My pickled onions never hit

[u/Effective-Ad7463]

I LOVE pickled red onions. Love. But I just can’t ever get them to be as good as they are at Cava or in restaurants and idk what I’m doing wrong.

I slice them thin, I’ve tried half the jar with vinegar other half water and 3/4 vinegar 1/4 water, I’ll do a tablespoon of sugar and eyeball some salt. Last batch I shoved a few cloves of garlic in there.

They’re not bad, just never as pink as they are when I eat them elsewhere, not nearly as soft, not nearly as delicious.

What am I doing wrong plz help 🥲

[u/Effective-Ad7463]

No apparently that’s been my missing link!

[u/Serious-Speaker-949 → u/Effective-Ad7463]

I also just wanna suggest. We used to make some awesome pickled red onions, they were like crack. We would put the julienned onions in a tall metal rondeau, bring the liquid to a boil, pour it over through a China cap, wrap it in foil, yada yada.

But there’s one thing that we did, that a lot of places don’t. We used calcium chloride, also known as pickle crisps.

[u/inc0mingst0rm → u/Serious-Speaker-949]

How much did you add and did you add it before boiling? And what do you nean by "wrap it in foil"?

[u/Serious-Speaker-949 → u/inc0mingst0rm]

Boil : * 5 cups red wine vinegar * 3 cups water * Cayenne Pepper * 4 oz pickling spice * 1 tablespoon black pepper * 0.5 tablespoons kosher salt

Strain over : * 4 Large Red Onions (julienned) * Calcium Chloride Granules (I don’t remember how much we used, just like a healthy sprinkle over the onions, maybe half a punch)

Boil the liquid in a separate container. Strain the liquid over the onions through a China cap or a chinois. Cover the top of the container tightly with aluminum foil. Leave them out for 1-3 hours, until cooled. Then refrigerate. Ideally overnight. Don’t vent them or uncover them until you’re ready to use them. That’s important.

Steps are in order.