Smoked pickled onions

Ingredients for 4 persons:

4 roscoff onions
50 ml white wine vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
salt
50 ml unfiltered apple juice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
100 g beech chips

Preparation:

Peel the onion with a knife, cut into quarters and fry lightly on all sides in a hot pan. Let the sugar caramelise, then quickly pour in the apple juice and vinegar. Toss the onions in the pan for about two minutes, then place in a bowl and leave to cool.

Heat the beech chips in a metal pot and use a standard Bunsen burner to make them glow. Then hang the onions in a mesh basket over the heated pot and cover with foil. After about 30 minutes return the onions to the marinade and add salt.