Soupe au lard et au fromage - Test 1

pg 41 Country Cooking of France by Elizabeth David

https://thesuburbansoapbox.com/baked-french-onion-soup/

1 - Ben was pleasantly surprised. It makes like a baked onion soup stew-like casserole. The bread and cheese completely dissolve during the baking, and it's an excellent way to use up the bits of cheese left clinging to the rind. I added some wine in the cooking as well as some thyme, and some broth instead of the plain water. Oh, and the onion should be browned a fair bit more - I made it so that it was just starting to caramelize, but it would be better with a more rounded browned onion flavour. I didn't measure the quantity of bread, cheese or cream, so that will come next. Ben would like texture variation like croutons. Hmmm... Perhaps I could do this by making butter croutons, popping them on top and doing a quick broil at the end?

2 - I did not use the croutons and it was very good, even, as Ben put it, Burgoo good. Now that's saying something! I used white wine and beef broth, which may have rounded things. Oh, and a bit of thyme.

3 - Yes, this continues to be good. I oversalted this time, and I keep forgetting about the sprinkling of cream, so I need to do some alterations, but the general recipe is very rich and flavorful for such simple ingredients.

4 oz fatty bacon cut into lardons
6 small onions (2lbs), thin sliced
3/4 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 to 2 sprigs thyme, minced

⅓ cup white wine
3 cups (1½ pints) beef broth
8oz very thin slices of day-old/stale bread
7 to 8oz Parmesan cheese, sliced thin
¼ + cup cream 

CROUTONS

2 slices of crusty bread (about 1 cup)

2 Tbsps butter

1. Render the fat from the bacon in a saucepan over medium heat until the bacon is evenly golden. 
2. Remove the rendered bacon and set aside.
3. Slowly cook the onion in the bacon fat, until it turns a deep brown and is falling apart - all the sweetness of the onion will come out at this point. If using a cast iron or stainless steel pan (recommended), a 'fond' will start to develop as the sugars in the onion begin to caramelize and stick to the pan. Don't avoid this stage, but enter it joyfully - this is where your flavour will come from.
4. Add the thyme, mixing it in.
5. Season the onion and thyme with the salt and pepper
6. Stir in the wine. Cook down for a few minutes.
7. Add the broth. Scrape up all that wonderful fond and continue simmering for about 30 minutes.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
9. In an oven-ready pot or earthenware casserole dish, make consecutive layers of: 
• thinly sliced bread
• thinly sliced Parmesan
• 1 Tbsp of cream
• some of the bacon
• and repeat, starting with the bread, until the casserole is half full.
10. Last but not least, pour the onions and their stock over all this. 
11. Bake in the oven, covered, for 1 hour.
12. TEST - meanwhile, make butter croutons

CROUTONS

1. Cube the bread to make croutons.
2. Over medium heat melt the 2 Tbsps of butter in a small pan (level of butter should be 1/4 inch) and allow it to heat up completely so that when a cube of bread is put in, it will quietly sizzle.
3. Add the bread cubes and fry, stirring constantly so they brown evenly, about 30 seconds to 1 minutes. 
4. Burns easily!
5. Strain off the extra fat. 
6. With a slotted spoon remove the croutons.
7. When the casserole is baked, remove the dish from the oven, sprinkle the croutons on top and return to the oven to broil until the top is gently bubbling.