Post by nybirder on May 13, 2018 9:14:36 GMT -5
Soupe a L’Oignon (Onion Soup) from Julia Child's recipe is a classic. I've been making it for years. So I was very interested when I found a variation on the recipe that someone had written for a traditional pressure cooker. I decided to use it to make soup from the free onions I picked up from the fields the other day. If you have a personal favorite of your own, you can adapt it using the cooking directions below.
The hardest part of making onion soup is getting the onions really nice and caramelized--that can take slow stovetop cooking for up to an hour, stirring often. If anyone tells you that it is possible in 15 minutes, they are not caramelizing them, just making them limp and blonde. The browned onions are where most of the flavor comes from. With the method that the author of this recipe used, the process takes about half the time of the stovetop but still allows you to get brown and tasty.
The recipe I used was Julia Child’s French Onion Soup Pressurecookerized. Some steps were moved around by the author to make it more pressure-cooker friendly. I'll let you read her reasons online since what she has to say is something that can be applied to converting other recipes of that type, too, so it's worth reading. www.hippressurecooking.com/julia-childs-french-onion-soup-pressure-cookerized-or-how-to-convert-a-recipe-to-the-pressure-cooker/
I cut the recipe in half since I was cooking just for myself. It is important that you cut the onions in half from stem to root. Then slice the onions from north pole to south pole, not in rings. This keeps them from falling apart and going to total mush. Also, the cuts should be fairly thin.
Being phobic about dishwashing, I like using the Instant Pot since just about every step can be done in the same pot. The author makes a blonde roux to thicken the soup at the end of cooking instead of adding flour to the onions after browning. That keeps the flour from foaming during the pressure cooking step. I decided to try a French thickening method that doesn't need any precooking like a roux, therefore no washing of an extra pan. I never tried it before but it worked well. It's called Buerre Manie www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/saveur-100-beurre-manie You work equal parts of soft butter and flour together very well and whisk it 1 tsp. at a time into the simmering liquid. Then, you cook it for several minutes to thicken and cook the flour.
Here are the steps in the recipe that I changed for the IP:
DIRECTIONS FOR INSTANT POT
Turn on the Instant Pot to Saute on Medium. Add the butter and oil. When melted and bubbling, add the onions and stir occasionally with the cover on but the pressure valve open—or use a regular lid. My onions took about 15 minutes to become limp and translucent--but I was working with half the amount.
Keeping the Saute temperature at Medium, add salt and sugar. With the top off, keep stirring, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom if possible until the onions become a nice brown throughout. Add the white wine, scrape the bottom, and deglaze the onions. Let the wine evaporate completely. Add the meat stock. I used water with a reduced-sodium beef base.
Turn off the Saute mode. Put the lid on the Instant Pot, lock it, and turn the pressure valve to the closed position. Set the pot to Pressure Cook or Manual and set the time for 5 minutes (that will be cooking time after the pot pressurizes.) Since the base was already hot, it helped to bring it up to pressure. I was only making half the recipe—it took less than 10 minutes to reach pressure.
After the 5 minutes of cooking time, release the pressure by carefully opening the valve until the pressure pin drops. Turn on the Sautee mode and set to high. Add the blonde roux according to the recipe instructions to thicken the soup. Or use the shortcut of making a Buerre Manie to save having to wash another pan. I rubbed the flour and butter together into a thick paste while the soup was cooking and whisked about a teaspoon at a time into the soup. As the butter melts, it thickens without lumps. Perhaps the Blonde Roux will have a little more flavor because it is lightly browned but I thought the soup tasted pretty good with this variation.
From then on, I followed the recipe as written, except for the Cognac. I didn’t have any and don’t expect I will anytime in the future. I thought the soup was good without it but I expect it would be even better made the way Julia did. Someday, I may try it.
The hardest part of making onion soup is getting the onions really nice and caramelized--that can take slow stovetop cooking for up to an hour, stirring often. If anyone tells you that it is possible in 15 minutes, they are not caramelizing them, just making them limp and blonde. The browned onions are where most of the flavor comes from. With the method that the author of this recipe used, the process takes about half the time of the stovetop but still allows you to get brown and tasty.
The recipe I used was Julia Child’s French Onion Soup Pressurecookerized. Some steps were moved around by the author to make it more pressure-cooker friendly. I'll let you read her reasons online since what she has to say is something that can be applied to converting other recipes of that type, too, so it's worth reading. www.hippressurecooking.com/julia-childs-french-onion-soup-pressure-cookerized-or-how-to-convert-a-recipe-to-the-pressure-cooker/
I cut the recipe in half since I was cooking just for myself. It is important that you cut the onions in half from stem to root. Then slice the onions from north pole to south pole, not in rings. This keeps them from falling apart and going to total mush. Also, the cuts should be fairly thin.
Being phobic about dishwashing, I like using the Instant Pot since just about every step can be done in the same pot. The author makes a blonde roux to thicken the soup at the end of cooking instead of adding flour to the onions after browning. That keeps the flour from foaming during the pressure cooking step. I decided to try a French thickening method that doesn't need any precooking like a roux, therefore no washing of an extra pan. I never tried it before but it worked well. It's called Buerre Manie www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/saveur-100-beurre-manie You work equal parts of soft butter and flour together very well and whisk it 1 tsp. at a time into the simmering liquid. Then, you cook it for several minutes to thicken and cook the flour.
Here are the steps in the recipe that I changed for the IP:
DIRECTIONS FOR INSTANT POT
Turn on the Instant Pot to Saute on Medium. Add the butter and oil. When melted and bubbling, add the onions and stir occasionally with the cover on but the pressure valve open—or use a regular lid. My onions took about 15 minutes to become limp and translucent--but I was working with half the amount.
Keeping the Saute temperature at Medium, add salt and sugar. With the top off, keep stirring, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom if possible until the onions become a nice brown throughout. Add the white wine, scrape the bottom, and deglaze the onions. Let the wine evaporate completely. Add the meat stock. I used water with a reduced-sodium beef base.
Turn off the Saute mode. Put the lid on the Instant Pot, lock it, and turn the pressure valve to the closed position. Set the pot to Pressure Cook or Manual and set the time for 5 minutes (that will be cooking time after the pot pressurizes.) Since the base was already hot, it helped to bring it up to pressure. I was only making half the recipe—it took less than 10 minutes to reach pressure.
After the 5 minutes of cooking time, release the pressure by carefully opening the valve until the pressure pin drops. Turn on the Sautee mode and set to high. Add the blonde roux according to the recipe instructions to thicken the soup. Or use the shortcut of making a Buerre Manie to save having to wash another pan. I rubbed the flour and butter together into a thick paste while the soup was cooking and whisked about a teaspoon at a time into the soup. As the butter melts, it thickens without lumps. Perhaps the Blonde Roux will have a little more flavor because it is lightly browned but I thought the soup tasted pretty good with this variation.
From then on, I followed the recipe as written, except for the Cognac. I didn’t have any and don’t expect I will anytime in the future. I thought the soup was good without it but I expect it would be even better made the way Julia did. Someday, I may try it.