritional diet in these times than the similar 'peasant' folk of today.
Try this simple cheap dish. Get an onion and a potato. Slice both very thinly. Layer them in a pie tin or baking dish. Onion, potato, salt, pepper, butter. Repeat til you’ve used it all. Bake til soft. So good!
I decided to make one, and my fiance and her family think I'm a joke, they're making memes like "when your husband says he making dinner!" And there taking pictures of the onion in the oven😭
I watched this video back along and it inspired me to bake onions just as you demonstrated. I liked them so much that I now bake onions in this manner rather frequently. It makes a change from eating meat or fish every evening. Onions are also extremely good for you. Very healthy! I always add salt and lashings of butter. The only thing I change is that I grind black peppercorns and white peppercorns on the baked onions as well. Delicious! Thanks for the suggestion.
This has totally changed how I cook onions. Any time I do a big fancy roast now, I serve up one small white onion per. Something about leaving the skin on is magical, the natural caramelization is so tasty. And it's just plain fun to pop them out of their peels. Plus, It's great for the older folks with missing teeth! I imagine it's more nutritious this way. We love it, so simple and delish. Thanks a bushel and a peck, Townsends~
@@bcaye Bloomin' Onion™ Be enlightened! ^^ Before this, I usually sliced or diced cooked onion. But I somehow feel that keeping the skin on and cooking them whole just seems more nutritious. Like, you're getting ALL of that onion-y goodness. Less wasteful, at the very least!
@@billfred9411 when you cut up an ingredient and cook it in the dish, all the nutrients stay in the dish, rather than being poured away in the liquid you cooked in. Thus you would have to boil onions and who does that? A blooming onion is just fancy onion rings. Just say "Onions cooked this way are tasty and easy to eat", rather than trying to create some perceived health benefit.
@@bcaye I reallly dont even understand what your trying to tell me. I mentioned steamed food because that is known as one of the best ways to keep the nutrients in the food. Almost every way of cooking food makes it lose nutrients in the proccess. I also never even claimed cooking this way is like steaming i just said maybe its similar since the onion just gets cooked within the skin. Steamed food isint a perceived health benefit its a known fact that you lose less nutrients cooking like that. Just re-read everything you wrote because i have a feeling you dont even relize how much of what your saying doesint make sense. Do some actaul research as well because i shouldnt have even had to explain this to you.
@@nahimgudfam it doesnt taste as strong as regular onion. and the core is almost gooey. makes ur whole house smell like it too, which is nice for me i think
Stuff like this really gives you an appreciation for the meagre means our ancestors dealt with. A single onion and some salt and that was a meal for some people, and I'm sure they were appreciative of it.
You know back in those days countries and kings and monarchs went to war and sacrificed a lot of lives in order to obtain salt. Seasoning was like an ingredient only the rich and monarchs could have.
As you should be ! There is no telling where life is going to go for you, so being prepared to eat and prepare simple homemade food is really important
I didn't know this was a real thing! I learned about this from my grandpa and have done it myself for most of my life, but I haven't been able to find anyone else that did it. He called it a "squatted onion." I'm sure you get about a billion "This is the best channel on youtube" comments, but seriously. You just helped me make a major connection with my heritage and family history and I'm really thankful for that.
@Sekkeno It's hard to describe if you've never had any kind of cooked onion before. A little sweet, a little savory. Really great texture. Personally, I think it works a lot better as a topping or an ingredient in a bigger dish than it does by itself, but it's super delicious. I can't recommend it highly enough.
@@davidsoon757 My technique is pretty much exactly what his is here. It depends on how soft and jammy you want it. If you want something really sweet and soft, I'd go 375 for about an hour. If you want something a little firmer, 350 for 40 minutes or so. If you peel them beforehand, they'll fall apart. As far as that goes, it's more about how you like it. You can also do a quick version in the microwave but you definitely have to peel them. Wrap your onion in plastic wrap and nuke it on high for about 8-10 minutes and it still comes out great. It's not as caramelized and dark, but it's my go-to for a burger topping. You can definitely still eat it on it's own though.
@@davidsoon757 I almost forgot, for the oven I basically put as many as I can fit in a baking dish or on a sheet pan without overcrowding. In the microwave, you're gonna want to go one at a time.
I’ve probably watched this video ten times. The first time, I made the onion (much to my girlfriend’s dismay.) The next time, I discovered the magic of this comment section and now I have to come back on a regular basis to crack up at people’s responses to this magical video. This is the best comment section on RU-vid 😂❤️
I was drunk and hungry recently and remembered this video so I put it in the microwave oven under the 'baked potato option'. And it came out so perfect! put some butter and some salt and pepper on it and I cant believe how delicious it was despite being so simple!
Drunk or sick is when I make this, mind you not throwing up type sick, ypu only make that mistake once. Fot thar i just stuck to fruit and sweet candies, pretty much things that will still taste sweet and sour when they are thrown up (makes it slightly more bearable) This us super healthy for you though I'd suggest a ref onion is the best nutritionally
You mentioned baking at 350ºF, which is a typical baking temp. Roasting is usually done over 400ºF. A higher temp may change how the sugars in the onion caramelize. This might be worth trying a couple different ways.
I know I’m about four years late to this party but I’ve been doing something similar for years. I peel the onion, cut off the top and root and quarter it but not all the way. I leave about a half inch still intact. Then I shove some butter in the slices along with salt pepper and garlic, wrap in foil and cook in a hot grill for 30 40 min or until soft. Delicious.
Getting to know a girl.. Her: so can you cook? Me: ofcourse! Her: I love a man than can cook! What's your favorite dish to cook? Me: an oven baked onion Her:
Bake a potato along with it and give her beer to drink. Tell her it's a traditional meal. She will be impressed that you bothered to learn traditional meals and that it's healthy.
"In this episode, we're going to teach you how to make 'apple'. Now, this comes straight from Charles Gutenberg's book 'Simple Cookery', and it says 'Step 1: eat the apple'."
But how about if the apple is still in a tree? Shouldn't my first step be to procure a ladder? Or perhaps call the tallest citizen in the town who is also the oldest at the ripe age of 22?
In Catalunya, a region of Spain, we call it Escalivada. We put onions, bell peppers and eggplant in the oven until they are baked. Then we let cool them down, peel them off and add olive oil and salt. Delicious. It is a must in here.
Do you have the sweet Spanish onions there . We use get them I was young (60years ago) I could eat them like apples . But nowadays its brown unions or red
