It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Rosa_Damascena

I had psyche myself up for this but I cooked a huge batch of leek and onion soup at 5.30am, with all the kitchen windows open. It was freezing but the house still stinks.

Cooking would be an ok chore if it didn't smell so much. On the plus side I anticipate that I will get at least 24 servings from this one pot so as soon as it's cooled down I shall blend, portion and stick it in the freezer.

joedenise

I usually make onion soup in the SC - it doesn't smell half as much as doing it on the hob!  I also think it tastes better.  I don't blend it all only about 3/4 of it and then stir the blended onion soup back into the other 1/4 before portioning and freezing - love to have some bits of onion in it for a bit of texture rather than a completely smooth soup.

Pollycat

joedenise said:

I usually make onion soup in the SC - it doesn't smell half as much as doing it on the hob!  I also think it tastes better.  I don't blend it all only about 3/4 of it and then stir the blended onion soup back into the other 1/4 before portioning and freezing - love to have some bits of onion in it for a bit of texture rather than a completely smooth soup.

+1 to this.
I make all my batch soup in the slow cooker, you don't need to keep an eye on it.
And I only blend part of it too.
Mind boggling imagining a pan so big that it makes 24 portions.

JIL

+2
I also use the slow cooker to make soup, I dont always blend, but if I do it's only part. I sometimes use the potato masher. I like texture otherwise it's too  samey. 

Could I also suggest a chefs candle? Light that after cooking to take away cooking smells.

RobM99

Pollycat said:

Mind boggling imagining a pan so big that it makes 24 portions.

I used to work with a Punjabi girl and to say the family house was big....well, every room had its own postcode! Anyway the point - the family had a religious festival meal at home for 240 people, and the poor girl's job was to prepare a certain curry, "the whole of Maldon smelt of onions" (!) and it was her job to peel and chop ... onions. Remember the big cauldrons with explorers cooking in the cartoons? That was the size of the cooking pot!

Pollycat

RobM99 said:

Pollycat said:

Mind boggling imagining a pan so big that it makes 24 portions.

I used to work with a Punjabi girl and to say the family house was big....well, every room had its own postcode! Anyway the point - the family had a religious festival meal at home for 240 people, and the poor girl's job was to prepare a certain curry, "the whole of Maldon smelt of onions" (!) and it was her job to peel and chop ... onions. Remember the big cauldrons with explorers cooking in the cartoons? That was the size of the cooking pot!

I'm sure kitchens have pans big enough to cook 24 portions of soup too.
But I'm a self-confessed batch cook with lots of pans and 2 slow cookers but I still don't have a pan big enough to do that much.

Katiehound

I'm thinking, maybe wrongly, that just lighting any candle might help to remove the onion smell.
 Worth a try if you have a handy candle!

YoungBlueEyes

Reminds me of something I used to make (dunno why I stopped cos it's bladdy lovely.

A cheap meal - 
Some carrots, diced
Some swede, diced.
An onion, diced.
Boil the carrots and swede in a pan with not a great deal of water and a chicken/veg stock cube.
Half way through, fish out some of the carrots + swede. Fry these off with the onion 'til they're a bit dark and caramelised, and keep separate.
Mash the boiled carrots and swede and leave on a very low heat til it dries out a wee bit. Add a good cut of butter and some black pepper.
Add the fried bits to it.

Yum.

-taff

My two biggest pans will easily do that and more but they are usually reserved for cooking tomatoes in September and recently got used to make a massive batch of mulled cider.

Katiehound

-taff said:

My two biggest pans will easily do that and more but they are usually reserved for cooking tomatoes in September and recently got used to make a massive batch of mulled cider.

now that's certainly to my taste.. think we ought to have a frugal party!!
Where's the venue??