*There are actually eight ingredients in my recipe, but I am only using one (onions) for the purpose of my witching
Last weekend, when my partner announced they were taking the short ribs out of the freezer to dethaw, I knew my dark moon banishment had been decided for me: it was time to make my yearly batch of French Onion Soup. I always make this soup with a combination of the au jus from the short ribs and broth made from the leftover bones; it is part of our goal to use as much of the animal as we can. But French onion soup does more than fill our bellies: it fills the entire house with the essence of onions.
This, as a kitchen witch, I can USE.
Some background on what I call Single Ingredient Kitchen Witch Spells
One of the things that I have found when pursuing Kitchen Witch spells is that the writers often try to attribute a magical intention to every ingredient they put into their food. Although this is well intended, if one is actually enchanting their meals (rather than just “asking” the ingredients to impart some magic – which is valid), it becomes – in my opinion – very energy-intensive and cumbersome. That’s not what I am all about when I’m witching in the kitchen.
My idea of a good kitchen witch spell is one where you spend a hot minute cooking your food (stirring and returning to your meal is a LOT of where I impart magic into food) but where the actual magic is fairly simple. In this way, I am drawn to a spell where one type of magical intention is highlighted by using only one ingredient or a (small) combination of ingredients that all work towards a common goal.
I find this approach easier for witches who are to kitchen magic and low-energy witches like me. This doesn’t mean that you need to stick to very simple recipe to enchant kitchen magic, instead, we are focusing on one or a handful of ingredients for the material of our spellwork. Sometimes flavoring (everything else) can just be flavoring.
I will point out here that by my thinking, whatever primary ingredient you are enchanting for your kitchen magic SHOULD be a primary ingredient/flavor in the dish that you are making. While a bitch of salt can and will cleanse, I wouldn’t call your dish a cleansing spell just because you added a pinch of salt. In this way, this type of magic works best with ingredient-forward dishes like pesto (basil), pies (fruit), or – in this case – French Onion Soup which calls for multiple cups of Sweet Onion.
The Magic of Onion
In my opinion as a witch and amateur herbalist, the magic of onion lies in its organosulfur compounds. It is unmistakable if you have ever cut or eaten an onion (or other members of the allium family) that they carry a distinctive smell and taste of sulfur. Sulfur, also known as brimstone, has long been associated with banishment or dispelling magics of all kinds.
Notably, here this association carries over to onion both in the metaphysical realm where it is believed to banish or keep away evil and ill will, but also in its physical properties as onion is antiseptic and antibacterial. Perhaps, in this way, we can imagine that onion chases away the bad by removing it from our bodies.
That’s something that I can get behind.
French Onion Soup: a Banishment for the Body and the Home
If the magic of onions is found in its organosulfur compounds (as I believe), this is activated thrice in the making of French onion soup.
Firstly, when you cut the onions. Secondly, when you caramelize the onions (fumigating your home), and thirdly when you eat the onions. We’ve been talking a lot lately about the magic of the number 3 – a number that can naturally increase or decrease depending on how it is used. This a decreasing 3-spell, and could be used as an adjunct to a more traditional decreasing spell. For example, I might start a banishment or decreasing candle spell and then make and eat the soup while the spell was burning.
Note here that I think that the PRIMARY banishment stage comes during the caramelization process, this is where I focus the energy of my banishment.
You will need:
- 6 cups thin sliced Sweet Onions
- 8 cups beef broth, homemade preferred, but boxed is okay
- A small bundle of Thyme, fresh preferred
- 1/2 Stick of Butter or comparable oil substitute (EVOO)
- 1/2 cup dry wine, optional
- Baguette or other crusty bread, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
- Gruyere cheese, grated
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Prepare your kitchen Do this in any way you prefer before starting a kitchen witch spell. I like to have a hearth candle that I light when doing kitchen magic to help create the proper mood.
- Thin Slice Your Onions We want the onions in the soup to have a thin ribbon-like texture. It helps with caramelization to have all your onion slices be the same size, but this may not be possible if you start with very differently-sized onions. This is your chance to connect with the spirit or powers of the onion. Very quickly, you will begin to physically experience the effects of onion’s sulfuric nature as the syn-propanethial-S-oxide gas released by cutting the onions mixes with the water content in our eyes, creating sulfuric acid. This is part of the banishment properties of onion; although it might not be pleasant, thank the onion for doing what it is doing. Depending on your magical traditions, you may choose to interact with onion in any manner of ways. Remember here that this is the first of three banishment steps in this process – whoever cuts the onions will get the direct and most focused banishment of the entire spell. If the intended recipient of the spell is you, cut the onions yourself. If it is someone else, consider asking them to cut the onions for you. I wanted to work this spell for both myself and my partner, and I knew that they would still be out of the house when I caramelized the onions, so I asked them to cut the onion for me. You can choose to talk to the onions, pray over the onion, carve sigils into them before you cut them, or do anything that feels appropriate to your path during this time. This step will take a while, especially if you need to take breaks to cry your eyes out over onions. This can be done up to a day ahead of time – store your cut onions in the fridge until you are ready to use them.
- Camarmelize Your Onions I thought about giving you the basics on caramelizing onions here, but this is a kitchen witch blog. I assume you have some proficiency in the kitchen if you are attempting a spell like this. Besides, the process of doing this will change drastically depending on how wet your onions are, the general humidity, and how your stove manages heat. The butter, onions, thyme, and salt go into the pot in this step. Start on medium heat and adjust up or down as you need to so that your onions cook until they are golden brown. Expect this to take at least an hour, and be happy if it takes less. The secret to caramelizing onions is that you need to consistently stir the pot so they do not stick to the bottom and burn. This is where I put the majority of my magic into this spell – each time that I return to the pot, I draw a banishing sigil over my onions. I also stir in the anti-clockwise direction of removal. You should adapt this to how you perform kitchen magic, of course. I will note here that my apartment has a relatively open floor plan and I intentionally do not turn on the kitchen fans so that the oniony goodness vents into my house, not out of it. This is the step that I use to banish unwanted energy from my physical space – I speak words over the steam rising from my onions and ask it to assist me in this process. If I lived in a place with a less open floor plan, I would open any doors and windows needed to get the steam/smell into as many parts of the place as I could. If you just want to focus on your physical body, you can skip this step but I find that if my energy has gotten off enough to require a banishment, my place needs cleansing, too.
- Heat Your Broth You want your broth to be at a similar temperature to your onions. This doesn’t need to get done at the beginning of your caramelization process as you might evaporate more than necessary, but you will want your broth up to temperature by the time your onions are at their desired doneness.
- Construct the Soup When the onions are ready, deglaze the pot with wine or beef broth. Scrape the bottle to reincorporate any stuck residue back into your base. Add 1/2 cup of flour and mix to form a weak roux. Slowly add beef broth by the ladle full into the base, stirring as you go. Cook on a simmer for 10 minutes. This is the time for any last intention setting,. You can adjust for salt and add pepper as a final pop of banishing if you are so inclined.
- Serve and Eat All of our magic has already been accomplished, so now it is time to plate (bowl?) our meal. French Onion Soup is traditionally served in individual ramekins with a slice of bread and melted Gruyere on top. This is accomplished by putting the soup into the ramekins, topping with the bread and cheese, and then popping those suckers under the broiler. I don’t do this. I just grill the bread and top with thinly grated cheese. There isn’t enough difference here to wait the extra few minutes after I’ve already been standing over the stove for an hour. You can say a few words over your meal if that’s you thing, but you don’t need to here. The rest of the magic will be fueled by your own digestive system. It is done French onion soup keeps for a couple of days in the fridge and freezes nicely so long as you omit the bread and cheese.
If I could choose one thing for you to take away from this writing, it is that kitchen witchery does not have to be complicated. You don’t need to know the magical associations for every ingredient you put into your meal. You only need to know one and use it well.