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Big Toni

Assistant Cook
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
17
I have a hint that has saved me hours and thought others might benefit. I have a Hungarian background and love to cook many of our traditional foods. I learned from one of the best cooks in the world; my Mom (no longer with me).
Anyway, many of our recipes use lots of chopped onion to begin with and I have always found this a time consuming chore. In my area frozen chopped onions are not usually available in stores, and when they are I find them chopped too big for my purposes. To help save time I use my veggie chopper and do lots of onions at once and then freeze them. I store them in either freezer bags, or a microwave save plastic container. I prefer the container for easier, less messy thawing. Onions freeze well when used for cooking. Container freezing also means you need only partially thaw onions to get them out. I further help myself, by putting sized onions (medium, small, etc.) wrapped individually in plastic wrap within my container. Then, it is easy to thaw exactly the amount my recipe requires. This is also helpful to the novice who might look at a container of onions and wonder how much a medium choppped onion is.
Hope other find this useful. Too bad I didn't thing to post it in time for you south of the border for Turkey stuffing! But Christmas is coming.
 
I usually buy a 3 pound bag of diced Gil's Onions at the warehouse store, measure it into sandwich bags in ½ cup portions, put all the sandwich bags into a zippered freezer bag and stash them in the freezer. one sandwich bag is a small onion, two are a medium onion, and three are a large onion.

I know the onions are fresh because Gil's is only about a mile or so from my house and when the wind is right I can actually smell the place!
 
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I just got a huge bag of onions at Costco, thanks for the tip, guys!
 
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Hi Kezlehan; I usually use mine up pretty quickly. However, I have often left mine from early Spring, when we start doing more bbqs than stove top meals, and may not use them again until the cooler weather comes in the Fall. I do find keeping them in a container preferrable to a ziplock type of bag. But that is a personal preference.
 
Sir_Loin_of_Beef, where are you? I looked on their site and couldn't see where they are located and I'd never heard of them. I'm in Ontario.
 
Great tip! Dad used to buy a 50 pound bag of onions in Colorado (Brighton has huge onion and garlic fields) and dice up the whole bag in one day...I tried to be at work that day!
 
Hey Dawgluver, great idea if you happen to belong to Costco. Since my husband and I are empty nesters, I don't find stores like Costco a good investment for us. I know our daugter with three kids can't be without it.
 
Great tip! I chopped the onion and celery for my daughter's dressing this year. I went ahead and chopped enough for Christmas as well, and froze both of them.

I also chop and freeze bell peppers to use later in Spanish Rice and other dishes.
:chef:
 
Great tip. Especially in the spring time when the Vidalias are in the stores around here. Ill be buyin em up and I'll be able to get my fix in february. Thanks
 
Hi CWS4322, I'm pleased you enjoy Hungarian food. If you have something in particular you favour, I'd be happy to give you a recipe.
 
Hey JoshuaNY. Another fan of the magnificent Vidalias! Funnily enough, I have never thought to chop and freeze these beauties for winter use. Thanks so much. Isn't great to learn from each other.
 
Hi Barbar L. Good idea about the peppers, I do that sort of thing too. I also make Hungarian stuffed peppers, mostly in the cooler seasons, and to make the job easier and more economical, I buy a half bushel each of red, yellow and orange at our local farmers' market when they are in abundance in the late summer. I wash and core them, being careful not to poke a hole in the uncut end, and let them dry on tea towels. Then I freeqe them in large ziplocks so we can eat stuffed peppers anytime. I guess I should mention in Hungarian cooking when we make stuffed peppers we make a dutch oven sized pot full!
 
Hi CWS4322, I'm pleased you enjoy Hungarian food. If you have something in particular you favour, I'd be happy to give you a recipe.
I don't recall the name of them--but buns that are stuffed with meat, they are sometimes fried, sometimes baked in the oven. I can't seem to get the dough right...do you know what I mean? Anything with Hungarian paprika...and always looking for new perogie filling ideas!
 
I don't recall the name of them--but buns that are stuffed with meat, they are sometimes fried, sometimes baked in the oven. I can't seem to get the dough right...do you know what I mean? Anything with Hungarian paprika...and always looking for new perogie filling ideas!

Are they like Beirocks? Cabbage and meat? If so, I use a sweetened roll dough.
 
CWS4322, hi. You know, I figured my knowledge of Hungarian recipes was pretty extensive since my Mother's family and my Father's family were from different parts of Hungary so the various regional dishes was broad, but you've stumped me. I have never seen anything like you describe. Because you also mention about perogie fillings, I am wondering if the bun/meat combination is Hungarian as perogies are not. However, we do have a similar food we make but it is usually stuffed with a slightly sweet tasting dill and cottage cheese. As far as Hungarian paprika dishes, I'm almost tempted to say, "what isn't made with this key ingredient in Hungarian cooking?" If you are a pork eater I'll pass along a recipe for a stew using paprika.
 

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