Savoury Onions

There is in every cook’s opinion,

No savoury dish without an onion;

But lest your kissing should be spoiled

The onion must be thoroughly boiled.

—Dean Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Raw leeks and wild onions sustained the Celts before the potato was known—the leek is the national symbol of Wales—and the ancient Egyptians elected the onion one of their many gods. (Those poor old polytheistic Egyptians ha