IngredientsVegetables
Schalotteshallot
Allium cepa var. aggregatum. It grows in a nest, several small bulbs under one skin, and tastes milder, sweeter and finer than the big kitchen onion.
That is why it lives in sauces: in the red wine sauce for beef fillet, in béarnaise, in vinaigrette. It almost dissolves as it sweats and never pushes to the front.
In Mexikoin Mexico
Chalote turns up in City Market and in gourmet shops, but not in every mercado and not all year.
Cebolla de cambray and cebollín are not shallots. One is a young onion with green tops, the other is chives or spring onion. They taste different and will not stand in.
Ersatzwhat to use
Dice white onion very finely and use a little less than the recipe says. Otherwise the onion bite gets in front of the sauce.
Sweat it slowly in butter until it goes clear, with no colour. That time in the pan takes the edge off and brings it close to a shallot.