Ode to the Onion

By Kaitlin Ohlinger, CSW
General Manager, Cellar on Greene
June 7, 2013

Known to Twitterati as @winesnobsc, Kaitlin Ohlinger runs the show at one of the best-kept dining secrets in town, Ricky Mollohan’s Cellar on Greene. A Certified Specialist of Wine, she’s a great guide through Cellar’s retail wine racks, and her guidance is spot-on when you’re looking for pairings with that killer $22 three-course in the dining room. Oh, and her taste in music is tops. Check it out on the dining room stereo on Champagne Tuesday sometime soon.

City Roots Salad
— NO ONION

No onion. No onion. No onion. It’s one of the most common modifiers any kitchen staff encounters. Is it difficult to leave onions off a plate? Not at all. Is it OK if you don’t like onions? Of course. But when was the last time you heard someone profess their deep and profound love of onions?

Right now.

I love ’em. I love onions – especially sweet onions, one of the most magical products grown in the South. More beloved and well-known, of course, are Vidalia onions from Vidalia, Ga. (Keep your eyes open, however: Palmetto Sweet Onions are on the rise here in South Carolina. You can find them at the SC State Farmers Market.)

Peeling Back the Layers
So, what exactly is there to love about an onion? Here’s my top reason: Versatility. There’s so much one can do with an onion! Think of the characteristics of a raw sweet onion – it’s crunchy and rocks some spice while still offering some fresh, fruity and floral notes.  But a caramelized onion offers a completely different flavor profile: sweet, creamy, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Onto the preparations. You can grill an onion, pickle an onion, deep fry an onion, saute an onion, sweat an onion, roast an onion (I sound like Bubba, don’t I?) … And onions are essential to so many kitchen basics – sauces, stocks, chutneys, relishes, soups, salsas and a handful of others.
 
Wine and the Beautiful Onion
What about onion pairings? If onions are so great, why don’t you ever hear folks saying, Mmm, this wine has a lovely bouquet of onions…?

Let’s start with a fresh sweet onion, and tie in one of my most fundamental rules of wine pairing: You pair to the preparation, not to the item itself. There’s no need to search high and low for a wine that tastes like an onion to have a great pairing. You simply need a wine that mimics the fresh, crisp characteristics of the raw onion, and one that doesn’t fight the rest of your ingredients.
 
A green salad with fresh herb vinaigrette and maybe some goat cheese? Try an Austrian Gruner Veltliner, a lean, clean, high-acid white that offers floral accents and often a touch of white pepper  – perfect for your crunch of sweet onion.
 
If you took it up a notch and opted to caramelize, finding the right wine depends on what the onions are decorating. A mammoth, juicy burger, caramelized onions and Swiss cheese would find a lovely home with a rich California Zinfandel — try one from Lodi or Paso Robles for added concentration and heat. A Zin will pick up the sweetness of the caramelized onions perfectly.  Hold up — you could even throw a splash of Zin into your caramelized onions and let it cook down for a few!  Now we’re really going places…
 
I could go on for days dreaming up novel ways to cook and eat onions and what to drink them with (Oh! Beer and Fried Onions!), and that is precisely why I have opened up this discussion. Never underestimate an onion. It’s capable of greatness.

This weekly food column is curated by Tracie Broom, who serves on the board at Slow Food Columbia (http://www.slowfoodcola.org), publishes The Yum Diary (http://www.yumdiary.com), and is a founding partner at Flock and Rally: Events + Communications for a Brave New South (http://www.flockandrally.com).

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