A Good Thick Slice?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

When a recipe calls for "a good thick slice" of butter as its first ingredient -- as one by Nigel Slater does for onion soup (Tender, p325) -- what is the equivalent in grams or tablespoons? "A good pinch" or "large handful" I can handle, but I am completely lost.

P.S. This not just of academic interest. I had hoped to have the soup tonight.

[IndyRob]

40gm?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/21/french-onion-soup-recipe-slater

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Not quite the same recipe (this one uses a liter of chicken stock) but close enough, thanks! I have five pounds of onions, I may yet eat tonight. If I have enough butter.

[FeChef]

I would think a good thick slice is inbetween a one and two tbsp.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

As accurately as I can measure on my ancient analog Japanese made scale, 40g of butter is exactly 3 tablespoons. I'll go with that and see what happens! Thanks!

[Kerry Beal]

I suspect it would depend if you were cutting that 'good thick slice' from a full pound (the way most Canadian butter is packaged) or from a quarter.

A good thick slice from a full pound would be about 1/4 of a cup. From a quarter - about 2 tbsp.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

And it would depend what shape the quarters were -- long and thin as most brands in the US, or short and squat as some. Nigel Slater loves poetic measurments. I actually weighed out 700g of onions, rather than the three medium onions called for.

Soup is simmering.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Dinner was three bowls of onion soup followed by a salad. Quite satisfactory. I had half a beautiful baguette I baked the night before. I sliced the baguette and toasted the rounds on a quarter sheet pan under the broiler. I then topped them with cheese and placed over the soup to be broiled on the other side.

One substitution: Nigel Slater calls for Madeira. I used a splash of balsamic vinegar. Not that I don't keep Madeira in the kitchen, nonetheless finishing an onion soup with 1886 solara malmsey seems a bit excessive.

[Paul Bacino]

I'm not really sure an exact measurement is needed for that recipe ? For me its enough to get the job done.. like the amount of water it takes to cook pasta in.

If your worried about to much fat present, I some times drain of any fat liquid.. since I add olive oil to cook my onions in. That is some good stuff that drains off.

I'm glad it worked..I love that soup

Edited February 11, 2013 by Paul Bacino (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'm not worried about too much fat. I was more concerned with being off by an order of magnitude from what Slater intended and having a strange result. When I am familiar with a recipe, like soup, I tend not to measure either.