Next comes the stock, which is the second most important component of the soup. Traditionally, the stock of choice for French onion soup is beef stock, but beef stock is very time-consuming to make at home. Store-bought versions, meanwhile, are so terrible, they're not worth considering unless you happen to buy your beef stock from a butcher or other store that sells the good stuff.
With this in mind, would it make a huge impact to use vegetable stock? I'd use beef broth, but my dang roommate is vegetarian.
French Onion Soup (Soupe à l'Oignon Gratinée)
Edit: roommate is actually pescatarian so i'm gonna try a fortified mushroom stock with fish sauce or possibly dried anchovies.
by FangShway
11 Comments
Try mushroom stock to get a bit of the umami you’re losing without the beef stock. French onion soup is delicious with any kind of stock, really, but if you’re looking to recreate this as close as possible to the original spec, mushroom stock is the way to go.
I would also try adding some powdered gelatin to your vegetable stock. This will help give the mouthfeel that vegetable stock can be missing.
I’m sure it will taste delicious. The biggest challenge will be getting the body of the soup right without the gelatin that comes from high-quality beef or chicken stock.
Just try to use homemade mushroom or vegetable stock, the supermarket stuff is pretty mediocre. If you have a pressure cooker, very easy to whip something up that tastes incredible with almost zero active effort.
Ive made it many times with vegetable stock and it turns out really well. I’d recommend using a higher quality stock (I love Whole Foods vegetable stock) and using about half of the vinegar. Gelatin wouldn’t be a bad call either but go light on it and adjust later in the cooking process if needed.
You’re not going to get the same body without gelatin. A touch of corn starch slurry might help.
One of my vegetarian favorites to bolster a veggy stock is liquid yeast extract. Gives some meaty chicken vibes. For more beef notes a touch of malt extract, or IMHO even better, dark molasses too. Or marmite, vegemite, etc, whatever specific one.
Also takes care of adding some MSG.
First off, that recipe is amazing. I make it at least twice every winter. I usually make it with chicken stock, even though I have beef on hand. The only real key is to carmelize the fuck out of the onions, no shortcuts, give them like 90+ minutes. I usually do it on a weekend, set my alarm with adjustable snooze on my phone, and start cleaning the house. Every 5 minutes, go stir. When they start getting a little dry, change it to 3 minutes. When they start getting more dry, start adding a tablespoon of water every time you stir. And in the meantime, you’re on your feet doing vacuuming and dusting and stuff, so it’s really easy to walk to the kitchen and stir.
For vegetarian/vegan, these are what you want to keep on hand. I’ve never doubled down with the onion base, but maybe I should try that sometime. I’ve got a jar going in the fridge. And their veggie stock leans more towards beef stock flavors than chicken, but they have the meatless beef and chicken versions, too.
https://www.betterthanbouillon.com/our-products/?group=vegetarian
No, the onions are what really matter. Personally, for a vegetarian I would probably use the non-chicken “chicken” base from Better than Bouillon, but I like the other suggestions of mushroom stock too.
Mushroom stock, but make your own separate batch using beef stock. The smell and flavor that beef imparts to French Onion Soup; vegan/vegetarian stock can never replicate nor win out in flavor.
He’s pretty active on here and so nice! I bet he’d chime in…/u/dgritzer
My trick for a super flavorful vegetarian broth for French onion soup is to make a mushroom-heavy vegetable stock (mushrooms, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, herbs, sometimes some tomato and tomato paste too- all depending on what I have in the fridge). Get some brown on the veggies before deglazing with white wine & adding water.
Then instead of seasoning it with salt, I add Better Than Bouillon vegetable base. Makes for a super flavorful broth with more oomph to it than using BTB alone. I’m actually making French onion soup tonight for an election-night distraction!