Certaldo onion, queen of Tuscan-style soup

French-style onion soup

A question of variety

What variety to use in the preparation of this dish? You will find staunch advocates of using coppery onions, as they say they are best suited to long cooking, but they will be quickly contradicted by different opinions indicating a preference for bulbs of another color. But more importantly, what territory should we refer to in order to grasp the typicality of this preparation? Is it a northern or a southern dish?

Let's go, then, to browse through French cookbooks and discover that Alain Ducasse (among the best-known international interpreters of haute cuisine and cuisine du terroir) in one of his books reports a recipe for Soupe d'oignons à la calabraise, which is also referred to as "licurdia," in this case the indication is to use a white onion. Ducasse points out that there is no precise information on the origin of this recipe, which was probably exported to Calabria by an emigrant who was inspired by the Parisian dish. Here, Calabria also boasts paternity over the origin of the preparation, proposed, of course, with the use of the well-known Tropea red onion.

Ready to be picked

Perhaps someday a Confraternity, or some territorial entity will deposit by a Notary "the true traditional recipe" of onion soup, but you see well how difficult it is to place boundaries on the origin of recipes: food is testimony to how intense and fruitful the exchanges and contaminations between peoples have always been in the passage of centuries. It only remains for us to appreciate these legacies and the ability of territories to promote virtuous supply chains to enhance the differences of each local production.

The Redhead of Certaldo

For our part, in order not to make a mistake, we refer to the cuisine of ancient Rome, to the instructions of the cook Celio and, therefore, to the variations that the dish has undergone in Tuscany, where the preparation is at home. We propose to use the onion of Certaldo, mentioned in Boccaccio's Decameron also represented in the municipality's coat of arms. It is a red onion cultivated since the Middle Ages and owes its flavor to the sulfur-rich soil found in the Certaldo countryside.

There are two varieties, grown and harvested at different times of the year: in summer, the "statina," sweeter and more elongated, is preferred, and is also excellent fresh; the "vernina," on the other hand, with its strong and somewhat pungent flavor, is perfect for long cooking and winter dishes, especially our soup!