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I'm thinking, French onion soup.

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    I'm thinking, French onion soup.

    The weather is going to be nasty today, and tomorrow. That's good soup weather.

    I've never made this, but how hard can it be? Caramelize some onions, add some broth, and season it. Top with crusty bread and cheese, and broil it.

    I looked at a lot of recipes online. I have most of the ingredients for all of them, but there isn't any recipe where I have all of the ingredients. But on the other hand, if there are so many recipes, and they all seem to be pretty good, I should be able to come up with SOMETHING.

    I don't have any sherry. But many recipes call for vermouth, dry white, or dry red wine. I have the red and the white.

    Some recipes call for beef stock, some call for chicken stock. I have chicken stock, and I have Better Than Bullion beef paste.

    I got lots of Gruyere cheese. I have a nice baguette getting slightly stale. French onion soup, here we come!

    #2
    Go for it!

    Comment


      #3
      Did you run across the three articles on seriouseats? This one is sort of the "rationale" article. There's a link to the guy's recipe in it. And there's a third one by Kenji that uses a pressure cooker to reduce the caramelization time to 1/2 hour. Seems the theme is "simpler is better". https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/01/...elization.html

      Let us know how it comes out!

      Comment


      • Attjack
        Attjack commented
        Editing a comment
        I watched the video and realized I've never had French onion soup and I'm definitely missing out.

      • EdF
        EdF commented
        Editing a comment
        Attjack - seeing the kinds of things you cook, I'm sure you'll love it.

      • Henrik
        Henrik commented
        Editing a comment
        Yep, you're gonna love it for sure!

      #4
      Keys to French onion soup for me:

      1) TONS of onions, well caramelized. Use some butter in the skillet.
      2) Good, deep, rich homemade stock. I use beef, but some use chicken. Chicken w/ BTB might just work. Watch the salt.
      3) I deglaze w/ some brandy
      4) I use a bit of white wine too (maybe 2/3 cup), but don't use too much so as to not dilute the stock.
      5) Leftover FOS is a great start for a stew.

      A note on the onions: Last week when I made FOS, I tried using a CrockPot to caramelize the onions. I'd read you just throw in a wad of butter and let 'em stew all day. WRONG! The onions were badly textured--firm, one might say "al dente", even crunchy almost. If anyone has used a CrockPot successfully, I'd love to hear about where I might have gone wrong. Meantime, I'll just know that I need to spend an hour or more on the onions.

      Comment


        #5
        I was thinking of using the Instant Pot, but it doesn't look like it saves that much time, and results are inconsistent. I don't have any brandy, or port, or sherry. The weather is going to be bad today and I won't be able to get out to get some (at work now).

        Comment


        • Willy
          Willy commented
          Editing a comment
          I think the main thing is the rich stock; it'll work out fine! Get the onions done stove top,add some minced garlic at the end, add stock and maybe some thyme (a splash of balsamico might be good), simmer for an hour, put into crocks, add bread/cheese and broil 'til gooey. Enjoy!

        #6
        I love French Onion Soup! So good, and it doesn't take long to cook. I use chicken broth and some white wine. But there are many variations. Good choice!

        Comment


          #7
          Sounds like a delicious cold weather treat!

          Lookin forward to seein how ya make it yer own, with what's available...

          Main, yer house is gonna be all kinda smellin good, today!

          Comment


            #8
            Call me when yer done. I’ll bring my own spoon. 😎

            Comment


              #9
              Funny thing my daughter just called me the other day and asked if I ever made French Onion soup and I said no but it's been on my radar for awhile. She was going to make the Pioneer Woman's recipe which sounds darn good.

              Comment


              • Mosca
                Mosca commented
                Editing a comment
                I'm going to use part of that recipe, actually. I'm going to use that ratio of beef broth to chicken broth. And that much white wine.

                But I'm also going to use some fish sauce, some thyme, a bay leaf, some balsamic vinegar. I'm going to mix sweet, red, and yellow onions. The heck with shallots, they are too much of a PITA.

              • RonB
                RonB commented
                Editing a comment
                I've tried several of her recipes - they have all been good.

              #10
              Do NOT use canned beef stock. Too thin and too salty. IMHO, that is.

              Comment


              • Mosca
                Mosca commented
                Editing a comment
                I made some beef soup about a month ago. I agree. But you can take that canned broth and add the Better Than Bullion to it, and it is amazing!

              • Willy
                Willy commented
                Editing a comment
                @Mosca: Not too salty?

              • Mosca
                Mosca commented
                Editing a comment
                Naw, it was really good. I didn't use canned stock, it was the stuff in the carton.

              #11
              I make this all time time and folks that eat it RAVE about it. Keys for me:
              1. Caramelize in small batches and cook them med low until they are the color of dark caramel. Deglaze the pan between each batch with vermouth.
              2. I use 1/2 beef and 1/2 chicken stock.
              Last edited by PappyBBQ; January 19, 2019, 03:26 PM.

              Comment


                #12
                Originally posted by EdF View Post
                Did you run across the three articles on seriouseats? This one is sort of the "rationale" article. There's a link to the guy's recipe in it. And there's a third one by Kenji that uses a pressure cooker to reduce the caramelization time to 1/2 hour. Seems the theme is "simpler is better". https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/01/...elization.html

                Let us know how it comes out!
                My stepdaugter made Kenji's Pressure Cooker Onion soup recipe and it was awful! If you read some of the comments, you'll see that several people had the same experience that she did. After the "caramelization" step in the pressure cooker, all the onions had turned to mush and there was a ton of liquid. It was amazing how bad it was, from a texture standpoint. I was there and tried to help her salvage the recipe by reducing the liquid but it was pretty much mushy soup no matter what we did.

                One key for good onions in French Onion Soup is to slice the onions at least 1/4 inch thick (I usually do 3/8 inch) from pole to pole, not crosswise. The onions tend to hold their shape better when sliced pole to pole and 1/4 inch thick.

                I caramelize onions in my crock pot, using a modified version of an America's Test Kitchen recipe from their slow cooker cookbook that I own. The key is to par cook the sliced onions in the microwave with a little butter and salt to get a jump on eliminating some of the liquid so the caramelization can start.

                I've put my recipes for Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions and for French Onion soup (which is a mash up of Julia Child's famous recipe, Ina Garten's, and a few tricks of my own) over on the recipe page and come back here and post a link to it.

                I use homemade beef bone broth exclusively for the soup.

                Here's the link to my recipe for French Onion Soup using Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions

                It's not as labor-intensive as it looks. I caramelize the onions and make the beef bone broth on one day and assemble and simmer the soup the next.

                Kathryn
                Last edited by fzxdoc; January 19, 2019, 03:12 PM.

                Comment


                • EdF
                  EdF commented
                  Editing a comment
                  OK. Thanks for the course-correction and the detailed recipe!

                #13
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                About 20 minutes of simmering to go.

                I used 3 pounds of onions, a quart of chicken stock, a quart of beef stock, a little bottle of Pinot Grigio, a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon of cider vinegar, a teaspoon of fish sauce, half a teaspoon of dried thyme, a bay leaf. So far, so good.

                Comment


                • Willy
                  Willy commented
                  Editing a comment
                  I like the fish sauce idea. I'd bet that a dab of miso or two might be OK as well.

                #14
                Click image for larger version

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                Comment


                • fzxdoc
                  fzxdoc commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Looks soooo good, Mosca. Congrats.

                  Kathryn

                #15
                The last thing I did, because it just seemed to be missing something... I added 1/8 teaspoon of Accent.

                That son of a gun EXPLODED with flavor. Highly recommended.

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