Now that was fun, wasn’t it? We’re talking about Super Bowl LVIII (or Super Bowl 58, for readers who don’t do Roman numerals), in which the Kansas City Taylor Swifts beat the San Francisco Forty-Niners by a score of 25-23. Once the cheering subsided, we managed to convince our friends to eat the last deviled eggs and take home the remaining dip, chips, and chili. But they left behind a bucket of miscellaneous bottles of beer. Rather than hoard them to drink in warm weather, we decided to have more fun now and cook with the beer.
It so happened that we also scored a terrific bag of yellow onions at the winter farmers market here in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Grown at Busa Farms in nearby Lincoln, they are deeply flavored without being overly piquant. In the interest of using up some of the beer, we selected a bottle of Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale to supply some of the base for an onion soup. We do have other onion soup recipes at HungryTravelers. One is an attempt to recreate an onion soup we enjoyed at a sidewalk cafe in Paris one chilly November night (see above). The other is an interesting version emphasizing apples and based on apple brandy. This version with an English ale would be right at home in a London pub.
NUT BROWN ONION SOUP
This is a relatively quick and simple way to make a rib-sticking, comforting onion soup suitable as a winter supper. We don’t eat enough beef to make our own stock, so we’ve improvised by using Better Than Bouillon Beef Soup Base. If you can get the real English version of Bovril Beef Extract, that works even better. Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale is nicely mellow and slightly malty. The toasted barley flavor shines through. It pairs nicely with caramelized onions and beef stock as a base for onion soup. This recipe is very loosely adapted from Florence Fabricant’s onion soup as published in the New York Times. For best control of melted cheese, we use a kitchen torch to finish the soup.
Serves 4 as a light meal
INGREDIENTS
- 5 tablespoons butter
- French baguette cut in 3/4-inch cubes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cups thinly sliced onions
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 bottle (550 ml) Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale
- 6 teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon Beef Soup Base (or Bovril Beef Extract)
- 6 cups water
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup coarsely grated Comté cheese
DIRECTIONS
Heat a large frying pan (we use an 18-inch cast-iron pan) and melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add the bread cubes and toss over medium heat until well-browned on the edges. Set aside.
In a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven over low heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter with the olive oil. Add the onions and sugar and stir well. Cook over low heat until onions begin to go limp (about 10 minutes)
Turn heat up to medium, cover, and continue to cook. Check and stir the onions now and then. Keep cooking until they begin to brown. Remove lid, turn up heat, and continue cooking and stirring until onions turn a luscious golden brown — at least as dark as an acorn.
Stir in the beer and simmer a few minutes until alcohol evaporates. Add the beef base and water and stir well. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, over medium heat for about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Ladle soup into ovenproof bowls. Cover the surface with croutons and sprinkle with cheese. Using a kitchen torch, carefully melt and brown the cheese before serving with a green salad on the side.