food-safety roasting onions and garlic without oil

[AzJon]

Searched the forum and didn't find any specific answer to this multi-part question.

1. Do any of you add roasted onions/garlic to your sauces?

2. If yes, do you use oil?

3. If you do, but do not use oil, what technique do you use?

4. Does a little oil really matter in a hotsauce that is meant for commercial production? Canola is shelf-stable at room temperature and takes absolute ages to go rancid after opening. Is the only barrier to using oil really whether or not a sauce is shelf-stable un-refrigerated?

I'd really like to get that deep, rich flavor of caramelized and/or on-the-edge-of-burning flavor that you can get from onions (and other possible additions), but I've only ever done that with a coating of oil before cooking.

 

[HellfireFarm]

I would say if you want to sell in all 50 states, (or any subset thereof), find the one with the strictest regulations and find an authority to certify to that level...

 

[Siv]

This all seems like a lot of hard work to me - I would just leave the oil out and see if it's essential to the flavour of the sauce. It's likely that such a small amount of oil will make little to no difference to the taste and texture.

We are generally pre-conditioned in using fat to fry aromatics at the beginning of a recipe. I have tried a lot of zero added fat recipes where the onions and garlic are roasted dry or just sautéed in water and I honestly didn't notice that they had not been fried. That's not to say that oil can't be an important part of a recipe - I can't imagine ramen without ma yu (black garlic oil) - but it's not necessarily that essential to all recipes.

 

[AzJon]

This all seems like a lot of hard work to me - I would just leave the oil out and see if it's essential to the flavour of the sauce. It's likely that such a small amount of oil will make little to no difference to the taste and texture.

We are generally pre-conditioned in using fat to fry aromatics at the beginning of a recipe. I have tried a lot of zero added fat recipes where the onions and garlic are roasted dry or just sautéed in water and I honestly didn't notice that they had not been fried. That's not to say that oil can't be an important part of a recipe - I can't imagine ramen without ma yu (black garlic oil) - but it's not necessarily that essential to all recipes.

What I tried recently was to take peeled garlic cloves, put them in a roasting tray, use an aerosolizer to mist oil onto the garlic, and bake hot and fast. My concern is the garlic getting too tough before browning or skipping straight to burning before a goodly portion is cooked. Though, I guess there is an argument to be make for having half cooked garlic to preserve that raw bite. As it stands, I think oven roasting hot and fast is overall a better choice than a pan, at least regarding garlic.

I switched the recipe to do thick slices of onion around 1/2 an inch thick and cooked them on a cast iron without oil. This blackened some of the edges and really transformed the middles, getting a bit of nice carmelized bits just under the burnt parts.

I have not tried just dry roasting the garlic, but its in the pipeline as an experiment.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Though, I guess there is an argument to be make for having half cooked garlic to preserve that raw bite.

I've actually suggested using roasted garlic and fresh in the same recipes before, it's something people really don't think of, they usually think one or the other but want that sweet roasted flavor and to not lose garlic intensity. So perhaps you will hit a nice medium there!

 

[Siv]

What I tried recently was to take peeled garlic cloves, put them in a roasting tray, use an aerosolizer to mist oil onto the garlic, and bake hot and fast. My concern is the garlic getting too tough before browning or skipping straight to burning before a goodly portion is cooked. Though, I guess there is an argument to be make for having half cooked garlic to preserve that raw bite. As it stands, I think oven roasting hot and fast is overall a better choice than a pan, at least regarding garlic.

I switched the recipe to do thick slices of onion around 1/2 an inch thick and cooked them on a cast iron without oil. This blackened some of the edges and really transformed the middles, getting a bit of nice carmelized bits just under the burnt parts.

I have not tried just dry roasting the garlic, but its in the pipeline as an experiment.

Have you tried black garlic? It's a bit of a time consuming process but yields a garlic clove that tastes like candy. I have made it several times using the vacuum bag and dehydrator method and although it takes months, the product is amazing. And keeps forever if you leave it in the vacuum bag. But you absolutely do lose that garlic bite so would have to mix black with fresh to get a full profile.

 

[AzJon]

Have you tried black garlic? It's a bit of a time consuming process but yields a garlic clove that tastes like candy. I have made it several times using the vacuum bag and dehydrator method and although it takes months, the product is amazing. And keeps forever if you leave it in the vacuum bag. But you absolutely do lose that garlic bite so would have to mix black with fresh to get a full profile.

I have not experimented with black garlic. I don't really have the space available to run a dehydrator for the length of time needed, but I have had it in the past. Its very tasty!

 

[AzJon]

I have wanted to try doing honey-fermented garlic, but just haven't gotten around to it.