French Onion Soup by Susan Carter

⏳ Time

40 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

Recipe from the book The Frugal Housewife, or, Complete Woman Cook, by Susan Carter, 1803, USA. An early American interpretation of onion soup, which also includes poached eggs. The book by Englishwoman Susan Carter was first published in London in 1772 and later became one of the first cookbooks reprinted in the USA. The first edition did not mention any local American ingredients and did not account for the specifics of traditional colonial cuisine. In 1803, thanks to an American publisher, several changes and additions were made to the book, making it a bestseller for several years. See further — <a href="/recipe/11767/">Onion Soup (Soupe à l'oignon)</a>.

Ingredients

Spanish onions - 6 pieces
Water - 3 qt
Butter - 9.7 oz
Wheat Flour - 1.4 oz
Salt - to taste
Ground Black Pepper - to taste
French Baguette - 1 piece
Spinach - to taste
Chicken Egg - 8 pieces

Step by Step guide

Step 1

First, boil a kettle and chop six Spanish onions (or regular large onions). Add salt. Place in a saucepan with a capacity of at least 3 quarts (approximately 3.5 liters) and sauté in about 50 grams of butter until lightly browned. Pour boiling water over the cooked onions. There should be enough water to fill your soup pot. Let the onions simmer, meanwhile coat half a pound (approximately 225 grams) of butter in flour and add it to the broth, mixing well until completely melted. Add salt and ground black pepper.

Step 2

Slice the French baguette and toast the pieces over the fire.

Step 3

Prepare seven or eight neat poached eggs. Cool, remove excess egg white, and dry them, then place one egg on each slice of bread. Pour the finished soup into the soup pot, and using a slotted spoon, place the toast with the egg on the surface. If you have boiled spinach on hand, place a leaf between the toasts.