Tag Archives: cooking

Old Chub French Onion Soup

Posted on by
Reply

From Ron’s kitchen, adapted from A.B. and others…

Old Chub French Onion Soup
Prep/cook time: All day (at least 3 hours)
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 4 lbs onions (yellow, sweet, red… whatever)
  • 3 TBSP butter
  • 12 oz Old Chub Scottish Ale (or any dark, robust, sweet beer)
  • 6 oz white wine
  • about 30-40 oz broth made up of:
    - 10 oz canned beef consume
    - 20 oz beef broth (or chicken)
    - 10 oz apple cider (A.B. recommends unfiltered)
    (amount depends on how thick you like it, and you can even do all beef broth if you like)
  • Bay leaf
  • 1 TBSP Parsley (or sprigs of fresh would be better)
  • 1 1/2 tsp thyme (or sprigs of fresh would be better)
  • kosher salt and pepper
  • splash of Cognac (optional)
  • 1 loaf bread (country style or french bread)
  • 1 cup cheese, shredded/grated (I prefer a combo 75% Mozzarella and 25% Gruyere)
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Trim off ends of onions then half lengthwise. Remove peel and slice into semi-circle strips
  3. Melt butter in dutch oven, add onions and kosher salt. (about 1 1/2 tsp salt) Stir to coat onions in butter. Cover and place in oven for 1 hour. After 1st hour, scrape & stir, return to oven with lid open a crack. After about 1/2 hour, scrape & stir again. Check every 15  minutes, scraping and stirring until onions are dark mahogany. Do not worry about burning.
  4. Remove from oven, add beer and wine (enough to cover) and turn heat to high reducing the liquid to a syrup. Add broth/consume/cider & herbs and simmer 15-20 mins, or put in crock pot on warm until you are ready to eat.
  5. Place oven rack in top 1/3 and heat broiler.
  6. Cut country bread in rounds to fit in mouth of oven safe soup crocks. Place bread slices on baking sheet and put under broiler for 1 minute.
  7. Season soup with salt & pepper (and Cognac). (remove herb sprigs). Ladle into each soup crock leaving about an inch then cover with bread toasted side down and then cover with cheese. Broil crock for about 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted and golden.

Session #5: Atmosphere – by Ron

Posted on by
2

July 2007

The Session #5 – Hot in the Kitchen

Beer is better when shared with a friend.

That pretty much sums it up for me. I love beer, but it becomes a whole different experience when it is enjoyed in the right atmosphere, and that usually means with someone else. I’m reminded of the lyrics from Rush’s Chain Lightning…

sun dogs fire on the horizon
meteor rain stars across the night
this moment may be brief
but it can be so bright
reflected in another source of light
when the moment dies
the spark still flies
reflected in another pair of eyes
- Neil Peart

I’ve already blogged about one of my most favorite traditional atmospheres in which to enjoy a beer and it is with the family (and sometimes friends) while on vacation at our humble bungalow at the New Jersey shore. I wrote about in a 4 part series called Inspired by Blue Claws, a Snake Dog IPA review, the sacred social hour, Grandpa’s Crabs, & Catching the suckers… please check it out.

The Session - Beer Blogging FridayI have a whole slew of additional, perfect atmospheric conditions, in which the experience of enjoying a fine beer is greatly heightened by the situation and company. Some of the best are spontaneous, like the time my buddies and I ended up grilling bratwurst for dinner on the deck at midnight at last year’s Octoberfest. But, today I want to tell you about my most cherished atmosphere… and it all started with chicken marsala.

Life is busy for us all in this day and age. Not many families get to sit down for dinner to eat together during the week because there is soccer practice, music lessons, dance class, etc; plus working late, traffic jams, etc; you get the picture. We are all busy in our own ways and so often we don’t get a chance to pause and savor the moment.

That’s why I cherish the times when my wife and I get to cook dinner together. It started just after we were married and both working when one evening we took the time to make chicken marsala together. We were just getting out of the college days of macaroni & cheese with English muffins type of gourmet food when we decided to try and make real meals. It happened that we’ve never tried making chicken marsala before.

We sipped our beers while we prepped the mushrooms and chicken, saving the marsala wine for the meal. The beer was probably something like Sam Adams Lager, but the brand of beer didn’t matter, it was good. Cooking together turns out to be one of the few times that we spend quality time together. We talk, we communicate, we create great food… we relax.

It is the prep and cooking portion that is the best with the smells and tastes… the time working together. We didn’t have kids at that time and so today things are even busier, which is why I cherish the times we get to create a great meal together even more so. Oh, and in this perfect atmosphere, it can get quite hot in the kitchen.

Go and enjoy a beer with someone you love…