Reference point
A batch of shallots just fried golden, smelled as soon as they come out of the oil.
Do this before you read on. An entry only works when you have just smelled the thing.
Sweet, fatty, with a light scorch and a lingering pungent layer behind. It spreads very fast and very far.
Raw shallot and fried shallot have almost nothing in common. Raw shallot is pungent and sharp because of its sulphur compounds; with heat those compounds break down and recombine into an entirely new group, sweet and fatty. It is one of the clearest examples of heat not releasing a smell but creating one.
The line between golden fried shallots and burnt ones is so narrow it is measured in seconds, just like caramel.
How to smell it
Fry a batch of shallots in hot oil. Smell at three moments: when the shallots go in, when they turn golden, and when they begin to brown. Write one word each time. The three words will be completely different.
Why this one is hard
Because this smell is tied so tightly to hunger. The physiological reflex comes before analysis, and most people who try will describe the craving instead of the smell.
Don’t confuse with
This entry
Fried shallots
Gourmand family
Fried shallots have disulphides, giving a sweet oniony note; pork crackling has lactones and aldehydes, giving an animal-fat note. Smelled separately they are clear; mixed in a bowl they blend into one.
Scientific note
Raw shallots contain volatile sulphur compounds that make your eyes sting. Under heat they break down and recombine into disulphides that smell sweet and fatty. That is why fried shallots are fragrant while raw ones are pungent: not the same compound at two concentrations but two different groups of compounds, one born from the other.
In Vietnamese life
Fried shallots are scattered over dozens of Vietnamese dishes, from sticky rice to rice porridge to steamed rice rolls. They are almost always made on the spot rather than bought ready-made, because the fat oxidises very quickly and fried shallots kept overnight smell clearly rancid.