Homemade Pickled Onions that really will put hairs on your chest. These are ready to eat in two weeks, but ideally, you’d make them in October and leave until Christmas (if you can wait that long!).
I’ve posted a short reel showing the steps on my Instagram account @Charlieboy_BBQ please go and check it out.
Onions
1.5kg Pickling Onions
200g Salt
1Litre cold water
Pickling Liquor
700ml Pickling vinegar (Brown)
150ml Balsamic vinegar
70ml Cider vinegar
100g Caster Sugar
100g Muscavado Sugar
8 cloves
Method
Day 1
1) Top & tail and peel your onions.
2) Mix salt into the water and stir until thoroughly dissolved – keep the water cold.
3) In a large bowl add onions to brine and place a plate on top to submerge. Note: this process will extract liquid from the onions, so please ensure there is still space in the bowl for extra liquid.
4) Place a pan on a med/low heat and add the vinegars, then add the sugar and cloves.
5) Warm through for 5 mins until everything is dissolved, stirring regularly ensuring the sugar doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan. Plenty of ventilation needed here – warming vinegar creates lots of strong vapours.
6) Leave to cool overnight alongside the onions. Note: You must ensure the onions are kept cool while they’re brining, we don’t want them warming/cooking in any way (so they stay crunchy), so ideally place in a conservatory or cool room in the house.
Day 2
1) Drain and lightly rinse the Onions and place in sterilised jars.
2) Give the pickling liquor a stir – there will be some fine solids from the Balsamic but that’s absolutely fine.
3) Pour over the Onions and store in a cool, dark place. Give the jars a gentle shake every few days for the first two weeks then leave to settle. Again, there will be some fine solids in the jar but that’s completely normal.