Classic French Onion Soup

French onion soup has been a revelation – it was utterly delicious, and you cannot appreciate enough the French ingenuity in cooking techniques. Taking a humble ingredient like onion, they have added layers of flavor and taste to make it perfect. Slowly caramelized onions add a subtle sweetness to rich seasoned beef broth. The crowning glory is crusty toasted bread topped with melty Gruyere cheese.

French onion soup, croissants, foi grass, and macarons are what I wanted to taste – I was seeking the authentic taste  – when I landed in Paris. I had the best onion soup, coq-au-vin in Paris and got a taste of the best foi grass in Lyon. A traveler’s tip I would like to share – the best onion soups are in the bistros in Paris. A bistro is a small traditional Parisian restaurant with simple décor and has been popular for simple meals, typical of home-style cooking.

We had it multiple times during our week-long stay in Paris and left thinking about making it at home as soon as we were back. So we did make it at home, and my homemade French onion soup recipe has been outstanding. My recipe follows the more authentic versions of the soup, and my family has loved it each time we had it for dinners.

The secret behind the best French onion soups

Nowadays you would find this soup on the fanciest of restaurant menus. But this soup is known to be a peasant dish because of the simple ingredients used. To make the best soup at home, you have to keep in mind these two points

1. Caramelize the onions

The hero is the caramelized onions; hence no surprise that the taste depends on how you cook your onions. Caramelizing onions is time-consuming, and to make a great onion soup, you must commit time to this step and there is no shortcut to it.

I can place my hand on my heart and say this – it is worth spending a good 45 minutes to 1 hour on this step. You will thank yourself later :). Follow the instructions in the recipe and watch the video. I have included some small tricks to speed it up a bit.

2. Get the best beef stock

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good stock. If there is one thing you should splurge your money on, this is it. Get the best beef stock that you can afford.  Much like the French onion chicken, a flavorful stock is vital here. It gives it body and elevates an excellent soup to a great one which makes you ask for seconds.

Chicken stock is still a good substitute for beef stock as it is much easier to get a tremendous store-bought chicken stock than beef stock. If you must use chicken stock, then for an extra boost of flavor, add 3-4 dried mushrooms to the hot stock and let it infuse.

A vegetarian version?

How can you make a vegetarian version of French onion soup? There are vegetarian and vegan versions of French onion soup. A good quality mushroom stock is an excellent substitute as it has great flavor. You can make a good quality mushroom or vegetable stock at home too.

How to make

Prepare and sauté onions.

Bring your swimming goggles out, because you need to cut a lot of onions. Peel and slice onions to make them look like inch-long strands. You do not need to chop them. It might seem like a lot of onion, but once cooked it shrinks considerably.

Caramelization – Patience is a virtue.

In a wide hot pot or Dutch oven, add butter and oil. Butter imparts flavor to the browning onions, while the oil helps increase the butter’s smoking point so it doesn’t burn. Here is the breakdown of how to get perfectly caramelized onions

1. Add sliced onion to the hot dutch oven, and cook on medium-high heat for an initial 10-12 minutes. Stir in between.
2. Once the onions have cooked and softened, then you have to reduce the heat to low. At this point add a large pinch of salt. Salt will draw moisture out of onions and help cook them faster. This will take around 20-25 minutes depending on how wide is your pot. In the end the onion will look light brown in colour.
3. During the last 10-15 minutes of the process, you need to keep a hawk eye and keep stirring it more frequently to get that perfect caramelization. Towards the end, the onion will turn from caramelized to burnt in no time, hence I repeat, keep a close eye.

Some recipes call for adding sugar to hasten the process, but I felt the onions become sweet enough by the end without adding the sugar.

Add other ingredients

Add mince garlic, bay leaf and sauté for another minute. This removes the raw smell of the garlic. Next, add white wine to deglaze the dutch oven, removing the brown bits stuck to the bottom and mixing it with the rest of the content. When the wine has almost evaporated, add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Slowly pour the beef stock while stirring the onions. Add thyme, bay leaf, and Worcestershire sauce at the same time. Bring down the heat to low and let the pot simmer for another 30 minutes.

This part is not a hands-free job. You will need to stir the soup occasionally so the onions do not sink to the bottom and burn and stick to the pot.

Prepare the topping and serve

While the soup simmers, line the baking tray with a baking sheet. preheat the oven at 350 F. Cut bread into slices and brush on both sides with butter. Lay the slices on the tray and bake them for 5 minutes until both sides are crispy.

• If serving immediately, portion the soup into serving oven-proof ramekins, and top it with toasted bread slices. Sprinkle a generous amount of shredded Gruyere. Bake each ramekin for 5-8 minutes until the cheese has melted.
• In case you don’t have oven-proof small ramekins, then after toasting bread, top it with Gruyere and bake it just before serving, until the chees melts. Then while serving top the hot soup with cheesy toasts.