Sabrett Sweet Onions

Sabrett onions about ready to serve.

Think hot dogs and in New England, Kayem, Jordons and W. A. Bean come to mind, in NYC and New Jersey, it's Sabrett! I don't know the actual numbers, but I have to guess that 90% of every pushcart in NY and NJ offer Sabrett hotdogs. The company has been around since the late 1940s and while the hot dogs are great, my favorite Sabrett product is their 'onion sauce'. To me, they are simply Sabrett Onions, and their appeal goes WAY beyond hot dogs in my book.

Any hot dog push cart worth its salt offers the onions as a topping for the franks, and while it's 'sweet' from the jar, some add some kick and offer sweet or hot onions for your dog. Growing up, even though all of their products were readily available at Shop-Rite (the NJ version of Hannaford), there was actually a Sabrett retail store in my home town and in addition top the huge family of hot dog varieties and condiments like the onions, they also had cold cuts and, as I recall some other grocery products. The prices must have been good because mom usually went there for deli meats too. You get really spoiled when something you crave is always easy to get, when you move to Maine, and it's not anymore, you adopt the Yankee mentality and figure out a way to make it yourself. So through my Yankee ingenuity comes this recipe. It's great with hot dogs, but it's also delicious on a burger or a steak. I've put some in omelettes with cheese, and even slathered some inside a grilled cheese sandwich before frying.

THE RECIPE: 3 large sweet onions sliced into thin rings

1T Horseradish

1T Worcestershire sauce

1T tomato paste

1T lemon juice

1/4 C apple cider vinegar

salt / pepper

maybe some brown sugar depending on how sweet the onions are

Place the onions and a sprinkling of salt in a sauce pan and add the vinegar.

Cover and simmer until the onions are softened and becoming translucent.

While the onions are simmering, combine the horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and tomato paste in a bowl and stir until uniform in color and constancy.

Once onions are tender, add the sauce mixture to the pot and simmer until the onions are very soft and the liquid is reduced by 1/3 to 1/2. This depends on how juicy the onions are.

Give it a taste, if needed add some salt and pepper, and if the onions don't add some sweetness, add some sugar. You can use white, but I think the brown adds more depth of flavor.

Simmer a bit more and it's ready to serve.

It keeps up to 2 weeks sealed tightly in the fridge but can also be frozen for much longer.