Help!! Save my French Onion Soup! No Soup Mix

medola

Sun, Oct 20 2013, 7:33 pm

Help!

I Am making French onion soup and I realized too late that I don't have any onion soup mix!
All the recipes I am looking at call for it.
I am in need of a satisfactory substitution ASAP. Help!!!

Short of going around asking neighbors I don't know how to get it to taste right

Please, someone!

FranticFrummie

Sun, Oct 20 2013, 7:37 pm

You know, people used to make french onion soup for centuries before soup mix was invented!

Caramelize onions, add a pinch of sugar and salt to taste. Use beef stock or sauteed mushrooms for extra flavor.

Voila!

medola

Sun, Oct 20 2013, 7:45 pm

Ok I found this one and I think my French onion soup disaster has successfully been averted. Woot!

goodmorning wrote:

Seraph has a recipe for onion soup mix on her blog:

Homemade Onion Soup Mix
Ingredients
2/3 cup dried, minced onion
3 teaspoons parsley flakes
2 teaspoons onion powder (make your own by whizzing up dried onion flakes in the food processor or coffee grinder)
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon celery salt (you want celery salt that is mostly salt with just a bit of celery seed- not pure celery seed ground up, or your soup mix will be bitter and not have enough saltiness to it)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sucanat or sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions
1. Mix it all up. Shake it very well, because the heavy spices will settle to the bottom.

That's it!
4 tablespoons of this onion soup mix equals 1 packet of onion soup mix.
I found it needed a bit more salt, but I tend to like things salty, so start off with this amount and then adjust to taste.

The majority is onion flakes/powder, so it should substitute pretty well, though not perfectly. You can add a drop of parsley, salt & pepper, and sugar for a more authentic taste.

r_ch

Mon, Oct 21 2013, 8:02 am

I make mine all natural. I take lots of onions, sauttee and caramelize them in butter (much butter). Add salt, ground nutmeg and cloves. A little flour to thicken the mixtrue and dilute with water, still not to forget that it should be a thick soup. Bring to boil and it's done. The colour is gold with a tinge of brown. I serve it in deep soup plates, pouring over a sandwich of wheat bread with cheese.

Frumdoc

Mon, Oct 21 2013, 8:12 am

Soup mix ruins the taste of proper onion soup.

Saute lots of onions, and a whole head of garlic. Add black pepper, salt, celery salt, parsley, other randon spices depending on mood. Mix in flour. Add water to fill pot. A generous splash of red wine, or whatever wine I have left over in the fridge.
Bring to boil then simmer.

Yum with home made croutons and grated cheese sprinkled on top.

So so easy to make.

The only soup powder I use to cook with is the parev beef one, it adds a nice depth of flavour to chicken soup, veg soup and yes, sometimes I use it in onion soup as well. I don't use the others at all.

Heyaaa

Mon, Oct 21 2013, 8:41 am

Soup powder is a cheap way of adding more flavor into the soup. Personally though I can't stand the taste because it tastes fake.

French onion soup is the easiest recipe. Caramelize a few onions in a little sugar and oil/butter. Add garlic if you like. Add water. Season with salt and/or wine (red or white) and soy sauce. Maybe pepper if you like. Cream also if you like. Cook on medium/low for a couple hours and it will reduce a little and give more flavor.

medola

Mon, Oct 21 2013, 9:22 am

Thanks everyone! I used sequoia's spice mix that I quoted. I came out delicious!! The only thing is the turmeric gave it a weird yellow/orange color that threw me off a bit. The color was the only unauthentic part. The taste was amazing! I wish I made a bigger pot! I used the recipe in Quick and Kosher which only calls for 8 cups of water, and a lot of it boiled out. Next time I'll use more water.

Yum!

CatLady

Mon, Oct 21 2013, 9:26 am

By cooking onions in the slow cooker all day on low, I get perfectly caramelized onions plus enough broth to have as a base for my onion soup. I add a shot of wine, salt and pepper as needed, some thyme, and homemade stock, and I get rave reviews every single time.

Vegetable stock can be made in the slow cooker as well - dump in clean peelings from carrots/celery/onions, any limp/sad veggies from the bottom of the crisper (no broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage please!) turn the dial to low and walk away for 8 hours! Make sure to use the peel from the onions, for the look of chicken stock.

greenfire

Mon, Oct 21 2013, 10:27 am

msg might taste good ... but you'll never go back once you try it with the natural spices from your cabinets ... think larger quantities and maybe more salt [since soup mixes are very very salty]

Frumdoc

Tue, Oct 22 2013, 4:19 am

CatLady wrote:

Using the slow cooker is a great idea, I'm going to try it out this week! Thanks for that Very Happy

watergirl

Tue, Oct 22 2013, 8:14 am

I know OP made hers already but I had to chime in here. My French onion soup is based on the Moosewood cookbook recipe. Caramelize one onion per person in butter. Add water, soy sauce, ground mustard powder, ground thyme, white pepper, a bit of salt and I also wash and put in the onion peals, it gives it the best color. Let it simmer for hours until the broth has reduced by more than half. Then I put it in an oven safe croc, I have a few individual sized ones with a crouton (a slice of toasted bread which has been drizzled with olive oil) and cheese, melt in the oven before serving.