Our last soup column is finally here. Since this is a special occasion, we decided to change up our soup selection process: Instead of choosing the soup of the week ourselves, we passed the decision onto you, the people! Arghya put out a poll on the Daily’s Instagram story (which we’re sure is flawlessly democratic) along with our fire graphic (literally). When asked to choose between French onion soup, carrot ginger soup, corn chowder or another soup of their choosing, our readership chose French onion.
Which is good, because we had already bought the ingredients to make French onion soup before the poll closed.
Recipe
The preparation for this soup was short and simple: chop onions. As we chopped, our eyes started to water, and pretty soon our vision was so blurred that we could barely find the onions on the cutting board. Our onions, purchased from the nearby Stop&Shop, were monstrous, fit for Nancy Archer from “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.” Pretty soon, everything — our clothes, car and kitchen — smelled fragrantly of onions.
Next came a stage that even the most hardened soup chef would tremble at: caramelizing onions. While it might not be the most technically difficult task, the time that it takes (hours) truly tests the mettle of any chef. Nonetheless, we turned on the burner and prepared ourselves for the long haul.
As the onions started to cook, we realized our terrible mistake: In our rush to purchase our ingredients, we had forgotten to check if our Worcestershire sauce (whose name we managed to pronounce differently every time) was vegetarian. Tragically, this variety of ‘wuhstershur’ sauce had anchovies. Devastating. However, after searching through the knowledge capital of the internet — Reddit, of course — our fears were assuaged. Soy sauce could suffice as a replacement for ‘woostersir’ sauce for a secondary flavor.
At this point, we put a brief pause on our cooking for Arghya, a second-semester senior, to attend her Spanish class filled with a bunch of first-years. Always remember, dear readers: Soup is amazing, but school must come first.
Once Arghya returned, her Spanish-speaking abilities having increased tenfold, we added the sugar and salt to the onions and let them continue to caramelize as we laid out the rest of the soup ingredients and seasonings. As we played the “Ratatouille: the Musical” soundtrack for inspiration, our kitchen slowly transformed into Gusteau’s — and we truly felt the motto, “Anyone can cook.” We put on berets and uncorked a bottle of red (in our minds) and felt a renewed sense of purpose. With more gusto (get it?), we used our trusty Better Than Bouillon to make perhaps the most broth we’ve made to date: eight and a half cups, along with bay leaves, thyme and soy sauce. Then, we let the soup simmer gently to the sound of the French rat music.
The last stage of the recipe was to broil the soup — now topped with a fresh piece of French bread and gruyère cheese — in the oven (or, in our case, an air fryer). The gruyère posed more of a challenge than expected; we looked upon it excitedly, unaware that it would soon betray us. As we removed the plastic packaging, we learned that the morsel was — for lack of a better word — slippery. The slimy surface slid through our fingers and hit the table with a wet thud.
However, we persisted and sliced some very moist cheese for our bread.
Reflections
Creating this soup is not very demanding. It requires little cutting and chopping, few ingredients and no incredibly specialized equipment. That being said, this soup does demand one thing in high quantity: time.
This is not the soup for the average college student. Perhaps, if the internship search didn’t go your way and you have absolutely nothing to do this summer, you could make this soup. Or if you decided that studying for finals is a lost cause, you could make this soup. Otherwise, don’t bother — your time is better used making one of our other soups (and then making it again with the time left over).
Emily wondered if the soup could have used a bit more salt, but she’s also only ever had French onion soup in restaurants, which tend to oversalt. Arghya thought the first spoonful was fantastic and perhaps even life changing, but was bored of the taste five minutes later. It was just so … onion-y. For our next batch of soup, we recommend cutting the bread into smaller pieces and spreading them more evenly across the top of the soup.
Although this bowl of soup did not go our way, it is important to reflect on how thankful we are to be able to make a home-cooked meal with a good buddy. Throughout this year, and this column, the pursuit of yummy soup has brought us together — and brought us to you, dear reader. How wonderful it is to bond over a good bowl of soup.
As you go forth into finals season, we hope that, through eating soup or not, you feel calm, warm and nurtured. Soup is always here for you, and so are we.
