Chu On Dish: Perfect Pickled Red Onion (Recipe)

I may have a bit of an obsession with pickles. I will pickle pretty much anything and I currently have about 20 jars of various pickles in my fridge. In my humble opinion, most meals are not complete without some sort of pickle to cleanse the palate and balance savory flavors.

For this recipe, technique of cutting and minor details are more important than the actual recipe. A firm red onion is the first important aspect. I used organic, and I would recommend the same, but this may not be as important as getting firm, fresh onions. It will also be helpful to understand the grain of the onion. The grain goes from tip to root end; there are little lines in the onion that indicate this.

A very sharp, non-serrated knife is also important, and this will help reduce the amount of sulfur that is released from sliced onions that makes your eyes water. I will try to be very detailed with slicing descriptions below but this is, otherwise, a very easy recipe.

Here's what you'll need:
1 large or 2 medium firm, fresh, organic red onion (I would recommend your local farmer's market)
1 tsp. salt
2 parts white vinegar (this is usually around 4% acidity)
1 part high-acid vinegar (at least 6% acidity; I used white wine vinegar)

Here's what you'll do:
- Peel off outer layers of onion and slice off the tip and the root end and put these pieces in your compost or freeze to use later for making stock. Stand onion on one of the poles that you just cut off and cut the whole onion in half from the top to the bottom.
- Set one half aside and turn the other half on the newly cut side so the half dome is facing up and cut the onion in half against the grain.
- Now turn the onion so one of the pole sides is facing you and slice the onion WITH the grain as thin as possible from one side to the next until you have the whole half cut. Do the same for the second half.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the sliced onions and toss them with the 1 tsp. salt to separate the onion pieces and also incorporate the salt all over every piece of onion. Let this bowl sit on the counter for about 20 minutes.
- Retrieve the container you will use for pickling. I would recommend a glass jar of some sort with a tight fitting lid.
- Using your hands or a pair of tongs, lift the onions from the bowl and into the pickling jar, being careful not to toss the onions again in the mixing bowl. There will be some liquid at the bottom of the bowl; this liquid should not be re-incorporated back into the onions. Removing some of the water from the onions will help keep the onions crunchy.
- After your pickling jar is full of onions, gently press down with your fingers or a spoon and fill to the top with more onions if there are any left.
- Pour white vinegar until the liquid fills about 2/3 of the jar. Then top off with the high-acid vinegar.
- Put the tight-fitting lid on the jar and give it a spin and gently tap on your counter to let the bubbles rise. If there is a lot of air that comes to the surface, take off the lid, fill with more high-acid vinegar and place the lid on again.
- Leave this in your fridge for at least 24 hours and then they will be ready to eat. Since pickling is a great form of preservation, these can stay in your fridge almost indefinitely.
- Below are pictures of some examples of how to use them.
- Enjoy!