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French onion soup

2015-02-22 and many others

This is the traditional French recipe, which is a bit more involved than the simplified version.

I don't do this very often. Unless you dry-cook them, it can take a long time to dry the onions sufficiently before they start to caramelize.

Use regular yellow onions for this. The oversize sweet Texas onions are so sweet that they don't need to be caramelized, possibly even should not. It makes the soup too sweet, even unpleasantly so.

A word of warning:
Some people may have problems with onion soup. Until you know for sure that you are not one of those people, better stay close to a bathroom for a few hours after you have sampled this. Onion soup can produce a lot of gas and for some it may even be an explosively powerful laxative.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for per serving:

• 1 large sweet onion
• 1 pint of beef stock
• 1 slice of bread,
  preferably toasted
• ½ cup shredded melting cheese
• S&P

Pic1: French onion soup, mix up that goodness

Directions

 

Pic2: slice onions in thin wedges
Pic3: caramelize — about halfway here
Pic4: add stock, simmer

• Cut off top and bottom of the onion. Peel any dry skirts.
• Cut the onion in half horizontally; then cut those halves once vertically.
• Cut each of those quarters into thin wedges from the outside to the center.
  Slice as thin as possible. That will speed up caramelization.
• The fastest way:
  • Toss the onions in a hot skillet without oil.
  • Stir and toss constantly to prevent from burning.
    The onions will cook dry very quickly and turn sticky, golden-yellow.
• The easier way, less destructive for your frying pan: 
  • Use oil or butter to start the onions.
    Caramelization will take considerably longer because the temperature is lower. The onions need to dry before the temperature will rise to the 425 ºF required for sugar to caramelize.
    A spoonful of sugar or bouillon powder makes it easier, but the risk of burning is much greater.
  • Stir-fry in small enough quantities to keep the pan very hot without burning the onions.
    If you can't keep the pan dry, you'll stew the onions instead of caramelizing them.
  • You're done when the onions have been reduced in volume to a fraction of the original, turn golden-yellow and become very sticky.
• Add the stock to the onions.
• Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 30 minutes. (Pic4)

 

Pic5: serve in bowl
Pic6: add toast
Pic7: cheese au gratin

• Serve in a large oven-proof bowl. (Pic5)
• Add toast and cheese. (Pic6)
• Melt in the microwave or under the broiler. (Pic7)
• Stir it all together now and enjoy the goodness. (Pic1)

 

 

---

a very dense onion soup

 When I prepare onion soup this way, I tend to make it a lot denser, more onions with less water than with the stewing method. This soup was prepared in the same way as above but with 3 large onions and only about 1 quart of water. The bread absorbed almost all the liquid.

Directions

2020-09-25

Pic8-10: cooking

• Stir-fry the onions until starting to darken.
• Add 1 quart of water.

 

Pic11-13: serving

• Serve the soup in a large bowl.
• Add toasted bread.
• Add shredded cheese.

 

Pic14-16: served

• Melt the cheese. Mix it up. Enjoy. (Pic14+15)
• Next day, I added a little sauerkraut  to the leftovers.
  The added sour was an unusual combination, but very edible.

 

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