Onions have been cultivated for at least 7,000 years. They’re one of the most common ingredients in almost every cuisine. So when Gabino “Bino” Ottoman of the Ruin Daily challenged Adam Wendt, chef at the soon-to-open Wicker Park restaurant the Delta, to build a dish around yellow onions, Wendt had his work cut out for him. “It’s kind of a crazy ingredient to be challenged with, because it literally goes into everything,” he says. “It was just figuring what I wanted to do, and then trying to throw as much onion at it as I could.”
His overall goal was to keep the dish light, Wendt says. “It’s hard to do with onion after you cook it, because it gets such a savory-sweet flavor it’s hard to cut through that richness.” It worked out, though. “Onion definitely comes through. Every single component of the dish was hit with onion in some form or another, so if it didn’t come through I didn’t really do a good job. But it’s there, big time.”
Dredge 250 g chicken livers 200 g AP flour 10 g kosher salt 2 g black pepper 2 g Old Bay 1 g onion powder 1 g garlic powder 1 g smoked hot paprika 1 g cayenne 450 g buttermilk 10 g Dijon
Roast onions at 325 degrees until soft, about 45 minutes to an hour. Puree and cool. Add roasted onion, onion powder, garlic, Dijon, sugar, salt, and vinegar to food processor and emulsify. Pulse in egg yolks. Stream in oil until thick.
