Sometimes, the simplest things can be made so complicated by someone who doesn't quite get it!A good example is onion soup. One of the simplest things in the world to make right, yet there are hundreds of arcane alchemical variations involving parmesan cheese, sherry wine, darkening agents, boullion cubes...okay, so you can throw in a bouliion cube.
When I apprenticed as a chef at the Hillcrest Hotel in Toledo back in 1969, it had pretensions of being a grand restaurant. I guess in Toledo, at that time, they really went the extra yard to present a fancy menu. Fresh sea food was flown in to Toledo Express Airport so we could feature fresh oysters and lobster. There was a glorious salad bar and dessert table. Chef Bob even did ice sculpture. I got to indulge my artistic talents by being free rein to design the salmon presentation.
But onion soup? Forget it, they didn't have a clue. Ususally it was a good excuse to send me out to the bar to get some sherry. I would come back with an open bottle, some would go into the soup and the rest would go into the assistant chef, Al. The resulting mess to my taste was inedible. Salty, bitter, over flavoured mix of artificial onion soup mix and rubbery burnt parmesan...I could never understand why any one would order this gunk.
Then my wife, Janet, made me real onion soup, explaining
to me that when she was really poor, this is what they ate. It was so good and I couldn't believe it was so simple!
Just take about three or four medium sized onions and cut them into fine rounds. Melt some good butter in a soup pot and saute the onions in the butter until they start getting color. Dust them with flour and add some butter if it seems dry. The flour, onions and butter has to carmelize a bit, this is the color of the soup and the carmelization releases the sweetness of the onions.
Add water and stir good to get everything unstuck from the bottom of the pot. Salt and Pepper to taste. If you wanted a little more flavor, you could add a boulion cube here, but you will be surprised at how much natural flavor the soup has already. Simmer for a half hour. Now for the part that turns it into an event. Ladle the soup into oven proof bowls and float a piece of toasted baguette on top. Cover that with grated Ementhal or Gruyere cheese and put under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese melts and starts to turn brown.
Yes, wj, you could use spring onions if you wish...but once they are cooked all onions have a nutty sweetness.
Bon apetit, bien sur!
2 comments:
Bon appetit! I am always partial to recipes from Molly Katzen (Moosewood Cookbook). Here's hers:
5 cups thinly sliced onions
6 tbs. butter
1 qt. stock or water
1 tbs tamari
3 tbs dry white wine
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
dash of thyme
few dashes of white pepper
salt to taste
Cook the onions and some optional garlic, lightly salted, in the butter in a kettle. Cook them until very but not too brown (med heat). Add mustard and thyme. Mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Cook slowly, covered, for at least 30 minutes. Serve topped with croutons and grated gruyere chesse.
Glass City Gourmet, your recipe sounds very good. It has a lot of ingredients in it. My point in this piece is that real peasant style onion soup is made from next to nothing. This is the classic soup served in bistros and cafes with melted cheese and bread.
Sometimes we are simply gilding the lily. I'm kind of an iconoclast about some things, we should talk about mustard some day!
Post a Comment