French Onion Soup

I have read - too many - recipes of how to make French Onion Soup. Moreover, I have read FAR too many opinions from people - even French cooks - who snoot the idea of "factory" broth - store bought instead of homemade - and how it "degrades" the recipe. There are SO many variations of the recipe, I was at a loss, but not for long.

I have been cooking since I was 4 years old. I am not a "professional" per se, but I not only learned from my mother, I invented my own recipes. I was making soft chocolate chip cookies LONG before anyone ever put them on the market. It was a mistake, really. One day, I was making my beloved chocolate chip cookies and as was my want, I always stood there, as a kid, and watched them back the entire process.

No, I didn't go do something else. I would have the oven light on and I would watch them bake. A wild hair hit me one day and I thought, "what would they taste like if I pull them out early?". I was instantly in love. I was - 10 years old at the time. My mother had some group of women over for whatever function they were doing - they all ate my cookies and demanded - and I DO mean demanded - to know how I made them that way. I refused to tell them. I thought: A good chef keeps his cooking secrets to himself. I gave them clues, but I really didn't tell them that the only difference, at least in my version of it, was cooking time. Soft, gooey, still-melting choco chips. Ohh, the yum of it. I gave that stuff up long ago - you can watch your belly grow when eating stuff like that.

Totally off-subject, as normal. The point is that I always add my own stuff - or do things my own way - in cooking someone else's recipes. I have decided to combine all of what I have read and do my own thing. I have 20 pounds of onions - if you're going to do it, do it right. Tomorrow after I get off of work, I am going to start cooking them. I was going to put them into a slow-cooker as some have suggested the easiest way to do it, but I don't really LIKE the way onions turn out out of a slow-cooker, so I'm going to pan-fry them. Probably at least 2 large pans full of it. Butter, a small amount of salt and just cook them down. I have done this many, many times on a lessor scale - I love that stuff. It takes a while to cook them down, but they are talking cooking them REALLY down. I already have a good feel for cooking onions, I'll get it to where I think it will taste good in a soup and I will refrigerate them overnight. Saturday, I will actually make the soup and see what comes out of it.

It is a trial cook for me. I will figure out what works and what doesn't and I will cook the stuff again - and again - until I have my perfected version of it. Isn't that what a cook does? You make it the way that tastes good to you. Most likely, if you like, a lot of other people will, too. Around here, my cooking disappears quickly.

I can say that even if the first batch isn't "perfect", it will be good. A cup of chopped onions contains 64 calories. I am looking at calorie content. I don't normally care about veggies and fruits - though fruits usually have much higher calorie counts - I really couldn't care less about calories in an onion. I eat onions in differing food frequently. No, it's the bread and cheese in French Onion Soup that should be looked at in calorie content. I may very well find a reduced calorie content cheese and bread that will help my diet.

Whatever the case, I am actually psyched about trying to make this stuff and see what I come up with.