Sausage rolls with caramelised red onions recipe (2024)

FAQs

Do red onions caramelize better? ›

Technically you can caramelise any kind of onion, even white or French shallots, but red and brown work best. Because of their vibrant colour.

After 10 minutes, sprinkle some salt over the onions, and if you want, you can add some sugar to help with the caramelization process. (I add only about a teaspoon of sugar for 5 onions, you can add more.) One trick to keeping the onions from drying out as they cook is to add a little water to the pan.

Of course, a swathing of egg wash over the puff pastry makes for a crisp, flaky finish and a very good sausage roll.

You can use either oil or butter to caramelize onions — but ideally, you use a combination of both! I like to use olive oil, and this cooking fat tolerates heat particularly well. Meanwhile, butter adds a distinctly rich flavor to the caramelized onions.

If you cover the pan, you'll trap steam, which will speed up their softening, heat them more quickly, and help release their liquid more quickly. Lift the lid a few times during this stage to give them a stir and make sure nothing is browning yet.

Caramelize the onions: Heat about 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the onions and stir to coat. Let cook, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until deeply caramelized, about 1 ½ - 2 hours.

For most of the cooking process, the heat should be low or medium-low to prevent the onions from burning before they have a chance to soften and caramelize.

In addition to water, we have another secret ingredient: baking soda. We often turn to it to speed browning, since it creates a high-pH environment, which allows caramelization to occur more readily. Baking soda is also handy for softening vegetables because altering the pH helps weaken their cell structure.

Around 30 Minutes: Onions should be light blonde in color and starting to become jammy. More fond is starting to build up, but it should still be fairly easy to scrape it up with the evaporating liquid from the onions. Around 40 Minutes: Onions are golden and starting to smell very caramelized.

Vinegar. This is our secret ingredient to make the best caramelized onions. Vinegar adds a touch of acidity to balance out the sweetness of the onions. It elevates their flavor wonderfully.

Should I drain water when caramelizing onions? ›

Like I mentioned above, we want to get rid of all the water in the onions to allow for browning to take place. But once the onions do start to brown, water can be your best friend! Adding water periodically into the pan while caramelizing your onions will prevent burning.

Soggy bottoms

This normally happens when the oven is not hot enough or the pastry is not baked for long enough. However, it can also be because too much water was added to the dough.

Why add cream to sausage rolls? I asked our foodie experts about Curtis' bakery trick and they confirmed that cream softens the breadcrumbs and stops the meat mixture from drying out, as the breadcrumbs won't suck up moisture from the meat and other ingredients.

A common reason for them splitting open is not enough cereal in the sausage mix. It's common to use breadcrumbs or even stale bread soaked in water. If the filling is mostly meat it will shrink when baked and release a lot of fat. Both of these can cause splitting.

You're not sautéing your onions—you're trying to slowly coax flavor out of them. It takes time, probably a solid 45 minutes, for the onions' sugars to caramelize. If your heat is too high, the onions will burn. Heat your pan over medium-low, then add your onions.

In addition to water, we have another secret ingredient: baking soda. We often turn to it to speed browning, since it creates a high-pH environment, which allows caramelization to occur more readily. Baking soda is also handy for softening vegetables because altering the pH helps weaken their cell structure.