French Onion Soup
Well finally back home safe and sound. Trip was amazing and I am slowly falling in love with San Diego. On advice of Sharon over at Culinary Adventures of a New Wife we checked out Whisk and Ladle and holy %^$#(! was the food amazing (they have headcheese on the menu how could it be a bad place??) and definitely stopping there next time I am in the city.
The major debate with French onion soup is how to cook the onions. I personally am a fan of taking the mandoline and slicing the onions paper thin. Then I like to use butter and slowly cook the onions down over medium heat stirring occasionally. This of course takes at least a couple hours to allow the onions to caramelize.
I know some people who just crank the heat to high and let them go but ehh….I have nothing but time and I am sure their soup taste amazing but I bet you my house smells better from hours of onions caramelizing.
For this recipe you will need:
- 2.5 lbs of assorted onions
- 1/2 cup of red wine
- 32 ounces of beef stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 4 cloves of garlic cut in half
- Slices of crusty bread
- Slices of gruyere cheese
- 4 TB of butter
Take a large stockpot over medium and melt the butter. Add in the onions and yes at first the onions are going to look like a massive pile but fear not soon they will be nothing.
Cook the onions till they are dark brown stirring occasionally (this process normally takes about 2-3 hours). In the beginning I like to stir every 30 minutes or so and as they break down further I increase stirring to every 15 minutes to eventually minutes.
After the onions have cooked down and are golden brown add in the red wine and deglaze the pan.
Add in the beef stock, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves. Let this mixture cook for 30 minutes or so. To make your life easier wrap the garlic and bay leaves in cheesecloth and secure with kitchen twine.
Fish out the garlic and bay leaves (see why wrapping it in cheesecloth would make it easier).
Pour the mixture into soup bowls, cover with the bread, and then slices of the cheese.
Throw this under a hot broiler for a couple minutes to melt the cheese. Serve and enjoy!
This is one of the best soups ever. If I could have onions in my house, I would live on this stuff. It looks awesome
welcome back, jeff. way to blow back in with some steamy, cheesy goodness.
I think you have to reconsider the name of your blog. This is not a disaster!
hey jeff, no wonder my french onion soup never had the taste yours does. what you do to the onions is probably what gives it so much flavour. i love french soups - they are completely different to what the greeks tend to think of soup
This is one of my all time favorite soup. I do the same method and like my onion caramelized. There is nothing better, after a snow storm, then a good French onion soup.
what a comeback post!!! lovely recipe of an old favorite soup… will definitely give your recipe a try… the melted cheese looks so amazing… glad to hear you had a great trip… welcome back, jeff…
So glad you enjoyed SD and of course, Whisknladle! I can’t get enough of that place. If only I had more money
I’m loving the oozing, gooey cheese shot. Great soup bowls too!
Slow-cookin’ the onions is definitely the way to go, Jeff. I love your soup bowls!
Hands down, French Onion Soup is my all-time favorite, and would you just look at all that melted cheese?! Delicious!
I never have the patience to let my onions get to that glorious stage, I am definitely going to next time.
That French onion soup looks so good!