How To Caramelize Vegetables (parsing)

Cooking novelties often turn out to be a well-known "secret". This is what happened with caramelization.

Cooking novelties often turn out to be a well-known "secret". This is what happened with caramelization. But let's try to figure out what "caramelization" means, and how to caramelize vegetables.

 

Caramelization is the process of heating sugar or granulated sugar and turning it into caramel. The term refers to several actions in the kitchen at once, namely:

Cooking lollipops. Pulling its own sugar to the surface of the vegetable in the process of slow heating. Everyone who has cooked fried soup has used the principle of caramelization. Onions contain a lot of sugar, it is he who gives the same golden color. This process even has a specific name - “soffrito”. The resulting stir-fry (essentially caramelized onions and carrots) is called the soup base. Simmering food in sugar syrup. Recently, this procedure has gained particular popularity. It gives ordinary products a rich specific taste, aroma and color.

The first action - the preparation of lollipops - refers to the confectionery business, it has a lot of nuances, but in fact, the familiar roosters on a stick are the result of just such a processing of sugar.

The second - the extraction of sugar from a vegetable by heating - was used more than once during the preparation of various dishes. But even it does not have well-known features for every culinary specialist, which are worth mentioning.

Heating should be slow and even, so thick bottomed pans work best. Onions and carrots should not be grated, but cut, because in this way they lose less juice, from which sugar is subsequently drawn out.

The best way to learn about caramelizing vegetables is through specific examples.

carmelized carrots

 

You will need:

2-3 carrots (preferably even and young root crops), 60 g sugar, 100 ml water, 2 g salt, 20 ml refined vegetable oil or 30 g butter.

To speed up the process, you can first boil the carrots in boiling water for 5-10 minutes, then put them in a colander, hold in the cold, remove the skin from it and remove the bumps. Cut the vegetable into large strips or into quarters.

Pour vegetable oil into a hot frying pan / melt butter on it. Place the prepared carrots there, add salt, sugar. Next, you need to pour in warm water so that it covers the vegetable, mix thoroughly and put on a small fire. Constantly stir the carrots with a spatula, then it will be covered with caramel evenly.

Usually, by the time the liquid evaporates, the carrots are already soft, but if this is not the case, then add water, add sugar and keep on fire until the vegetable is ready.

caramelized onion

 

You will need:

3-4 onions (red onion is better, it is more dense and crunchy), 80 g of sugar, 2 g of salt, 20 ml of refined vegetable oil or 30 g of butter.

Peel the onion and cut into quarters. But! An extremely important point: the tail and buttocks cannot be cut off, they will ensure that the product does not fall apart. Otherwise, do everything the same way as with carrots. The onion will be cooked much faster, you won’t have to add liquid or boil it in advance.

However, after removing it from the heat, right in the pan, it must be substituted under a stream of cold water and mixed with a spatula / shake. Then the caramel will evenly cover the vegetable and, as it were, will freeze on it.

caramelized zucchini

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, 80 g sugar, 15 g salt, 30 ml refined vegetable oil or 40 g butter.

Wash the zucchini, remove the peel from it. Add salt according to the recipe to boiling water and lower the vegetable for 30 seconds. Remove quickly with a slotted spoon and place in cold water. Hold for about 5 minutes, put it in a colander.

Heat a frying pan with oil, add sugar and throw in the zucchini, caramelize until the vegetable is ready.

Caramelized beetroot

 

You will need:

3-4 stalks of beets, 40 g of sugar, 5 g of salt, 20 ml of refined vegetable oil or 30 g of butter, 10 ml of lemon juice.

Wash the tops, remove the leaves, leaving the cuttings 5 ​​cm long.

Place in a preheated pan with oil, fry for 30 seconds, then add salt and lemon juice, hold for the same amount and add sugar. Boil in syrup for 2-3 minutes.

caramelized turnip

Peel the turnips, cut into sticks approximately 5 cm long and 1-2 cm wide. Dip them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then fold them into a colander. Then cook in exactly the same way as carrots.

caramelized pumpkin

Need:

300 g pumpkin, 100 g butter, 60 g sugar, 5 g cinnamon.

Peel the pumpkin, cut into thin slices, sprinkle with sugar and leave for an hour. After laying each slice separately on a parchment-lined baking dish, sprinkle with a little cinnamon and place a piece of butter on top.

Send to the oven preheated to 190 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

caramelized potatoes

 

Ingredients:

5 potatoes, 150 g sugar, 100 g starch, vegetable oil for frying and caramel.

Peel potatoes, cut into slices 0.5 cm thick, roll in starch. Fry in a preheated pan until tender, then transfer to a paper towel to drain the fat.

In a cast iron bowl, heat a little vegetable oil, add sugar, pour in water and bring to the appearance of caramel foam. Place a bowl of ice water next to it. String potato slices on a skewer and dip in sugar syrup, then immediately place in a cold liquid for a few seconds. Then you can put it on a plate and after cooling, serve. It is important to do everything quickly so that the caramel does not burn out, the water does not have time to heat up (for this it is recommended to add ice to it), and the potatoes do not fall off the skewer.

Of course, hard fruits are more suitable for cooking in sugar syrup. But even meat can be fried, covered with caramel and get an incredibly tasty dish. For example, this is the main method of cooking Peking duck, although molasses is used there, but it is often replaced with syrup or honey.