Does cooking eggs and red onions create a chemical reaction?

Submitted by womp-the-womper t3_zwsk2t in askscience

I love eggs, I love onions. I even love eggs and onions together when they’re cooked separately. But once they get put together to cook something seems to happen and it creates a completely disgusting taste. Any idea why this could be? I know cooking and baking is all just chemistry so I’m sure there must be some explanation. It’s been bothering me since I’ve been a kid and I need to know.

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RandomUser0666 t1_j1zio8g wrote

The moisture being release from the onions is steaming your egg and making it gross. Onions have a lot more sugar in them than you might think, and a ton of water, so it's always best to caramelize them before adding them to an egg dish; you've deepend the flavors in the onion itself and cooked out much of the water that ruins the egg, on top of the vastly different cooking times between an egg and an onion. Your best bet, if you're using one pan, is to cook the onions first, push them to the side of the pan so they can continue to caramelize, then cook your egg in the open space in the pan

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womp-the-womper OP t1_j1zld3l wrote

Thank you for this!! It makes complete sense and I feel that you have accurately articulated the process. Now I’m hungry for some eggs and caramelized onions!

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i_have_hemorrhoids t1_j1zo90o wrote

I cut my onions as small as I possibly can. I basically slice the onion to 1/8 inch (or smaller) then dice them as small as I can. This makes them caramelize faster and then I add butter and scramble the eggs. The small onion chunks blend in with the eggs and taste amazing.

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RandomUser0666 t1_j1zznrj wrote

Depends on what I'm using them for. A nice julienne takes longer but that's better for say a burger or cheese steak IMO

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FowlOnTheHill t1_j1zu6ob wrote

Could be an acquired taste but in India we scramble raw onions (finely chopped) and green chilies into eggs.

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NakoL1 t1_j20kzaf wrote

yeah you either have to reduce the onions first, or not cook them at all

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RandomUser0666 t1_j1zyd34 wrote

If you like raw onion that's fine. Half cooked, limp, soggy, greasy onion is just the worst though and I think that's what OP ended up with. Personally, what you described sounds delicious to me but I'm assuming the egg is already partially scrambled when the raw ingredients are added? kinda like an Indian frittata?

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CopremesisWaterfall t1_j1zz22k wrote

Mmmm you know your way around the kitchen. It’s funny, I usually half-caramelize the onions before I add eggs, and I was just doing that because it seemed right. But I didn’t think about it at the level detail to described.

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RandomUser0666 t1_j20h7ys wrote

You're on the right track, I'd say! It's all a matter of personal taste IMO but I like my onions either cold and raw or caramelized dark/poached in wine or something

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