San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Peeling back the many ways to use onions when grilling
When you think about a piping-hot grill, hot dogs, hamburgers and sizzling steaks are the first thing that come to mind. But the almighty onion deserves a place on that list of iconic charred flavors.
I really can’t say enough good things about a grilled onion. They outrace the competition like Usain Bolt as my favorite burger topping, and they are absolutely mandatory for fajitas. I got a C in high school chemistry, so I’m not the one to tell you why or how it happens, but the transformation of a harsh root vegetable into a sweet treat with the application of heat is nothing short of magic.
And onions are super cheap:
You can get white, yellow or sweet onions for about $1 per pound at any area grocery.
Over at Pollos Asados Los Norteños, one of San Antonio’s most popular restaurants, the famous grilled chicken plates come with half a grilled onion. The onion is served in aluminum foil. The sliced flat end is charred, so when the onion is unwrapped, the “meat” can easily be pulled apart with your fingers. I treat them like dessert.
Between his two locations, owner Frank Garcia said, he goes through about a dozen 50-pound sacks of onions a day.
“It’s a Mexican staple, and people enjoy it as an add-on to any good meal,” Garcia said. “White onions are more traditional, but I use the yellow because I think they provide more flavor. There’s really no secret to our process. We just wrap them in foil and put them straight on the grill for about 30 minutes.”
Onions also provide an aromatic boost to a cook. A handful of wood chips adds a layer of flavor to the grilling experience, but you can get the same effect with chopped onions. The moisture in an onion will produce pillows of white smoke that will make everybody in the neighborhood jealous, and that smell makes its way into the finished meats.
Peel off the outer layer of an onion, cut off the ends so it lies flat, and place it on the grill wherever there is free space.
“It’s definitely an underutilized weapon in the grilling game,” said Robyn Lindars, who runs the popular website grillgirl. com and has appeared on national food television shows. “You can use those onions for a good fireroasted salsa or all sorts of dishes. You don’t necessarily have to eat it on the spot, either, because grilled onion keeps very well.”
Unlike meats, which have specific temperatures that need to be hit for proper doneness, onions don’t require a lot of attention. You can slice up a bunch of them, toss them into a cast-iron pan with a little bit of oil, and forget about them outside of an occasional stir when you open the grill. Most recipes rush the time it takes to caramelize a good onion, but we are outside with no worries; anything that needs to cook for up to an hour can easily be accompanied by an onion.
Lindars, who favors sweet onions, likes to add barbecue sauce, balsamic vinegar and other flavorful liquids to her onion foil packs. She folds it all into a tent around the onion, and in about 30 minutes, they are ready.
And then there is Bryan Crawford, a competition San Antonio barbecue cook who owns the line of Crawford’s Barbecue Pit Products and who let me in on a secret that continues to amaze me: He cooks his chicken on top of a thick layer of onions, using them as a heat buffer from the charcoal so the surface of the bird doesn’t burn.
“It gives it that extra layer of protection, while also delivering that onion flavor into the meat,” Crawford said. It’s a flawless technique, and as a bonus, the charred onions make a great side.
And even after the grilling day is over, there’s another use for the onions: They are fantastic for cleaning the grill grates.
Put on your gloves and glide half a raw onion over the grates while it’s still hot, and any remnants are removed with ease.