They love McDonald's cheeseburgers, chips of all sorts, all with onions. They're small, biting an onion is too much for their taste buds, so they think they hate onions.

Anyone help me articulate the idea? LOL, it's funny I think on it so much.

[–] DarkSirrush@lemmy.ca 10 points 6 days ago

For me, I dislike (and as a child, hated) the texture of onions. Onion as a flavour has always been fine, it was biting them that was the problem.

Caramelize the onions a bit and blend half into a paste, ask which one tastes bad. If they answer that only the chunky onion is bad, teach them about texture preferences.

[–] nightofmichelinstars@sopuli.xyz 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

They taste different when cooked.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Caramelize them properly and they go from weird, sour but slightly spicy vegetables to straight up candy.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

they don't like the taste of onions, they like the flavor.

I don't think the distinction between "taste" and "flavour" is the right way to frame it. Raw onion on its own can be overwhelming. If you eat a hamburger with raw onion on it, the amount of raw onion per bite will be pretty small, and it will be one taste in a whole bunch of other tastes. Your kids probably wouldn't like eating pure salt, or pure pepper either. But, food with some salt tastes great.

Having said that, fried onions are a whole different game. After 5 minutes the onion loses a lot of its potency and gets a bit sweet. After 30 minutes it's basically a very slightly pungent candy. For a French Onion Soup, you can cook them for up to 2 hours before they're ready. A pot that's full to the brim of raw onions reduces down to a thin layer at the bottom, and they taste more like gummy worms than onions at that point.

Onions raw to fully cooked for a french onion soup.

I love French Onion Soup, and occasionally make it. I'd make it more, it's just that slicing up more than a kilogram of onions is a whole process. It's so difficult it makes me cry every time I do it.

[–] Eq0@literature.cafe 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A second hand mandoline a game changer in that regard! Chopping/slicing/cutting evenly suddenly to a fraction of the time. Would drivel recommend (second hand because first hand are stupidly expensive if you rent good quality)

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, I've used a mandoline to do it before. Frankly, that's really the only way I'd do it these days. But, even then, it's a lot of work and it's hard on the eyeballs. Plus, mandolines are scary. I know what not to do when using one, but it's like a fear of heights. Even if you know you're doing it safely, it's still nerve wracking. Maybe if I had a chain-mail glove I could do it without fear, but I don't have one.

[–] nightofmichelinstars@sopuli.xyz 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I chop my onions by hand but I wear swimming googles and they help a lot. The biggest issue is that they work so well I sometimes forget to move away from the onions before I take them off and it's like getting punched in the face.

[–] Eq0@literature.cafe 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I found a plastic handle for the mandoline. If you mess up, the handle gets cut but your fingers survive unscathed.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

I'd be interested to see what that is. It seems like it would be hard to make that work because securely gripping the thing you're chopping is an important part of using a mandoline.

[–] riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago

You don't drink ketchup. You don't eat salt. But if you try unsalted fries without ketchup you'll understand what salt and ketchup are for.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

Eat it or starve.

[–] Brekky@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Pickled onions.... yum!