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Originally Posted by weatherc
I had seen that episode of Good Eats before. The only problem was that I couldn't remember if Alton had said that this was the true, traditional way to serve the soup.
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Here's what he had to say while preparing the dish:
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Preheat your oven to broil and set the top rack so it's about six inches from the hot stuff. Now, you're gonna need oven-proof bowls. Or better yet, crocks. I picked these up for a song at a restaurant supply store just so I could make French onion soup. Now before you buy or bake any bread make sure the slices are gonna be wide enough to span the mouth of the crock. That way, you can kinda punch out rounds. Bingo! Instant crouton.
Now, to assemble our masterpiece, first thing I want to do is ladle it into the crock, but only until we get to about an inch from the edge. You gotta leave room for the lid. Then take one of the croutons and make sure you put the toasted edge down onto the soup.
Finish is just a matter of sprinkling on lots of cheese. Now I prefer a one-two punch, kind of a combination of grated Parmesan and maybe a smooth, melting cheese like Fontina. If you like the stringy stuff, go with mozzarella, but try grating it with a little bit of lemon juice first. The acid will keep those proteins from making those long, nasty strings.
Once you've got it built, under the broiler for a minutes, two tops. You want to melt the cheese, not brown it.
Now. this might not be pretty to watch, but, this is how you eat French onion soup. The important thing is to get a bite of cheese toast with every spoonful.
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A chunk of the description (about 50%) was devoted to the croutons and cheese and proper preparation before and once these were added. Therefore it's pretty obvious that he considers these as essential ingredients of French onion soup. I know I do, even though that might disagree with the opinion of one person who wrote a culinary dictionary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by weatherc
I also couldn't remember if he had his resident Nutritional Anthropologist speak about the soup in that episode, or not.
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Deborah Duchon (referred to verbally as "Culinary Anthropologist" while being identified by a graphic as "Nutritional Anthropologist") showed up, but provided information only on the history of onions in the Americas.
When it comes to soups made from this particular plant group, my preference is the leek.
21-October-2007, 10:22 AM
Re: A question about French onion soup
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