French Onion Soup-Does The Type Of Onion Matter?
OK. This isn’t a new recipe, or culinary breakthrough (in a home-cook kind of way). Or, maybe it is. I mean, sometimes we learn from our mistakes. But did I make one? You tell me.
This weekend I pulled a quart of French Onion Soup out of my freezer. I made a big batch several weeks ago, and was underwhelmed because my onions did not brown and caramelize as I would have liked-as they always had before in fact. We ate bowls of the French Onions Soup that day, and I saved the rest because as you can see, the recipe calls for ingredients that can add up if you don’t have them on hand. Why, I thought. Why are my onion so bleh?
The first thing that I can think of is that I used large Mayan onions; a sweet, white variety. I bought them in bulk at Costco and thought that not only would they be cheaper, but easier because I would have far less peeling and just less onions to process (as opposed to peeling far more smaller, yellow onions). We all hate the crying when chopping onions, right? I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried lighting a candle, running cold water, peeling as close to my range hood on full suck, in addition to biting on a wooden spoon (thanks Mario B. but as much as it works, I drool, so that’s out).
So, there’s the matter of a different type of onion. Maybe the water and sugar content of Mayans differs from yellow and red onions. The next thing I might have screwed up was adding salt to the pan shortly after I put the onion in. The onions seemed to release a lot water, lending to them steaming vs. browning. No matter how I adjusted the heat and gave it more time, those onions just were not going to caramelize. Shoot.
I went ahead and made the soup (which has been my favorite for years) but it lacked depth of flavor, and some of the onions just felt a bit slimy. It didn’t ruin the soup to the point that I ditched it, plus well, you put enough melted cheese on top of anything and it tasted good.
If anyone has insight into this less than stellar result with my onions, I would love to hear your opinions and experience with your favorite French Onion Soup recipe. I think perhaps next time, I will make Thomas Keller’s recipe from the Bouchon tome, or one of yours.
Thanks!
Well, i’ve never made it with Mayans, but I do usually make it with sweet onions, and I do add salt, so my question is-
How long did you cook them for? Alton Brown’s recipe (which I’ve used twice) has you put all of them in, not even bother stirring for the first 15 or 20 minutes, and they’ll take a good hour. And depending on the size pan you have, even longer.
So, in order for them the caramelize, the sugar has to burn. That means the water has to cook out. If the Mayans are more watery than other onions you’ve used, it may take even longer. If you weren’t using sweet onions, you could add a tablespoon or two of sugar to speed it all up, but sugar content shouldn’t be the problem………….
In any case, I do have some disagreements with later parts of Alton’s recipe, but the onion part has always worked for me.
Hi CosetTheTable…I cooked them for well over an hour. I usually see the process coming along with regards to browining. I’m thinking perhaps the water content is higher, and that I made matter worse by salting too soon. The sugar addition is a great idea.
Thanks!
Hi,
I’ve recently come across the recipe that beats all onion soup gratinée recipes.
I picked up Thomas Keller’s book, Bouchon and used his recipe. The key difference is that he insists that you caramelize the onions for 5 hours. Yep, FIVE long hours, but it makes a world of difference.
I hope this helps!
Hey there, just cruised in looking (and drooling over) recipes. Looking forward to reading more. In the meantime, I would have to concur that the onions just weren’t caramelized. My own admittedly non-foodie approach to french onion soup would probably make any real chef die of hysterical laughter, but it’s this: Throw thinly sliced onions and butter into a pan, cook on medium heat until the pan is dry. Then reduce heat and cover. Let simmer (unattended is fine) for an hour or two. When it’s all a gooey mass, remove cover and turn up heat to med-high to high, stirring constantly until all the liquid is gone and the onions brown.
Thanks, Justopia and Zia. I think you’re both right on about the onions. Hmm…can I commit to 5 hours of cooking onions? I think maybe so–on my smallest burner on very low. I have Bouchon, and drool over the pics of those onions. Keller has never steered me wrong before..!
I was just at Mortons steakhouse in Seattle about a month ago and had the most delicious onion soup. I keep telling myself to make it. Now, I have your recipe to try making it myself. Thank you!
Personally, I’ve never understood those instructions that say you can caramelize onions in an hour. Still, five hours seems a little extreme to me. Then again, I am supremely lazy.
make sure you are using the right pan in addition to the type of onion. A deep pot won’t let enough moisture out and the onions will do nothing but sweat. Also, don’t pile the onions on too thick. A wide, shallow skillet with no lid and only a single layer of onions will better allow them to carmelize. I use red onions on medium to medium low for about 75-90 minutes.
Thanks, Tina. I am going to use red onions for my next batch, and I should rethink my pan for browning too.
Hi there, I stumbled upon your blog and I’m enjoying reading something from another beltway local.
As far as the whole chopping onions/crying deal, put them in the fridge for an hour before you cut them. That slows down the chemical reaction that causes the eye-watering results.