It's SOUP-er! Part 2: finally

Yesterday you learned to make a good stock. Today, you will learn how to make my 2 favorite soups...French Onion au crouton and Cream of Carrot, English style. No witty repose today, just right to the meat.

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French Onion soup, au crouton.

Every Tom's, Dave's and Red Robin has their own idea of what French Onion soup is. However, most of those are closer to a California Onion soup; the difference being stock choice and presentation. To end the confusion here is the classical method:

5lbs of sweet onion, cut in what is teasingly called a "French Onion cut" (I know, right?). As sarcastic as this name is, it means simply cut the onion in half top to bottom, and slice each half thinly. Remember the French cant get "Walla Walla Sweets" so call yourself "authentic" and choose a good ol' yellow one if you want to save some coins.

In a large pot, melt 2oz of unsalted butter in 2oz of veggie oil. To this, add your onions and cook until they look burnt. Yes, as close to black as you can get...even a little black doesn't hurt in the long run. When this brown, stringy mush is ready, add 2 cloves minced garlic (hint: save yourself some prep and get a garlic press.)

When the garlic is soft, add 2 Qts plus 2 cups of BROWN stock. No, not chicken. No, I dont care what you learned on the Food Network...use brown stock!

Ahem, sorry for that outburst. Bring this to a boil and viola', French Onion soup!

So what about the "au crouton" part? Get yourself a loaf of "french" bread from the bakery. You are looking for a thin hard crust, not thick and chewy. Ladle some soup into an oven safe bowl or pour the whole pot into an oven safe tureen. Slice the bread 3/4" thick, butter one side and float it on the soup good side up. 

Put the bowl into the oven on medium broil. Watch closely as we are just trying to lightly toast the bread. When this is complete, so is your soup! Simple, right?

Cream of Carrot, English style (this soup will suprise you...)

Start with 5lbs of carrots (peeled), 2 cloves of garlic and 1 large onion. You want to get these into pieces as small as possible, so maybe a large dice and then a whirl in the food processor. In a large pot, melt 3oz unsalted butter and 3oz veggie oil. Add our three amigos and sweat until the carrot is about mush.

At this point, reduce the heat and add 6oz of flour. You might need a little more or less so look to make a medium consistency, somewhere between "ooz" and toothpaste. Stir this to combine and let it cook for about 5 minutes...dont go past a light hint of color!

Now, add 2qts of warm chicken stock 1 cup at a time. Use a wire whip and make sure the mixture is smooth before adding more stock. This mixture will finally break (lose it's thickness) so once it is all in, slowly bring back to a boil. This activates the roux and the soup will thicken...hopefully to just past where you want your finished product to be! Remove this from the heat...

You now have a choice: either you can add 1 cup of heavy cream and leave it kinda chunky (call it "rustic" maybe) or take the whole thing for a ride in your blender. I prefer the latter. Get it good and smooth...then add 1 cup heavy cream. Bring this back up to temp.

Just before service, add 2oz of good gin to the pot, and allow to mellow. Serve with some chewy bread.

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OK, I am drooling now! Let me know how it works for you...