French Onion Soup with a Halal Substitute for Red Wine

by Yvonne Maffei | Feb 20, 2014 | French, Halal Substitutes, Soups

, I’ve also always loved the very classic French Onion Soup, or “Soupe a l’Oignon”, as the French say it. My mom made it at home a couple times but we mostly enjoyed it at some of the restaurants where I grew up eating out with my parents.  

When I began to eat a Halal diet I experimented with a variety of quality grape juices that would be a suitable alternative for the red wine used in the traditional recipe. What I have found so far is that a high quality grape juice not-from-concentrate that has a dark color and sweet taste works best for this dish—and there’s no need to miss the wine. The grape flavor is present, but none of the alcohol is. 

There are people who will inevitably ask about the alcohol burn-off rate during cooking. What I have found is that most scientists will agree that alcohol never completely burns off during the cooking process, which is why I choose not to start with alcohol at all, especially since I wouldn’t buy it to begin with and keep it in my house for any particular reason. Therefore, it’s also a great recipe for people who are struggling with addiction and desire to keep away from alcohol in all forms. 

One other note: many chefs disregard the idea of substituting wine with juice because they say it’ll make a dish too sweet. Their answer is often to just leave out the wine and/or add chicken broth or water. I believe all these suggestions overlook the idea of the flavor profile we’re after here- in this case, it’s the grape- completely halal in it’s original state, so that’s what I’m after here. Of course if you’d rather not use the juice, that’s fine, too. In my opinion,  it’s a lot more fun to cook and taste in the end by doing it with my recipe tweaks here.  

Here are some of the basic ingredients I used in the dish: yellow onions (of course) because they cook more softly than white or red onions, concord grape juice (make sure it is gelatin-free), and whole wheat flour.

If you only have all-purpose flour, just use that.  You’ll also need butter, olive oil, salt and pepper. 

And French bread and gruyére cheese for the top of the soup- that makes ALL the difference, so please don’t skip that step!

The onions need to be slowly cooked for at least 20 minutes. Some classic recipes go even longer than this, but for the amount of onions I’ve included here, that just isn’t necessary.

You have to keep an eye on them carefully so they don’t burn. Once you add the flour, you can add a little of the juice to give it some moisture and allow the smooth blending and incorporation to take place. Essentially, you are making a roux to create thickness in the soup.

Next, you’ll add the concord grape juice. Another note about the juice. Apple juice will not be a good substitute for the grape juice here, and I don’t like it with white grape juice but that is closer than apple.

It looks quite deep in color, but the final result will not be so bright, so don’t worry. Besides, it’s only 1/2 cup of juice. 

Next is the beef broth or water if you don’t have that. Lamb broth is too strong for this soup and chicken is too light and changes the flavor, in my opinion, which is why I prefer the alternatives. Beef broth is nice and rich and adds just the right depth of flavor in combination with the other ingredients.

You’ll let that cook for about 15-20 minutes. In the last few minutes, cut your bread fairly thick (1 inch is good) and put the bread under the broiler or in a toaster oven with a couple tablespoons of grated gruyére cheese on top. I don’t like my cheese cooked so much to the point of almost burning it, but if you like it that way, just keep an eye on the toasted bread and cheese and bake/broil it a little longer than I did. 

Ladle the soup into bowls and place two pieces of bread into each bowl. Guests can ladle the soup over the bread or eat separately, but most people like to submerge the bread deep into the soup and break up the bread with a spoon, eating it all together. 

Oh, yum, yum, yum. I may just have to make this again really soon before spring is here again and I have no excuse to warm up to a nice bowl of piping hot onion soup like this.

Enjoy- Bismillah and Bon Appetit! 

For more information about halal substitutes in cooking, see my chart here. 

wordpress-523174-1665548.cloudwaysapps.com/substitutes-for-alcohol-in-cookingFor more information about halal cheese, see my post here. 

To get a copy of the My Halal Kitchen cookbook where you’ll find this recipe and a list of halal food resources, click on the banner below or go to Book Depository where you can also get the book shipped for free globally.