Whole Onion


 
So do I.

Rather than smoke whole ones I prefer to cut them thus exposing more surface area. I use regular yellow onions or reds rather than Vidalias or other sweets. The high water content that serves to make them sweet when raw or lightly cooked doesn't make them very good for long cooking. Yellows and reds will sweeten nicely on a grill or in a smoker.

Trim the top of the onion (I use large ones but any size is fine), leave the root end intact, peel, then quarter them cutting to--but not through--the root end. Paint them with evoo then smoke. You can rub them (go lightly) if you wish, cook them alone or below a meat you're already cooking, and/or baste with sauce or glaze 10 min or so before pulling them. Timing depends on size and cooker temp. Mine usually run 60-90 min. A fruit wood is good; I use citrus mostly.

I like them topped with salsa verde (the Italian one (not the Mexican) made with fresh herbs and capers; drizzled with clarified butter in which a homemade curry mix has been cooked for several minutes; topped with a smoked garlic-herb aioli; drizzled with spiced honey butter or spiced honey-nut butter.
 
I like to cut the onion about 2/3 from the bottom and hollow out the insides, making sure to leave the walls thick for strength. Then I dice some of the hollowed out onion and mix it with some leftover Q or diced steak and gravy.
 
I smoked some whole Vidalias once, but it didn't work well. I peeled them, lopped off the stem end and lubed with evoo. They smoked for quite a while, but the inside never did get "done," the outside was leathery, and they didn't have any smoke flavor on the inside. They were good, though, when chopped and sweated or sauteed for any dish that you might want some smoke flavor in.

Kevin's right - you need to expose their insides. I'm going to try his method next year.

D
 
Last night I cut a sweet onion in half, gave it a shake of worcheshire and a small pat of butter then finally a drizzle of garlic olive oil. Foiled for 35 minutes at about 425. Yum.
There is no reason why you couldn't do the same on the smoker. They were like eating candy.
 

 

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