Winter Survival Food: French Onion Soup

Winter survival was incredibly difficult for many people in the 1700’s. Food storage was absolutely critical for making it through. Sometimes there was an opportunity to have a wonderful savory meal to brighten the bleak winter. This French Onion Soup was incredible.

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Here are some of the cookbooks and a cullis recipe mentioned in this episode about French Onion Soup.

[jsy]

When I was younger I worked in a restaurant in a small tourist town. If business was slow, we’d whip open the windows and door and the chef would sauté onions. The smell wafting out into the street smelled amazing and got customers in the door every time. The onion has such amazing aromatic power for such a small, simple food staple.

[huntercurry]

He is such a good speaker, so pleasant to just hear.

[DanShinjo]

We all really need to stop and think how good we have it. Being able to walk into any grocery store and have access to the amount of selections we have all year long is amazing.

[esterelina]

I'm from Finland and our traditional cuisine is very much about surviving our long and harsh winters. It's still common here for people to forage mushrooms and berries and store them for winter. Not because it's necessary, but because the food from the forests is healthy. Whenever I make a hearty soup or stew in the winter, I somehow feel close to my ancestors and stop to think about what kind of lives they lead and how they survived. Loved this video!

[allimakesyoucookies]

This is the first Townsends video I’ve seen from this dude. He really sets the scene and slays it. Fully on board with having this guy in the mix, five stars bro

[aapelikahkonen]

I love Ryan. He is so well spoken and you can sense his passion for the subject.

[iagojacob]

I did the recipe. I'm brazilian. Im a 18 years-old engineering student. Whenever I see myself with no money from now on -which happens often-, I will just do the recipe so cheap medieval french peasants could afford. It was marvelous. I'm an autistic france nerd so that made my day. Thank you

[Anghroth]

This video once again proofs, that there is not a single channel on YT more wholesome, entertaining, soothing and informative other than Townsends!!

[AfrikanMan]

I was having a really rough day. I have lost a lot of things and people this year and the pressure of starting from scratch for the millionth time was weighing me down.
Thankyou for this video. It calmed my spirit.

[LaurenBrewer-gp]

He is such a good speaker, so pleasant to just hear.. Ryan is a national treasure..

[mrmoofle]

My wife's grandfather was born in 1920. As part of a college class project, I had to interview him about changes in technology during his lifetime. One of this things he told me about was putting up food for the winter. This included a big wooden box of sausages covered over in lard, onions (he said they got pretty rank by spring), root vegetables (buried in the root cellar), sauerkraut, and (of course) whatever fruits and vegetables you canned during the summer. It's amazing the things we take for granted these days, like central heating, vehicles with heat (rub an onion on the windshield to keep it from frosting up), direct dial phones, and television (his family had one of the first television sets in Lancaster, PA). He said that television was the biggest technological benefit in his lifetime as far as information and entertainment.

[EndrWiin]

I feel like Ryan and Joe Pera are both in the running for "people I want to read a book to me during a snowstorm while eating onion soup".

[fredjackson]

I remember being the typical kid that hated onions...that changed pretty quick once I learned that onion is the best paired vegetable for basically every kind of meat from sea to air.

[wildbill]

Ryan is an absolute charismatic and wholesome champion
Would watch him explain and cook everything
Wish he had more videos

[dancemachine]

I‘m in Lapland right now, its -17 degrees outside, sitting infront of the fireplace, having judt cooked and eaten this fabulous soup!

thank you so much for this recipe and your great presentation mate!

[Deathless]

I love these "meager" recipes because I feel like that is something I can prepare myself, compared to a lot of modern dishes which can get quite complicated. Thank you!

[antjecasarez]

I grew up behind the Iron Curtain and our winter food was very similar. The only fruit available at the stores were apples and maybe some small Cuban oranges around Christmas, white and red cabbage, and some root veggies. We stored potatoes, carrots, apples, lots of canned plums, cherries, applesauce, and pears in the basement. My grandmother made some sort of sweet puree from the fruits of our Rowan tree because they are a great source of vitamin C and we ate it with applesauce as a dessert.

[cookaboorra]

The scenery you brought to life is the exact winter season here in the Alps. After a few weeks of cold windy days, rainy nights and icy skies all around. What I saw you cooked was something warming my very heart. Thank you for bringing grandma memories !!!

[thismodernidea]

I just made this today as it is -45C where I live, and onions are my favourite vegetable. Not only does the house smell amazing, but this is the best onion soup I’ve ever had. I baked a honey oat loaf to go with it and they are a great complement. I caramelized the onions down for two hours and the flavour is superb. Thank you for sharing this beautiful humble meal.

[johnnynigiri]

This is super interesting. I'm from Southeast Asia and we never have to think about preparing food and supplies to survive winter. Keep up the good work!