On Jun 12, 4:38*am, "Mr. Bill" > wrote:
> We have been taste testing shallots vs. onions, red onions and green
> onions. These tastings have been with fresh and sauteed. * *Can you
> legitimately taste the difference if you didn't know what you were
> tasting? * *I have difficulty.

You mean you sautee them by itself? I never tried that. But, using
shallots versus onion in Asian cooking makes quite difference in
flavor. May be we're used to using shallots. If fact, back home, I
grew up knowing the English name onion for what's actually shallots.
In US, I learned that shallots was the English name for what we called
onion. In another word, my family never bought or used what's called
onions or red onions.

Since my family is not Chinese - there are a lot of Chinese there, we
don't use green onion heavily. The common use was to sprinkle it
(along with thinly sliced and washed shallots) over a noodle dish
eaten with sauce made of chicken and coconut milk. This dish is a
version of a dish originated in Chiang Mai, Thailand and is available
in Thai restaurants in US.

The cuisine in the northern part of the country not far from China
probably uses green onion more commonly. I am not too familir with
those dishes, not even the noodle ones which are popular in the big
cities because these were commonly sold in smaller restaurants (not
roadside), not in finer restaurants and my family didn't eat in those
places. These days, I think those dishes have become more prevalently
available in finer restaurants.