FFwD - Cheese Topped Onion Soup Part Deux

Delicious Cheese Topped Onion Soup!

NOW I see what some of the other French Friday cooks were raving about!  Its all in the caramelizing of the onions.  If the onions don't go through that long, slow caramelizing process the flavor just isn't there.  I opted for a combination of vegetable and beef broths, but I DO see how the chicken broth would be good, lighter, maybe a good summer soup if you like soup in summer and I do!

In my first attempt with this recipe I didn't have time to let the onions cook.  I turned the heat down too low and after 2.5 hours I finally got a CLUE and turned the fire up but it was too late.  I had places to go and people to see (also known as meeting a friend for drinks) so I gave up, fried the onions and put them on burgers.

Other than the time involved in caramelizing this soup is easy and comes together really fast once the onions are done.  I loved it!

FFwD - Cheese-Topped Onion Soup

My first French Friday fail!  Oh we've enjoyed some of the dishes more than others.  Maybe one component of a dish was not our favorite but this is the first time we just didn't get it all.  Simply did not work for us...in its first incarnation that is!  So I tried to deconstruct it.  What do you do with 4 pounds of cooked onions?  I don't know about the rest of the world but if you're from Oklahoma you think Onion Burgers!

Oklahoma Style French Onion Burger!

I had some questions about the recipe from the beginning.  This was one time I REALLY needed the P&Q section we used to have!  Not complaining...I know Laurie has a whole life apart from us...I'm just saying.  In studying other recipes and calling on experience I think the problem was two fold for me.  My onions didn't caramelize, not even after close to 3 HOURS!  And I used a big pot,  like 7 or 9 quarts.  The other issue was the chicken broth.  I wondered how to get the full rich flavor of a delicious soup using chicken broth but I decided to try it.  I felt like I needed to roast beef bones and then gently simmer for hours.  If Dorie says you can get a delicious soup using chicken stock (and she has said French cooks often using bouillon cubes for broth) I was willing to try it with packaged stock.

What I learned is you can probably do that with deeply caramelized onions as the recipe calls for but not with onions that have cooked but not caramelized...after almost 3 HOURS!  What's THAT about?  I think I just had too many onions at too low a temp.  Yes, I said too low.  I hope to try the recipe again this weekend using 1/2 the onions and beef stock.  I can't wait to see what the other French Friday cooks experienced.  This is a resourceful bunch that always seem to pull off success after success!

In the words of the Seinfeld Soup Nazi "No soup for you!" I mean us.  We're stuck eating delicious French Onion Burgers:)