Theron wrote:

> A different way of addressing traditional French Onion Soup was recently
> presented on America's Test Kitchen on PBS. Basically you roast the sliced
> onions at 400F covered. Then you brown them severely until you have a
> "fond" on the bottom of the pan. You do this several times, then cover
> with broth and serve. I tried this and came up with a mushy mess, though
> it tasted OK.

So you would prefer it if the onions in your onion soup were CRISP?


> I think preparing onion soup is probably better done in the traditional
> fashion, with a one step bowning of the ovens before adding the broth. If
> any try this I would certainly suggest "dice, rather than slice". For what
> it's worth here's the URL for the recipe:
> http://www.americastestkitchen.com/r...4746&iSeason=9

Hm. Well, our tastes differ, because I disagree with almost everything you
said there. Fond is LOADED with flavor; that's why so many pan sauces have
you scrape up the browned bits from the pan. Diced onions have more broken
cell walls, so they disintegrate when cooked for the long period of time
necessary to achieve very deep caramelization.

The history of that particular recipe was given on the episode of America's
Test Kitchen where they made the soup. A visitor from France wanted to show
how *he* made onion soup, which was in similar fashion to the recipe Cook's
Illustrated published, i.e., lengthwise slicing of the onions and multiple
deglazings. The test kitchen was astounded at the results, and set out to
refine and document the procedure. I made onion soup following their recipe
just a few weeks ago, and both Lin and I *loved* it. Were you using
less-than-stellar broth, perhaps?

The final result does have an unparalleled intense flavor of caramelized
onions, but yes, it is mushy. A friend of ours from another forum likened it
to onion confit, which I suppose is not too far from the mark.

The bottom line is that you didn't like it, and so you won't make it that
way again. I *did* like it, so that's the onion soup recipe I'll follow on
the once-a-year occasion that I make onion soup. That's the way kitchen
experimentation goes.

Bob