Culinary Masterclass 2 - Taster - Soup of the Day
Hurrah - a new Cookery Course!
Aaron returns to kick the course off with his unusual take on a traditional French Onion Soup:
Aaron eschews reducing his onions until they are collapsed and nicely caramelised, this being where most onion soups get their colour and flavour. He prefers to stop cooking them just as soon as they've lost their rawness but are still bone-white.
He's also dead against using any butter to cook the onions, which seems essential for any decent amount of caramelisation. He says it makes them slimy.
The colour in Aaron's soup comes from the use of a heavily reduced beef stock, much like gravy browning. Yum!
In fact I've not been able to find a single recipe online which makes French Onion Soup this way. The closest recipe seems to be this one from Epicurious which dry-fries the onions for only 15 minutes. Though it does still direct for them to be caramelized. Phew!
Most recipes spend around an hour melting their onions, and Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame sweats his for five hours!
So there.
Aaron also resists adding any alcohol to his soup, which would make any true Frenchman cry.
White wine, port or sherry are popular, while Le Gavroche adds cider.
So, a very controversial approach.
But he did work in a Parisian Bistro which he explains made, and sold, gallons of their soup just like this every day. So who am I to argue?
Aaron mentioned one tip which caught my attention:
He suggest that when making beef stock (though I imagine the same would apply to chicken) you could cook the stock overnight in a 90°C oven, rather than on the stove top.
This requires less attention and results in a clearer stock since the water won't be boiling up and clouding itself.
Must try that next time!
He also thinks that cooking herbs at much over 70°C should be avoided since he believes this burns them and destroys all their flavour.
I concede that the herb's more volatile oils will be lost with high-temperature cooking, but I'm not convinced that this leaves no flavour at all.
I'm sure that a lamb roasted with rosemary or some onion stuffing baked with sage would agree with me.
Aaron returns to kick the course off with his unusual take on a traditional French Onion Soup:
Aaron eschews reducing his onions until they are collapsed and nicely caramelised, this being where most onion soups get their colour and flavour. He prefers to stop cooking them just as soon as they've lost their rawness but are still bone-white.
He's also dead against using any butter to cook the onions, which seems essential for any decent amount of caramelisation. He says it makes them slimy.
The colour in Aaron's soup comes from the use of a heavily reduced beef stock, much like gravy browning. Yum!
In fact I've not been able to find a single recipe online which makes French Onion Soup this way. The closest recipe seems to be this one from Epicurious which dry-fries the onions for only 15 minutes. Though it does still direct for them to be caramelized. Phew!
Most recipes spend around an hour melting their onions, and Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame sweats his for five hours!
So there.
Aaron also resists adding any alcohol to his soup, which would make any true Frenchman cry.
White wine, port or sherry are popular, while Le Gavroche adds cider.
So, a very controversial approach.
But he did work in a Parisian Bistro which he explains made, and sold, gallons of their soup just like this every day. So who am I to argue?
Aaron mentioned one tip which caught my attention:
He suggest that when making beef stock (though I imagine the same would apply to chicken) you could cook the stock overnight in a 90°C oven, rather than on the stove top.
This requires less attention and results in a clearer stock since the water won't be boiling up and clouding itself.
Must try that next time!
He also thinks that cooking herbs at much over 70°C should be avoided since he believes this burns them and destroys all their flavour.
I concede that the herb's more volatile oils will be lost with high-temperature cooking, but I'm not convinced that this leaves no flavour at all.
I'm sure that a lamb roasted with rosemary or some onion stuffing baked with sage would agree with me.
menu
Soupe à l'Oignon avec Croûtons aux Comté
French Onion Soup
French Onion Soup
soup meat
Legend has it
that the 18th Century French King Louis XV invented Onion Soup
when forced to improvise a meal from only onions and champagne whilst visiting an ill-equipped hunting lodge.
And if you believe that I've got un Pont Neuf to sell you.
And if you believe that I've got un Pont Neuf to sell you.
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 8-10 onions, peeled sliced
- salt
- sugar
- butter
- baguette or other bread
- herbs - thyme, rosemary, bay leaves
- 250g block comté or gruyère, grated
- gravy browning, demi-glace or highly condensed beef stock
For the Broth:- beef bouillon paste
- water
Mix the bouillon paste with water and heat the broth to a simmer.
Peel the onions, top and tail, halve and slice them.
Slice the baguette or any good country bread you like thickly.
Heat a generous knob of butter in frying pan over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Add a handful of herbs to flavour the oil and garlic too, if you like then lay in the bread slices and fry gently, without allowing the herbs to burn, until the bread is browned like toast on both sides.
Remove the herbs and sprinkle the slices generously with grated cheese and continue cooking, or slide under the grill, until the cheese has melted over the bread.
Fill an ovenproof soup bowl with the onion soup, avoiding the herbs, then place a cheesy slice of bread on top.
Slide under a hot salamander (grill) until the cheese bubbles and darkens in spots.
Don't worry if the soup dribbles down the sides - it's all part of the rustic charm 🙂
Serve scalding hot with an extra crouton on the side.
Peel the onions, top and tail, halve and slice them.
Aaron likes them sliced with the grain, lengthways instead of across.
Mix a sprinkling of salt through the onions to help extract their moisture then put them in large pot over a fairly high heat and allow them too cook down, stirring occasionally.
Keep going until they have collapsed and have lost their raw flavour but still retain a little bite and haven't begun to colour.
So this is where things get contentious.
Aaron stops reducing the onions here and adds flour. You might consider continuing to cook the onions (perhaps with some butter) until they caramelize? At least a little!
Using flour as a thickening agent is not universal, but does seem most common.
Stir through the flour and cook through until all floury flavour has gone.
Now gradually whisk in the broth until the desired consistency is produced whilst avoiding lumps.
Cook the soup for 15 minutes then finish with a drizzle of gravy browning or beef demi-glace to darken the soup to a reasonable colour.
Aaron stops reducing the onions here and adds flour. You might consider continuing to cook the onions (perhaps with some butter) until they caramelize? At least a little!
Using flour as a thickening agent is not universal, but does seem most common.
See you wouldn't have to do that if you'd caramelized the onions!
Remove from the heat and add a handful of herbs stalks and all to infuse their flavour while you prepare the croütons:Slice the baguette or any good country bread you like thickly.
Heat a generous knob of butter in frying pan over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Add a handful of herbs to flavour the oil and garlic too, if you like then lay in the bread slices and fry gently, without allowing the herbs to burn, until the bread is browned like toast on both sides.
Remove the herbs and sprinkle the slices generously with grated cheese and continue cooking, or slide under the grill, until the cheese has melted over the bread.
Fill an ovenproof soup bowl with the onion soup, avoiding the herbs, then place a cheesy slice of bread on top.
Slide under a hot salamander (grill) until the cheese bubbles and darkens in spots.
Don't worry if the soup dribbles down the sides - it's all part of the rustic charm 🙂
Serve scalding hot with an extra crouton on the side.
A bit anaemic if I'm honest. Probably the lack of onion browning 🤣
I greatly improved mine by simmering it in a slow cooker on low for 12 hours afterwards together with half a bottle of red wine and a splash of cognac.
Pre-melting the cheese over the bread helps to get a nice crust over a stringy base during the final high-heat blast, without risking ending up with a thick wad of foamy, crumbly unmelted cheese perched on the bowl like a hat.
Aaron suggests herbing the soup at the end rather than cooking with the herbs in order to preserve their volatile aromatic quality: Throw a bunch of herbs into the finished soup off the heat to flavour, then remove them before serving.
Apparently this is how things were done in his Paris bistro, but I have to say it was pretty awkward fishing all those herby strings out of the onions.
If you're going to flavour the soup this way, nice as it is, I think you'd be better flavouring only the stock or soup base, so you can more easily strain out the stalks when thinning and flavouring the soup to finish.
I greatly improved mine by simmering it in a slow cooker on low for 12 hours afterwards together with half a bottle of red wine and a splash of cognac.
Pre-melting the cheese over the bread helps to get a nice crust over a stringy base during the final high-heat blast, without risking ending up with a thick wad of foamy, crumbly unmelted cheese perched on the bowl like a hat.
Aaron suggests herbing the soup at the end rather than cooking with the herbs in order to preserve their volatile aromatic quality: Throw a bunch of herbs into the finished soup off the heat to flavour, then remove them before serving.
Apparently this is how things were done in his Paris bistro, but I have to say it was pretty awkward fishing all those herby strings out of the onions.
If you're going to flavour the soup this way, nice as it is, I think you'd be better flavouring only the stock or soup base, so you can more easily strain out the stalks when thinning and flavouring the soup to finish.
Restaurant Gravy Browning
sauce meat
Aaron called this highly condensed beef stock restaurant gravy browning.
It can be used in really tiny quantities to bring a dark colour to savoury dishes, or diluted to make a sauce base.
It can be used in really tiny quantities to bring a dark colour to savoury dishes, or diluted to make a sauce base.
Ingredients
- beef stock
- red wine
Reduce beef stock and a reasonable quality red wine and mix them together.
Keep reducing, adding stock, and reducing until it becomes thick like treacle. Really really bitter treacle.
Great colour! Like gravy browning. But not offensively chemical.
Use sparingly.
Use sparingly.