Re: French Onion Soup

limey said:

Would you be kind enough to critique this recipe?

The recipe, as such, seems to be a perfectly good one. I wouldn't call
it really French, but it is close enough. BTW, I have never once posted
anything about non-authentic onion soup recipes being inferior. Very
often they are not and sometimes they are very good indeed.

Quoted message said:

Onion Soup

Recipe By :Fernande Garvin

3 medium onions -- thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups consommé (I used chicken broth)
3 1/2 cups water (I added 4 beef bouillon cubes)

I think the amount of bouillon cubes is a tad excessive.

Quoted message said:

1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup milk

Milk is certainly rather unusual in the recipe of this kind, but it
won't change the soup in any drastic way.

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1/4 pound grated Swiss cheese
6 slices French bread (not toasted) -- dried in oven
1/2 teaspoon or so thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter -- melted

[snip instructions]

Quoted message said:

Comments: If there is one French dish which is popular all over the
world, in all categories of restaurants, it is onion soup.

This may be true in America, but not in other countries, France not
excluded. In France, it is rare to find this kind of soup in places
other than bistros, bouchons, and occasionally country auberges and
relais routiers (truck stops). And even in those places it is not
really very widely encountered. In some regions, it is nearly
impossible to find. Even in Paris, if you go into a bistro hoping to
get onion soup, chances are you won't find it there. One needs to know
one's way around. In Germany, onion soup can be found only at a few
French places and occasionally in steakhouses, and hardly anywhere else.
I have never once seen it on the menu in Italy, but then I have never
eaten at a French restaurant there.

Victor

Victor Sack said:

limey said:

Would you be kind enough to critique this recipe?

The recipe, as such, seems to be a perfectly good one. I wouldn't
call it really French, but it is close enough.

Probably because I added the beef bouillon cubes! Good point - I'll try
cutting back from four to two.

It's a recipe which we enjoy very much. It is also the closest I have
found to the onion soup prepared locally here by a chef from
Alsace-Lorraine, which I found much more delicate in flavour than the
version containing caramelized onions. I also prefer the dried
baguette slices and cheese on top, rather than the gratinée version.
The latter is what is commonly served here.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Comments: If there is one French dish which is popular all over the
world, in all categories of restaurants, it is onion soup.

By way of explanation, the comments in the recipe were inserted by the
author, not I.

Quoted message said:

This may be true in America, but not in other countries, France not
excluded. In France, it is rare to find this kind of soup in places
other than bistros, bouchons, and occasionally country auberges and
relais routiers (truck stops). And even in those places it is not
really very widely encountered. In some regions, it is nearly
impossible to find. Even in Paris, if you go into a bistro hoping to
get onion soup, chances are you won't find it there. One needs to
know one's way around.

Victor

I never saw it on the menus in Paris or elsewhere; on the other hand, I
wasn't looking for it, either.

Dora

limey said:

Victor Sack said:

The recipe, as such, seems to be a perfectly good one. I wouldn't
call it really French, but it is close enough.

Probably because I added the beef bouillon cubes! Good point - I'll try
cutting back from four to two.

It was more because of the milk, actually. As to the bouillon cubes, I
just thought four is a bit too much, for just 3.5 cups of water plus
chicken stock and a bit of wine and milk. Rather too concentrated, I
would say.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Comments: If there is one French dish which is popular all over the
world, in all categories of restaurants, it is onion soup.

By way of explanation, the comments in the recipe were inserted by the
author, not I.

Yes, that was clear.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This may be true in America, but not in other countries, France not
excluded. In France, it is rare to find this kind of soup in places
other than bistros, bouchons, and occasionally country auberges and
relais routiers (truck stops). And even in those places it is not
really very widely encountered. In some regions, it is nearly
impossible to find. Even in Paris, if you go into a bistro hoping to
get onion soup, chances are you won't find it there. One needs to
know one's way around.

I never saw it on the menus in Paris or elsewhere; on the other hand, I
wasn't looking for it, either.

If the recipe is from the time when Les Halles market was still there,
it was indeed possible to find the soup more easily, mostly around the
market. It was indeed kind of fashionable for night revellers,
sometimes clad in dinner jackets, to go there and eat onion soup at 5 in
the morning, rubbing shoulders with blood-stained butchers. Now only a
couple of bistros open around the clock are left in the area, Pied de
Cochon being one of them.

Victor

And finally.....

I don't think I've ever had a GOOD French onion soup in a restaurant !

Bullion cubes and half-cooked onions,
Leftover beef gravy,
"mystery" cheese,
salad croutons floating in some sort of brown gel

I've given up !

The house chili is usually a safer bet.
<rj>