Week 19: Caramelization - Ostrich Steak with Caramelized Onions & Carrots [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: Break out Grandad's old candy jar, this week is Caramel! Caramelization is the browning of sugars, as opposed to The Maillard Reaction which is the browning of proteins and amino acids, like roasting a chicken or searing a steak. Even Wikipedia claims that caramelization is "a complex, poorly understood process", so it's hard to explain exactly. However, the cooking of sugars creates a richer, nuttier flavor that goes great in sweet and savory dishes alike! A few savory recipes to get you started, or try some of these sweet classics! And to get you in the mood, a little Def Leppard!

I was originally planning on making this with bison steak, but the ostrich happened to look way better at the farmer's market this week. This was my first time cooking ostrich. It sears very quickly because of how lean it is, so I was convinced I had completely ruined the steaks and burnt them through. However, after cooking about 4-5 minutes on each side, they came out deliciously!
I cararmelized the sweet onion first in some oil, tossing and mixing until they had a nice golden color. Then I added the chopped carrots tossed in oil to the pan and let them just sit for a few minutes until the bottoms were caramelized.