Know Your Onions

The phrase "Know your onions" has got nothing to do with Dr CT Onions, the British lexicographer, as some people believe. It is a phrase imported from the USA in the 1920s. "He knows his onions" means to be highly knowledgeable in a particular field.

Another of my favourite phrases from the same era is "He doesn't know shit from Shinola." To prove I do, the picture below is of a pot of Shinola, a shoe polish commonly available in the 1920s.




In the UK, most supermarkets offer two types of onions, brown or red. Some have white too. There's also the shallot, the spring onion and the green onion, picked early, nothing more.



As a basic onion for use in French cooking, the pink Roscoff, from Brittany is very popular. It now has appellation status and the town of Roscoff has a museum that celebrates the French onion men or Johnnies, who travelled to England every year to sell the Roscoff onions in bunches, each August.



Nowadays onion production in the UK is prolific. 450,000 tonnes are produced per year.

This uses 23,000 acres of land. The main regions of production are Lincolnshire, East & West Anglia, Bedfordshire, Yorkshire and Kent.



The average consumption of onions in the UK is 8.8kg/capita/year.

The onion is a member of the Lily family. The common onion is known as Allium Cepa; in Latin Allium means garlic and cepa means onion - the edible bulb of a plant belonging to the botanical genus Alliaceae (or onion family). It's lifespan is biennial. Here are some more.



This bunch of onion facts all started with me looking up the best recipe for French onion soup. There are as many recipes for this as there are for
Lincolnshire plum bread (see above).

I looked up a few and apart from the presence of onions, there's a lot of variation in the ingredients. Funnily enough, none of the recipes specified the onion type.

1955 UK cookuk D Smith BBC N Slater J Martin GoDine

Onions 2 4 700g 1kg 700g 5 700g
Potatoes 225g
Celery 1


Butter 50g 2 tbsp 50g 50g 40g 20g 50g
Milk 300g
Water 900g
Beef stock 850ml 1.2l 1.2l 1.75l 750ml 1.2l
White wine 125ml 275ml 125ml 250ml
Red wine 300ml
Olive oil 2 tbsp 2 tbsp
Brandy 2 tbsp 2 tbsp 2 tbsp
Dry sherry 3 tbsp

Seasoning y y y y y
Fresh thyme 2 tsp 2 tbsp
Worcestershire sauce 1 dash
Balsamic vinegar 2 tbsp
Garlic clove 1 2 3 2
Sugar 1/2 tsp 1 pinch 1/2 tsp
Flour 2 tbsp

Preparation time 10/60 15/60

Cook time 30/60 35/60 100/60 60/60 35/60 90/60






So, following some experimentation, here's my variant of French onion soup.


French Onion Soup


Ingredients

50 g Butter
700 g Brown onions or Roskoff - chopped
2 Garlic cloves - minced
1 Tsps Molasses sugar
800 ml Beef stock
2 Tsps Thyme - fresh
200 ml Dry white wine
Ground black pepper
2 Tbsps Brandy

Directions

Melt the butter in a large heavy bottomed pan with a lid

Add the onions, sugar and the garlic and cook on a medium heat for about 15 minutes, until browning, but not burning

Add the beef stock and the thyme bring to the boil, then simmer

Add the wine and ground black pepper once the liquid is simmering

Continue for about 45 more minutes

When ready, take off the heat and stir in the brandy

Serve in bowls with melted gruyère cheese on toasted baguette floating on top

Good luck.




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