Unless the dish relies on the flavor of caramelized onions, I just go with lesser cooking time.

These guys say baking soda turns it into sludge.

Those quoted recipes don't mention baking soda.

In which case the layer of deceit is the conceit that the editors of popular cookbooks can spot and will correct obvious BS.

Certainly editors don't write cookbooks. But they decide what to publish. I personally think the essay is correct. My followup on this thread is that even if the essay isn't correct, there are still other "layers of deceit" to consider.

The top-level of this thread was dexwiz's statement "I don't think recipes lie". I pointed out how that statement doesn't jibe with the presented evidence. moistly followed up that it wasn't a lie, but ignorance "by people who don’t know what they are doing."

My observation is that if we accept that the authors aren't lying, but are simply incompetent, then a different layer of deceit arises - the belief that cooking columns in national newspapers and cookbooks by reputable publishing companies will have enough oversight and not publish recipes 'by people who don’t know what they are doing'.

2. None of them will ever list baking soda because it will affect the taste in a horrible way.