Contents
Red onion sliced thin and left in vinegar. It takes four minutes of work and thirty of waiting, keeps a month, and improves almost every page in Cold Meals. If there is one thing on this list worth making a permanent fixture of the fridge, it is this jar.
Why it beats raw onion
Raw onion in a cold dish is aggressive and it gets worse as it sits — the sulfur compounds keep developing. Vinegar arrests that, softens the texture, turns the onion a startling magenta (an anthocyanin pH indicator, and the reason the colour is so much brighter than the raw onion), and leaves the sweetness behind the heat.
Quick method
One red onion, sliced as thinly as you can manage. Pack into a jar. Heat 120 ml red wine vinegar or cider vinegar with 120 ml water, 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tsp salt just until dissolved, and pour over.
Ready in 30 minutes, better after two hours, best the next day. Optional and worth it: a bay leaf, a few peppercorns, a sliced garlic clove, a strip of orange peel, or a dried chilli.
Notes
- This is a refrigerator pickle, not a canned one. It is not shelf-stable and has not been processed for storage; it lives in the fridge.
- Slice thin. Thick slices stay harsh in the middle. A mandoline is the tool.
- Keep the liquid. After the onions are gone the pink vinegar is an excellent dressing acid — use it in place of plain vinegar in any vinaigrette here.
- Salting and squeezing the onion for ten minutes before pickling gives a firmer, less watery result. Same principle as the đồ chua in banh mi.
Keeping
One month refrigerated, submerged. The colour fades before the flavour does.
Elsewhere on the site
Used in: quinoa bowl · orzo salad · barley salad · cold lentil bowl · italian sub · hummus vegetable sandwich · mezze plate · chicken salad sandwich
Related: red wine vinegar · dill pickles · capers · onion · Preservation