I love, love, love soup! It is one of my favorite meals. Warm, comforting, filling, easy to make – what’s not to like? French onion though has always been something I get at a restaurant, never something I would ever attempt to make. Scratch that, I did make it a few years ago and while it was good it wasn’t anything close to what a strived for.
My first bowl of this soup was when I went to visit my sister at college. She took us to some little restaurant down the street from her school (Rusty Scupper?). It was cute and quaint and she recommended the soup. Melted cheese on soup? What? I was like 11, and I remember that first spoonful so vividly. It was everything she had said and more, and while I’ve had many bowls of French Onion since then, none have ever measured up to that first bowl, until this.
I found this recipe through America’s Test Kitchen. This recipe takes most of it’s time cooking in the oven, with a bit of hands on time after that. Your house will smell sublime!
Ingredients:
- 6 tbsp. butter
- 6 large yellow onions, like almost softball size onions, sliced thin (end to end)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups water for deglazing (used in 1/4 to 1/2 increments)
- 1/2 cup dry sherry
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth4
- 4 cups beef broth
- 4-6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with twine
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- Shredded cheese (Gruyère is the standard but my kids don’t like it) I used sliced Raclette (8 oz.) and fresh grated parmesan (4 oz.) Jarlsberg would be a good substitute as well.
Preheat oven to 400°. Put butter and sliced onions in a heavy bottomed pot (I used my 5 qt. cast iron, dutch oven). Sprinkle with salt, cover and place in oven, (lower middle rack) for an hour.
Take out and stir, onions will be soft and translucent, and will have reduced to about 1/2 the size.
Return to oven, with lid slightly ajar for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours (check and stir after 1 hour). This is when the browning of the onions begins. They should have reduced completely and be light brown in color.
Remove from oven and place on medium high heat to begin the real caramelization process. (Don’t turn off oven, you will need for baguette slices.) You want to remove any excess moisture from the onions and deglaze the pan. I did this in four steps, adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water at a time. They begin to brown very quickly and a “crust or fond” forms each time at bottom of pan. This is all that deep flavor you want in your soup, so don’t skip these steps. It’s important to let the onions sit a bit over the heat to create the fond that develops. It should take about 5 minutes for each deglazing to happen. You want to stir frequently, deglazing pan as you go. Adding water each time liquid evaporates completely. When you’ve done this 3-4 times, the onions will be a deep dark brown color and full of intense flavor.
Add in sherry at this time and deglaze one last time.
Add in both broths (I like to use one of each because too much beef broth, can be well, too beefy and overpowering, you want the caramelized onions to come through here, not overshadowed by stock). Stir in thyme bundle and bay leaf, bring to a simmer, cover and reduce to low to maintain the simmer for 1/2 hours. Salt and pepper to taste.
As soup cooks place cut baguette slices on cookie sheet and place in oven to toast. Roughly 8 minutes per side, you want it nicely toasted, not burnt. I did 10 on one side, 5 minutes on other.
When ready to serve, increase oven temp to broil, and move rack to upper position. Remove thyme and bay, and ladle soup into crocks (placed on a cookie sheet to catch any drips) place baguette toasts on top and mound, I mean sprinkle with cheese of choice. Broil for approximately 5 minutes and let rest 5 minutes before serving.
Jersey Jules 