On 9/19/2010 10:33 PM, zxcvbob wrote:
> Menard's had 3 pound bags of onions for $1 this weekend. We already had
> plenty of onions but I bought a bag anyway, and I had a quart juicebox
> of beef broth in the pantry. So I made French Onion Soup.
>
> I sliced most of the bag of onions (they were the most pungent onions I
> think I've ever encountered) and sauteed them briefly in the bacon
> grease from cooking a few slices of peppered bacon for BLT's. Then
> transferred to a heavy small stockpot and added a couple of tablespoons
> of unsalted butter and a couple of bay leaves, covered, and cooked for a
> half hour. When I took the lid off, the onions had cooked way down and
> were swimming in liquid, and smelled a lot milder. I turned the heat way
> up and cooked (stirring frequently) until the water was all boiled away
> and the onions looked greasy and were starting to darken a little. I
> stirring in a heaping tablespoon of flour, then added the beef broth and
> little Kitchen Bouquet. Brought it to a full boil, covered and turned
> off the heat, and went to evening church.
>
> When I got home I tasted it and it needed a *little salt* (the beef
> broth was salty, but that was a lot of onions) so I added a small beef
> bouillon cube. I also added about a cup of dry red wine, a pinch of
> ground thyme, and some black pepper. Brought it to a full boil again,
> turned it down to a simmer for 5 minutes, then got me a bit bowl of it
> for supper. (I didn't have any croutons or stale French bread; I just
> grated some fresh Parmesan-like cheese on top)
>
> It's kind of amazing how much sugar was in those onions. You couldn't
> taste it when they were raw because they were so hot. The soup is kind
> of sweet. It was *too* sweet before I added the wine; the wine balanced
> it out a bit. (I was afraid the wine would make it worse)
>
> Bob

You ain't never gonna be allowed back in East Texas if this gets out.
You will be banned from there for eating heathern food. <G>