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The Best French Onion Soup (...ever!)

The Best French Onion Soup (...ever!)
The last recipe I posted for French Onion soup was from Cook’s Illustrated and the soup came out great. So when I saw that they had an updated recipe, I had to give it a try. The big change between the recipes was that the updated version calls for caramelizing the onions in the oven rather than on the stove top. The Best French Onion Soup From: Cook’s Illustrated Serves 6 Notes: For the best flavor, make the soup a day or 2 in advance. Soup 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (Make sure you get Yellow)Table salt2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing1/2 cup dry sherry4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (They recommend Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth )2 cups beef broth (They recommend Pacific Beef Broth)6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine1 bay leafGround black pepper Cheese Croutons Directions: For the soup: For the croutons: To serve: Equipment Used:

Garbanzos con Quinoa | especiero en la cacerola Macaron 101: French Meringue I have done it. The French Meringue 101 is finished. Two months of testing, almost 80 hours in the kitchen baking. Obliterating countless eggs and pounds of almonds and sugar trying to produce not only good macarons but also the maca-wrongs that plague bakers. Testing the limits of how many macarons my family was willing to accept ("Gah! Have I mastered everything? Before I get into that though, let me mention a quick note about emails: I'm wretchedly behind on answering them. Alright with that out of the way, let's rock n' roll. Macaron 101: French Meringue Disclaimer: For us non-professionals, macarons are frequently annoying and unreliable. What may work in my kitchen may not work in yours. This quote from the Times kind of sums it up: Even the professionals struggle with macaroons, says Meike Beck, chief home economist at the Good Housekeeping Institute. Not exactly a confidence booster, is it. Best left to the professionals though? Sure macarons can be pesky and frustrating. Equipment:

Macaron Troubleshooting & A New Recipe Blogging about macarons today! Yes I know, I blog a lot about macarons but even with all the information I've posted on the blog, I still get a ton of questions in my email box. An overwhelming number of emails, emails that I don't always have the time to answer punctually, so I felt a need to address the questions in one space on the blog. I'm posting a troubleshooting guide to help folks with their macarons. I'm also posting another french macaron recipe. One that I've been working on for almost two months. My counter covered in notes, which as you can see, are on paper towels. One of the hardest questions I've had to address with my baking has to do with hollows. When I make a batch of macarons, about 90-95% of the cookies are perfect and 5-10% will have a gap between the soft interior and the shell. Now when folks come to me with macarons like the one on the left, I tell them not to worry. Still the hollow problems that many people have seem to go far beyond the insides shown above.

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