Jan 25 2009
a new way of cooking
I learned a lesson. I saw an episode of America’s Test Kitchen yesterday, in which they made French onion soup. Now, the caramelized onions and triple deglazing looked fantastic, so I decided I would make it for lunch today.
In the summer, I try to purchase the produce that looks good, and design my cooking around it. I really should be doing the same thing in the winter. This recipe calls for 6 large yellow onions, or 4 pounds of onions. My store only had small yellow onions and large white onions. So I decided to buy 2 white onions and a big bag of the little yellow onions.
I start chopping onions and realize the white onions are bad. Both of them. Most of the small onions are green in the middle, so they are old too. I’m getting annoyed at how many onions I’m peeling…I can chop onions quickly, but peeling just gets messy, especially when you have a small workspace and cutting board.
Now I’m swearing up a storm and yelling at myself for picking a dish before checking on the quality of the ingredients. Then I reminded myself that these onions all looked fine, and I made the decision not to go to another store to look for large yellow onions.
The onions are now in the oven and are giving off a scent so powerful that my eyes are watering! Once the are caramelized, it will all be worth it, but until then I will be sniffling and blinking much more than usual.
Oh well, the end product should be worth it. It’s an extremely cold day, and nothing is more satisfying than a warm, rich bowl of soup. And soup topped with a crouton and cheese? Now that is perfection.
I can’t say I’ve ever wondered how french onion soup was made… now I know it needs the oven for carmelizing. Yay trivia!
btw, how much soup are you supposed to get from FOUR pounds of onions??! Sounds like a lot 
You do get a lot of servings out of it! But you’d be surprised how much the onions cook down. They start by almost filling a 7 1/4 qt dutch oven; just before you add the water and broth, the onions barely cover the bottom of the cooking vessel.
At any rate, I have soup in the freezer and a big bowl to eat from all week long.