This past week I cooked something that made me question my mission of cooking at home.
I love to cook. I can make a complete healthy and tasty dinner in less time than it takes to get in the car and go through the drive-through. It does help that I have many years of experience, and I keep my kitchen stocked with meat, grains, and fresh vegetables on most days of the week. But usually, it is simpler for me to cook for my family and myself that it is to go out to eat, and it tastes better too.
I also make things from scratch that are easy to buy at the store, like hot sauce and bread. But once you learn the techniques, they are simple and very rewarding to make on your own.
But what if I shouldn’t be cooking everything? Where is the reward if I can buy it for significantly less money and still get the same quality?
With quality being a critical factor in this decision, I found myself several hours into making French Onion soup and wondered what I was doing.
I had a bowl of French Onion Soup at Panera a few months ago and was eager to recreate this classic soup at home. I made French Onion soup as part of our menu in the first kitchen restaurant that I ever worked in, so there is a bit of nostalgia. I had never made this soup before this job, and I was in awe of the way that 4-5 common ingredients can transform with time and effort.
This soup is a perfect example of how culinary knowledge is more important than a recipe. If you gave ten people the recipe, you would end up with ten different results, and only 1 or 2 of them will achieve the same results as someone with culinary skill.
The basics of making French Onion soup is that you take onions, beef stock, wine or dry sherry and salt and transform those ingredients into something better than what you started with. I bit of thyme is good, and people will occasionally embellish it with a secret ingredient, but there is not much more to it. To complete the dish, top it with croutons and Gruyere cheese, then melt the cheese under the broiler.
So the inspiration started with some homemade beef broth in my kitchen. I had some beef scraps that had a lot of sinew, and as the weather cools down, I don’t mind a simmering pot of water on the stove, so that was step one. The cost is probably less than a dollar for the 4 quarts of stock I made.
Then came the onions. In the fall, the harvested onions from spring start to send out shoots in their effort to start another generation. But in the kitchen, this means that they need to be cooked or frozen for the future. So, I salvaged the last of onions from the garden and spent a few minutes cleaning out the bits that were a little too old. The cost of the onions adds on another dollar, mostly in my time.
So to make the soup, I put a little olive oil in the pan, and begin the process of caramelizing the onions. Caramelizing onions sound easy, but you need to have about an hour that you can spend in the kitchen, stirring the pot every few minutes. It’s the perfect task to do while you are doing something else in the kitchen. If needed, you can turn off the heat and then walk away, but don’t leave them cooking if you aren’t there!
Once the onions are cooked, the rest is easy, add some thyme and your wine, let the wine evaporate and add your beef stock and let the soup simmer for about an hour. Time spent simmering is essential to let the flavors come together. Then season the soup with salt and pepper.
For serving the soup, you’ve got to have the croutons. I always have extra bread in my home, so the acquisition of this is easy, but making croutons takes me about 10 minutes of watching the toaster oven, so I don’t burn them. One day I might figure out a system, but I am an expert in burned toast, and my only answer so far is to stare at them and meditate.
Now after all of these simple steps, I am enjoying my homemade soup and wondering, “what in the hell was I doing?” My soup took me about two hours, not even counting the 6 hours of simmering beef broth, and on top of that, I spent $5 on the Gruyere, (which is totally worth it).
But do I really want to go through all this work for a bowl of soup?
Given the fact that I know I can buy it for less money and save all of the time and energy, what I am thinking about making this for myself?
It is rewarding to make it all yourself, but I could have made enough soup to feed 15-20 people in the same amount of time, not just 4 servings. There are economies of scale that would enhance the value of the soup by making more of it at the same time.
There is a bit of alchemy going on when making a dish like this, but at the same time, cooking isn’t rocket science, and French Onion soup is included in the knowledge that most chefs have mastered.
My desire to cook for myself often comes down to the quality of the product that I can make. Once people start to cook for themselves, you learn that you can make food better than you can buy it. I always encourage everyone to critically taste their food and eat things that they like. So if you can buy the same quality for less cost, it is okay to enjoy someone else’s labors. But if you feel like cooking, the recipe is below.
French Onion Soup
- 5-6 Onions (red, white or yellow doesn’t matter)
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 cup wine or dry sherry
- 1 quart beef stock/broth or vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon salt (if using store bought broth, taste first and use less salt)
- fresh ground pepper to taste
- 2 cups croutons
- 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
Slice the onions lengthwise. In a large pot, cook the onions with the oil over medium low heat until the onions are brown. (Occasionally add a little water if necessary to keep from burning.) Add the thyme and wine and reduce the wine until it is nearly all evaporated. Add the beef stock and let it simmer for one hour. Add the salt and taste. When ready to serve, add fresh ground pepper. Top with croutons and Gruyere cheese and melt the cheese under the broiler.
This post was originally published October 15, 2019 at thewoodencuttingboard.net