SC - shallot question

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Lilinah biti-Anat wrote:
> 
> >I am unsure whether or not I will be able to get shallot's in my area, and
> >if the price will mortify me, just in case, what is a good substitute?
> >
> >A shallot is like what sort of onion kind of thing?  Like those green onion
> >you get in bunches of two or three for $1.29?  More like a leek?
> >
> >I have never cooked with shallots.
> >
> >       Angeline
> 
> Most of the shallots i've used are about the size of a couple garlic
> cloves put together, covered with reddish papery skin like a large
> cooking onion, are very very flavorful, but are not sharp like big
> onions, and have nowhere near as much moisture.
> 
> So, where you might have to cook a chopped up big onion quite a while
> to get the moisture out and get it dark golden, shallots cook fairly
> quickly. Because they contain less moisture, not only do they cook
> faster, they add mellow onion flavor with less volume - that is if
> you needed, say, 3/4 cup of chopped big cooking onion, you'd need a
> far smaller quantity, i'm guessing here, say around 1/3 cup chopped
> shallots.
> 
> Anyone who has used shallots recently, please correct me if i'm
> giving incorrect info (i just know you will :-) I haven't used any
> for a few years.
> 
> Anahita

Nah, I'd say you're pretty much on the money. Just a point to add: you
can put finely chopped onions (and also mushrooms) into a clean
side/dish towel, twist it up and squeeze out a lot of the moisture that
makes it so necessary to cook them for a longer time than shallots. I've
cut my time for making duxelles in half, maybe even less than half.
Squeeze the juice into your pan, before adding the solids, so the flavor
isn't lost, but it quickly reduces to nearly nothing in a wide saute
pan. 

The One Thing I've Ever Learned From Julia Child...

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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