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

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> 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)

That is pretty much how I make my onions soup Yummm

--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> 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)


Wine does work but cognac works a lot better. Sweet onions really do have a
lot of sugar in them. The cognac does a wonderful job of melding the sugar
with the other flavors.

Paul

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>

zxcvbob wrote:

> 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)

It was probably Cook's Illustrated or the like that featured onion soup
and immediately discovered that Vidalia onions made an unpleasantly
sweet soup. I'm not saying you used them, just I can picture that
wouldn't be the desired result.

nancy

On 9/20/2010 7:11 AM, Nancy Young wrote:
> zxcvbob wrote:
>
>> 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)
>
> It was probably Cook's Illustrated or the like that featured onion soup
> and immediately discovered that Vidalia onions made an unpleasantly
> sweet soup. I'm not saying you used them, just I can picture that
> wouldn't be the desired result.
>
> nancy
>

Not Vidalias, these were small yellow onions with a thick papery skin.
Maybe from a regional grower, I dunno. When I was peeling and slicing
them, Wife complained from across the house that her eyes were burning
(and she was probably right; they were making me sneeze)

Bob

On 9/20/2010 6:49 AM, George Shirley wrote:
>
> 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>

Hmmm, I thought the bacon grease would make it OK. ;-)

Bob