Campbell's french onion soup? Any good?

Cafe Society
#1

I do not cook. Ever. At all. I just microwave, eat out, or eat cold items. But I really have a craving for french onion soup that just won’t quit, and I don’t feel like going to a sit-down place to have it. How is the pre-canned french onion soup? And what should I do to it that’s pretty simple, but might make it appear to be fancier and taste ok? I was thinking a loaf of that premade crusty french bread from walmart, and some… mozzarella?.. chunk cheese to melt on top of it. yay/nay?

Answer not needed too fast, but something tonight would be nice so I could eat it for lunch tomorrow.

#2

The tyraditional cheese is Gruyere. Which is great for it because it is aged and rich tasting, but still melts perfectly, which a lot of flavorful cheeses are crappy at.

#3

If possible, toast the bread (plain … as in, make toast) before floating it on top of the soup. Otherwise, it’ll turn to mush almost immediately. Mozzarella will melt well - slices or shredded will melt better than chunks, though. The heat of the soup probably won’t be enough - you’ll need to nuke it another 20-30 seconds, or else run it through the toaster oven if you have one.

#4

The Wolfgang Puck canned soups, also made by Campbell’s, tend to be of higher quality IME. I’ve enjoyed their French onion.

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/shop/Gourmet-Food/Organic-Soups-All-Natural-Stocks-and-Organic-Broths/Wolfgang-Soups

#5

I’ve never had it as soup but if you salt, pepper and then brown a pork tenderlion (tenderloin - not loin), pour over a couple cans, cover the dish and simmer for 20 min it’s a quick and tasty main dish for a weeknight.

If it doesn’t suck in that dish I bet it won’t suck as soup. Note I siad it won’t suck - not that it will be good. :slight_smile:

Give it a shot - I bet it’s edible.

#6

We use Campbell’s french onion soup quite often with French dip sandwiches. Heat the soup, put sliced roast beef in it, then on bread.

As to your question, I personally think the soup’s too salty, but that’s true of most canned soups, unless they’re specifically low(er) sodium types. But I’d think you could make a very passable and edible version of the soup you want using the canned variety.

#7

That stuff’s nasty. My husband buys it because I like french bread for a lot of dishes, and he’s in Walmart, sees it, and thinks of me. But Walmart does NOT make (or outsource) good french bread. Any sort of brand name plain white bread would be preferable to Walmart french bread.

#8

but proper french onion soup is not rocket science …

http://frenchonionsouprecipe.korocook.com/ [don’t add the sugar, just keep an eye on the pot to make sure the onions don’t burn, just brown gently]

I make it a bit differently, but I do it the old fashioned way that takes about 6 hours to cook the onions properly =) and I make my own stock - you do not have to do that, and this recipe will come out infinitely better than a canned product will. =)

I find campbells soups are too salty. Same goes for the onion soup and dip mix. If you learn to make real soup, you can adjust the level of saltiness, which I find better healthwise anyways =)

#9

Thanks for the recommendations! Especially about the saltiness. I love salty things but everything has a limit. I imagined the campbell’s version might be super condensed, since they tend to do that with their soups.

I’ll see if I can find the cheese you recommended. I live not too far from Wisconsin so there are always a lot of interesting exotic cheeses in the grocery stores around here :slight_smile:

I like the french bread at the Walmart by me. I don’t know if they make it in-house or not but their whole bakery is pretty big and the items seem to have a high turnover. Maybe it’s just yours… or maybe my bread-palate is uneducated (I wouldn’t argue that!)

#10

I prefer the Progresso. It’s not condensed.

#11

What I love is one can Campbell’s french onion, one can Campbell’s tomato, one can of water, a dollop of lemon juice, a generous splashing of worchestershire, nuoc nam fish sauce, and tabasco sauce to taste.

It’ll wake your taste buds the fuck up.

#12

I don’t think I’d be satisfied with canned FOS. It’s not hard to make, brown onions, leeks, and shallots strings along with some chopped scallions and chives. Add a little garlic at the end, then add some quality chicken stock, chopped parsley and a little salt and pepper. Simmer for a while and add bit of white wine at the end. I use toasted english muffins to top, with gruyere, swiss, and parmesan cheese. Takes only a little more time than opening the can.

#13

nm

#14

I’m sure your soup is delicious, but all that peeling and chopping takes considerably more time than simply opening the can.

#15

I guess if the can has a pull tab, its an order of magnitude faster than using a can opener, so yes, 5 minutes is considerably more time than 1 second, but not all that much for better tasting soup.

#16

Decent onion soup takes at least an hour, generally more, to prepare. The onions should be caramelized. If you have no cooking experience and want a shortcut, it’s easier just to open a can.

#17

Sounds good, but OP specified that she does. not. cook. No sense intimidating her now - we might convince her with a simple, streamlined recipe, but I’m a good cook and have made FOS plenty of times and even my eyes started to glaze over just a little at that description!

Your English muffin idea is an interesting one, though …

#18

I didn’t really care for it as straight-up soup, might go well as a secret ingredient in my slowcooked BBQ Pork Sandwich and its proprietary sauce.

#19

I get it. I guess the words “I do not cook. Ever. At all.” just don’t register with me. Once I started thinking about the soup, everything else went out of mind.

I got tired of croutons drowning in the soup, so I improvised with the english muffins one day. Now I have a set of soup bowls just the right diameter for a muffin. This is the one soup that everybody in the extended family likes, so I end up making large batches a couple of times a year.

#20

I might like to inject it with chile, sugar, soy, clove and various spices into my BBQ brisket. Or into my Rax style BBQ beef sansdwich in sauce. Rax had the Best sweet clove BBQ beef sandwiches on Onion Rolls- just add cheese and pickles and you have a whole new franchise.