eel and trim your onions, then place them in a saucepan. Add enough water to come up, say, halfway up their height, together with some oil, salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of sugar and a dash of white wine vinegar. Allow the onions to simmer gently until the liquid has totally evaporated. At this point, the onion will begin to caramelize as the oil and sugar do their thing. Continue until the oinions are nicely browned and quite tender. Allow the onions to cool a bit before serving; they are also fine at room temperature.

Another method calls for boiling the onions for about 5 minutes in salted water, then browning them in oil (or lard) until brown, then adding the sugar and vinegar and seasonings at the end of their cooking period. This method provides a more assertive sweet and sour flavor.

Yet a third method is a kind of fusion of the two foregoing methods: simmer your onions in water and oil until the water evaporates and the onions are fully cooked. Then add your sugar and vinegar, together with salt and pepper, and until they are well amalgamated.