Slow cooker onion base

[PattY1]

Originally Posted by Zhizara

This idea might just be the push I need to get a slow cooker. I've been thinking about it for quite a while, but felt no real need for one, but the thought of French onion soup is starting to create that need.

It may also create the need for a storage cabinet too, but I think that is going to be inevitable eventually anyway.

Buy a small 1 1/2 qt. size crock pot. Just right for a single person or a couple.

[Aunt Bea]

Originally Posted by taxlady

Okay, how do you do it in the oven?

I don't even have a tiny kitchen (badly laid out, but not tiny) and I don't have room for anything more. I just bought a gravy separator and I'm looking for a place for that.

I put the sliced onions into a covered casserole with two or three tablespoons of butter, salt, pepper a tablespoon or two of water and cover it. Then I put it into the oven for about an hour and a half at 350 degrees.

[Zhizara]

Originally Posted by PattY1

Buy a small 1 1/2 qt. size crock pot. Just right for a single person or a couple.

Thanks, Patty. I was wondering what size to get.

[spiceoflife]

I mix it with garlic cloves and then freeze them in bags for a curry base. YUM. Makes curries a breeze.

[CWS4322]

Since I have to make turkey stock tonight, I think I'll try the oven method in my small roaster. If I were going to do this in a crockpot (I too do not have a "dream kitchen"--no storage, limited counterspace, etc.), I'd probably plug in the crockpot in the sawmill shed so as not to have the house smell like a hotdog stand. My friend who is moving gave me 10# of onions yesterday...sounds like the perfect thing to do with a bunch of them.

[Zhizara]

Originally Posted by Bolas De Fraile

I have just put some on and the kitchen smells like a hotdog stall.

Fill your slow cooker with sliced onions, a bit of butter and cook for 10 hours.
The base freezes well. The possibilities for using the onion goop are endless, but my first port of call is french onion soup.
Has anyone tried this method?

I'm ready to make this. Bolas, you didn't say it, but I'm guessing 10 hours on Low?

After this is done, I'll use the crockpot to make stock using the 2 cooked drumsticks, and the canned beef juices I saved (about 3 cups). There is a nice layer of the beef juice fat that I'll save to start a roux or two.

I'll also leave the onion base in the bottom of the crockpot with a bunch of garlic cloves around the edges.

[Dawgluver]

Originally Posted by Bolas De Fraile

I have just put some on and the kitchen smells like a hotdog stall.

Fill your slow cooker with sliced onions, a bit of butter and cook for 10 hours.
The base freezes well. The possibilities for using the onion goop are endless, but my first port of call is french onion soup.
Has anyone tried this method?

Got a massive bag of onions from recent foray to Costco, this sounds like a marvelous use! Thanks, Bolas!

[babetoo]

that's what i do to make onion soup. great depth of flavor.