You don’t have to throw away the burnt onions in the pan. Add one thing and it will be perfect

If an onion burns in the pan, it can often mean that the whole dish you’re about to prepare is at risk. Is it best to throw the onion away and start again, or is there a way to save it?

Throw the black onion away

This is because burnt onions will turn bitter and affect the overall flavour of the dish. If you’re using them as a base for a sauce, you’ll smell a lot of burnt onion. Sometimes, however, you need to economise or maybe you don’t have other onions on hand, so you have to make do with what you have. Even if your onion is really brown, it doesn’t have to be bitter. The problem is blackened pieces. If the onion has stuck just a little, quickly set it aside or transfer it to another container and use tweezers to pull out the burnt bits. You can use the rest.

Once the onions start to burn, the most important thing is to remove them from the heat source immediately. If you want to stop the onion from burning, you can transfer it to another container and cover it with a little warm water or perhaps wine. You can also throw an ice cube into the pan to instantly cool the onion. Just be careful of the sizzle, though, so you don’t hurt yourself!

 

How to get the burnt taste out of the sauce

If the sauce base or the sauce itself has stuck to you and you can taste the burn as a result, try some of the old wives’ advice. In the old days, housewives used to add things like the foot of bread to the burnt sauce to soak up the bitter taste. Similarly, it’s a good idea to simmer a potato or maybe even a carrot in the sauce. Bread is probably best, though, as you can be sure it won’t affect the overall flavour.

You can try improving the cream sauce again by adding a little flour whisked into the cream and adding a slice of lemon – this should also take the bitterness away. Again, however, there may be a slight change in flavour.