> cook the onions for 20 minutes, then quibble about whether "caramelizing" is the scientifically-correct word.
Except that this is wrong. It makes a world of difference in how the recipe tastes. And you have to be a relatively experienced cook to know to flag this.
"Cooked" onions are generally soft but still acrid.
"Caramelized" onions are starting to get hard again because of browning and are sweet with no acrid flavor at all.
Those are two VERY different flavor profiles.
And that's before we get to the point that we have to wait 40 extra minutes for the caramelized onions while everything else is waiting because you expected that it only took 20.
No, I know there's a difference, what I'm saying is that any recipe that says "caramelize the onions for 20 minutes" means cook the onions for 20 minutes.
I gather you think very poorly of chefs and recipe writers, but, really, no recipe-writer tests a recipe by cooking the onions for an hour and then writes "20 minutes" to try and win some speed sweepstakes.
Except that this is wrong. It makes a world of difference in how the recipe tastes. And you have to be a relatively experienced cook to know to flag this.
"Cooked" onions are generally soft but still acrid.
"Caramelized" onions are starting to get hard again because of browning and are sweet with no acrid flavor at all.
Those are two VERY different flavor profiles.
And that's before we get to the point that we have to wait 40 extra minutes for the caramelized onions while everything else is waiting because you expected that it only took 20.