Why did my French onion soup with 'red' onions come out tasteless and bland?
I usually make the French onion soup with white onions. The prodecure I normally use is as followed:
- I slowly caramelize them on a low heat for around 40min.
- Then I add some sugar, salt and oil before finally adding broth.
- I let this come to a boil.
I followed the same procedure with the red onions expecting something sweeter, but the end result was a tasteless soup. Since all the ingredients and steps were the same except for the red onion, why did my French onion soup come out tasteless and bland?
Best Answer
Typically you should use yellow onions for cooking. They have a higher sulphur content and are more flavorful after cooking. Raw, a red onion will taste more pungent. However, once cooked it is more mild and sweet than a soup would require. Red, as well as other sweeter onions, have more sugar and water than their yellow counterparts. For more details on the profile, seriouseats has good primur.
If you wish to improve your results, you might slice more thinly and add some salt in advance of sweating (rather than before adding broth) to draw out the excess moisture, as the onion's moisture (more prevalent with red onions) will inhibit browning, ergo inhibiting caramelization and the maillard reaction that break the bigger sugars into little ones and lend flavor through browning. The explanation at norecipes also adds that deglazing with sherry can slow down the process if you are experiencing uneven browning. Another possible tactic would be adding a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per pound chopped onion; this will speed up browning.
Ultimately, unless the recipe calls for red onions, you are going to get better results with yellow onions in terms of raw, "sweet and tangy" onion-y flavor. You can use the tips above to try to overcome that, but a nice big bag of yellow onions are going to do you better in the long run, and if you put the same effort into the it will take less time, taste better and be less expensive.
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How do you add flavor to bland French onion soup?
Combine oregano, basil, salt and pepper; sprinkle over bread and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.Why do my onions have no taste?
That's because, like many vegetables, onions do not develop their characteristic flavor until their cells are damaged by cutting, slicing, chopping, or cooking.How do you make red onions taste better?
You can get rid of the strong taste by soaking sliced onions in ice water for 20 to 30 minutes or by sprinkling them with an acid such as vinegar. Onions soaked in ice water will get very crisp while those sprinkled with vinegar will soften a bit, but they will lose the strong taste and become sweeter.Can you put red onions in soup?
White, yellow, or red, onions are a staple of a cook's pantry. Their raw pungency turns sweet when saut\xe9ed, and they are an indispensable ingredient in dishes the world over. Saut\xe9ing or sweating onions is one of the first steps to building a flavor base for soups, stews, risottos, and pilafs.French Onion Soup | Basics with Babish
More answers regarding why did my French onion soup with 'red' onions come out tasteless and bland?
Answer 2
One of the things that I noticed when making onion or French onion soup is that you need to use a good amount of onion. Definitely caramelize them. Personally I like to use more than one type of onion as well. Adding leeks and two or more other types of onion make for a nice flavorful soup. Then finally it is important to use a good flavorful stock or broth. So to answer your question it could be one of a few things. Maybe there weren't enough onions, the broth was bland.
Answer 3
French onion soup is tame and lame without the gratineed (au gratin style) component that makes this soup an all time favorite French soup. I believe that this vital gratinee component, a crust of French bread topped with grilled grated Gruyere or Comte cheese bubbling and set atop the soup, will rescue the OP's "tasteless" and "bland" soup even though the type of onion used might not be optimal. Coarsely ground black pepper on top of that just prior to serving and/or eating will also lift the OP's soup. I have never encountered a French onion soup in France or, for that matter, anywhere else that wasn't served in this way. A classic French onion soup must also use a good stock in its prep. Curiously, the OP and the other answers overlook the gratineed component that makes French Onion soup...French! (Wikipedia & BBC Food Recipes)
Apology: my French app is refusing to cooperate and thus part of the text is missing l'accent aigu & l'accent grave
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