I assembled all the ingredients for my French Onion Soup before I began to cook. Broth, onions, butter, cheese. No bread: skipping the bread/crouton calories.
It took me four hours. I had a recipe; I followed the recipe. Only, I didn't just cook the onions, I caramelized the onions. I added a taste of beef base so it was stronger. I added some dry brisket scraps from last week. I used sherry for half of the red wine. Okay, I didn’t follow the recipe. But I tasted everything as I went, and it was terrific.
Then I noticed the Provolone was a funny beige color around the edges, but I just cut that off, as you do with cheese, and soldiered on. The recipe said to add Parmesan on top of the Provolone, which I did, and I broiled it, and let it cool, and tasted it.
The first bite was horrible. But it was all Parmesan. No problem. I pulled off the Parmesan layer. Still had the Provolone layer.
Next bite. Still horrible. The Provolone was pre-pandemic Provolone. I didn't think cheese could go bad in the freezer, but it must have. That layer was peeled off.
The next bite was great. The balance of sweet and salty with the onions and the broth was perfect, as it had been when I tasted it. Then I hit a bit of brisket, and realized I hadn't tasted the brisket, and remembered -- too late -- that in my attempts last week to re-hydrate the dry slow-cooker brisket, I had added just a touch of Liquid Smoke to the water. So now my manly smoky brisket was bathing in ladylike onion soup.
"Not to worry!" I thought, "I will just buy some Gruyere cheese to replace the Provolone and that will be strong enough to match with the brisket!"
No. No I won't. BECAUSE THERE'S A SHORTAGE OF GRUYERE CHEESE. (If you can even get real Gruyere, because evidently now the U.S. courts say that we can take any garbage and call it Gruyere.)
Gary says all soups need a day for the flavors to meld, so I still hold out hope.
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