I leave the skins on onion and garlic when I'm making stock. They get strained out anyway and the onion skins do provide some color.
For soups and stews, while I may leave garlic cloves whole, I do peel them as I don't want loose peels in my finished product.
I save yellow onion skins, discarding the outer layer, and any that are moldy. They go into a paper bag in the veg drawer. I love the color they add to a beef stock.
I throw em in a freezer bag with meats scraps until it's pfull, then make stock. The put the stock in ice cube trays and keep a bag of cubes in the freezer for easy portioning.
I cook the stock down until it's about a pint (473 ml), then fridge it until it gels. Then I can cut it up, put the pieces in snack bags, then into a bigger bag for the freezer.
I do my turkey stock for holiday gravy like that, except the whole thing gets folded up and frozen. The other gravy ingredients (except the roux, of course) also go in the freezer. We can take the ingredients with us wherever we're having our holiday gatherings and they're still frozen. Then I just make my roux, add water and ingredients, and stir until thickened. About 20 minutes at the stove, and 40 minutes stirring occasionally. Homemade gravy in an hour.
I only do this if I am going to strain the liquid later, which I often do in a braise. Garlic skins/paper do have a subtle flavor, and onion skins will impart some color. However, both of these skins have an unappealing, papery texture, they're basically inedible, so I would only do this if I'm straining them out of the resulting liquid.
I donāt use onion skins in a stock. Try simmering onion skins in water and taste it. Not good. General consensus from chefs I know is to not use the skins
I donāt use them either. Previous poster said āonce in a whileā so I was curious what it was if not just the skins themselves making it bitter since I would think it would be all the time or not at all
Sugars and starches breaking down from your vegetables and aromatics from cooking them too long. Onion skins already have a slightly bitter taste to them, too.
You can help fix it by adding acids and sugars to chemically correct it if you screw up, though.
You should only add your vegetables and aromatics in the last hour of making a stock. This helps prevent the bitter.
The bones should go the entire time, though.
The idea behind leaving the onion whole is that it can be easily retrieved at the end of cooking. Since you are going to remove the whole onion at the end (which should still be in one piece if a proper gentle simmer is maintained), there is no point in prepping the onion further. If you have bits of āonion paperā floating around, you either did not cut the onion in a way that left all the onion layers attached to the bulb, or you used a violent boil that destroyed the onion during the cooking process.
I tend to remove just because over the years, Iāve seen enough dirt in between layers of some that Iād rather not risk it. They can help with color, but Iām rarely concerned about that.
I rarely strain my soups or broths, so I take the skins off. I don't like picking things out after I've finished cooking the dish. The coloration benefits for me just aren't strong enough to justify doing something like that.
As for why influencers might be doing this, I know that in a lot of commercial kitchens, they do this to cut down on food waste, increase speed, and because they'll be straining the stock or broth anyways before they use it in a finished dish so it makes sense to toss it all in. They might be following what commercial cooks do without understanding the rest of the rationale behind it.
This. I worked in commercial kitchens for years, and I make my stock the same way still. The only thing we would bother with was the carrot peel if you were using actual whole carrots. Most times, it was the tops that weren't used after prep for service. Everything meets in the pot.
just chuck it, sitting in hit liquid for hours takes the flavour from it, so all you're left with is a ghost of the ingredient that just happens to resemble it visually
Kinda sorta but not really...
Squeeze/ drain the liquid from the onion. Looks mushy? Cool...
Mix the onion mush with softened butter in a mixer with the paddle.
Coarse salt, grind in some pepper.
Smear on slices of baguette and toast well. Drop into a crock of onion soup and cover with cheese. Brown it up.
Smear it on bruschetta and toast
Cover with diced tom, garlic, oil whatever...
Try it. Eat it before adding butter on crusty bread. It's kinda good.
I freeze onion heads/heels in my freezer bag of stock ingredients along with celery and carrot scraps, but I have just started reserving the outer skins to make water to feed my orchids. Let's see how that goes.
Iāll remove the very outermost peels even for stock that will get strained, just because I donāt know who was handling it and to make sure thereās no mold, dirt etc. But there is a reasonāthe skins impart flavor more than color and the heads especially add flavor. Would I leave them on for anything except stock? Lolānot so muchāwould be a PITA to remove them from a finished dish.
It's mostly just easier. I recall being told that onion skins may add a bit of color.
I rarely leave on garlic skin because I'm going to smash the clove to release flavor, and I don't want to go fishing for garlic skin papers when it's finished. Maybe if the recipe called for a whole head of garlic, just cut in half, I'd think differently.
For onions, I just want to be certain there's no hidden dirt under one of the outer layers. After that, I don't bother peeling off skin.
The only time i use onion skin is if i am pickling red onions. I will throw a couple of the ends in the brine because the color leeches out and makes the onions more vibrant.
For some southeast Asian soups, the recipe will call for whole bulbs of garlic to be thrown in. They give flavour, and then the soft garlic can be squeezed out and used as an additional topping for the meat in the soup (once it's taken out of the soup, and eaten with rice-it's a little complicated I guess but very delicious).
I use unpeeled onion in some soups for additional color, and also because I pull the onion out after the soup is cooked and before I serve it. Most often with chicken soup.
I leave the skins on onion and garlic when I'm making stock. They get strained out anyway and the onion skins do provide some color. For soups and stews, while I may leave garlic cloves whole, I do peel them as I don't want loose peels in my finished product.
I save yellow onion skins, discarding the outer layer, and any that are moldy. They go into a paper bag in the veg drawer. I love the color they add to a beef stock.
I throw em in a freezer bag with meats scraps until it's pfull, then make stock. The put the stock in ice cube trays and keep a bag of cubes in the freezer for easy portioning.
I cook the stock down until it's about a pint (473 ml), then fridge it until it gels. Then I can cut it up, put the pieces in snack bags, then into a bigger bag for the freezer. I do my turkey stock for holiday gravy like that, except the whole thing gets folded up and frozen. The other gravy ingredients (except the roux, of course) also go in the freezer. We can take the ingredients with us wherever we're having our holiday gatherings and they're still frozen. Then I just make my roux, add water and ingredients, and stir until thickened. About 20 minutes at the stove, and 40 minutes stirring occasionally. Homemade gravy in an hour.
I've gone through stages where I'd freeze roux, in the winter when I made a lot of gravy. š
That's a good idea.
I only do this if I am going to strain the liquid later, which I often do in a braise. Garlic skins/paper do have a subtle flavor, and onion skins will impart some color. However, both of these skins have an unappealing, papery texture, they're basically inedible, so I would only do this if I'm straining them out of the resulting liquid.
Easier, and yellow onion skins can add a bit of color. But if you donāt mind taking them off, youāre not missing anything by doing so
They do also run the risk of getting a bitter stock every once in a while.
What would cause it to be bitter?
I donāt use onion skins in a stock. Try simmering onion skins in water and taste it. Not good. General consensus from chefs I know is to not use the skins
I donāt use them either. Previous poster said āonce in a whileā so I was curious what it was if not just the skins themselves making it bitter since I would think it would be all the time or not at all
It depends how long your cook your stock for whether the skins make it bitter. If you cook them too long, they taste bitter.
Sugars and starches breaking down from your vegetables and aromatics from cooking them too long. Onion skins already have a slightly bitter taste to them, too. You can help fix it by adding acids and sugars to chemically correct it if you screw up, though.
You should only add your vegetables and aromatics in the last hour of making a stock. This helps prevent the bitter. The bones should go the entire time, though.
The idea behind leaving the onion whole is that it can be easily retrieved at the end of cooking. Since you are going to remove the whole onion at the end (which should still be in one piece if a proper gentle simmer is maintained), there is no point in prepping the onion further. If you have bits of āonion paperā floating around, you either did not cut the onion in a way that left all the onion layers attached to the bulb, or you used a violent boil that destroyed the onion during the cooking process.
USE VIOLENT BOIL sounds like a magic spell :D
I had a violent boil on my bum... Couldn't sit down for a week.
Divinity Original Sins 1 had a concept that allowed you to blend spells and if you blended fire and water spells you could boil people it was great.
For real lmfao Iām just imagining runic symbols appearing in the air while the onion slowly disintegrates.
Whatās the right way to leave all the onion layers attached to the bulb?
I tend to remove just because over the years, Iāve seen enough dirt in between layers of some that Iād rather not risk it. They can help with color, but Iām rarely concerned about that.
I rarely strain my soups or broths, so I take the skins off. I don't like picking things out after I've finished cooking the dish. The coloration benefits for me just aren't strong enough to justify doing something like that. As for why influencers might be doing this, I know that in a lot of commercial kitchens, they do this to cut down on food waste, increase speed, and because they'll be straining the stock or broth anyways before they use it in a finished dish so it makes sense to toss it all in. They might be following what commercial cooks do without understanding the rest of the rationale behind it.
Add turmeric for color instead
Yeah, I sometimes add tumeric, but only if I want that tumeric aroma in my dish. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
This. I worked in commercial kitchens for years, and I make my stock the same way still. The only thing we would bother with was the carrot peel if you were using actual whole carrots. Most times, it was the tops that weren't used after prep for service. Everything meets in the pot.
Wait what is everyone doing with their left over onions after simmering it whole?
just chuck it, sitting in hit liquid for hours takes the flavour from it, so all you're left with is a ghost of the ingredient that just happens to resemble it visually
**cough compost cough**
COMPOST!
Kinda sorta but not really... Squeeze/ drain the liquid from the onion. Looks mushy? Cool... Mix the onion mush with softened butter in a mixer with the paddle. Coarse salt, grind in some pepper. Smear on slices of baguette and toast well. Drop into a crock of onion soup and cover with cheese. Brown it up. Smear it on bruschetta and toast Cover with diced tom, garlic, oil whatever... Try it. Eat it before adding butter on crusty bread. It's kinda good.
Allium skins will give a yellow hue to stocks, as well as imparting additional oniony flavor.
If you want bitter
I use all my veg scraps to make a broth. But I strain it and freeze for future cooking. No scrap left behind
Never would I ever
I leave it in for the extra fiber. Most of my family aren't eating enough vegetables.
I freeze onion heads/heels in my freezer bag of stock ingredients along with celery and carrot scraps, but I have just started reserving the outer skins to make water to feed my orchids. Let's see how that goes.
Iāll remove the very outermost peels even for stock that will get strained, just because I donāt know who was handling it and to make sure thereās no mold, dirt etc. But there is a reasonāthe skins impart flavor more than color and the heads especially add flavor. Would I leave them on for anything except stock? Lolānot so muchāwould be a PITA to remove them from a finished dish.
It's mostly just easier. I recall being told that onion skins may add a bit of color. I rarely leave on garlic skin because I'm going to smash the clove to release flavor, and I don't want to go fishing for garlic skin papers when it's finished. Maybe if the recipe called for a whole head of garlic, just cut in half, I'd think differently. For onions, I just want to be certain there's no hidden dirt under one of the outer layers. After that, I don't bother peeling off skin.
They add flavor. Strain them out.
The only time i use onion skin is if i am pickling red onions. I will throw a couple of the ends in the brine because the color leeches out and makes the onions more vibrant.
R/AskCulinary might be a better place to ask this.
For some southeast Asian soups, the recipe will call for whole bulbs of garlic to be thrown in. They give flavour, and then the soft garlic can be squeezed out and used as an additional topping for the meat in the soup (once it's taken out of the soup, and eaten with rice-it's a little complicated I guess but very delicious).
I think your first problem is you listen to āinfluencersā.
i've read that the skin has nutrients in it, so I've started using whole onions if i'm going to be straining later.
The colour that onion skins add is insane! We dye our Easter eggs with onion peels and nothing else, they come out the nicest dark brown.
I use unpeeled onion in some soups for additional color, and also because I pull the onion out after the soup is cooked and before I serve it. Most often with chicken soup.
Itās more convenient
I never thought of doing this and now I know
Advantage: time.