Monday, October 6, 2008

Onion Soup

This past weekend I spent a lot of time with a colleague from China. He owned two Chinese restaurants in the 70s in Palo Alto and he gave us a very simple recipe for Onion Soup. I haven’t tried it yet so no guarantees, but it is apparently a great base for other soups. Written out here it seems much less exciting than when Bill told me the recipe. Just try to imagine an elderly man describing the taste and smell of each common, yet amazing ingredient.

Heat a small amount of oil in a large, sturdy pot. Add about 4 or 5 sliced onions and saute until a lovely golden brown color. Add a small amount of butter to coat the onions with the rich flavor. Add a decent amount of any type of wine you like, either white or red. Add flour to make the broth thicker and to coat the onions. Afterwards, add water and simmer until the flavors are deliciously balanced and the desired consistency. Yum!

2 comments:

Ljuba said...

My recipe is similar (and I believe that red wine works better than white) but I add beef stock instead of water. And I omit the flour - tried it both ways and personally decided that I like it better without.

Everybody knows though that the main ingredient in onion soup is... the melted cheese on top!

Anonymous said...

This is great info to know.