The richness from the caramelized onions. The melted then broiled cheese. The baguette croutons. It’s comfort in a bowl. Deeply satisfying. Wonderfully delicious. Amazing really, that something so good can be so simple.

French onion soup is about the onions

It seems obvious but it’s critical. Good French onion soup is real work. You need to cook the onions until they are deeply browned. Seriously. There’s no skimping that on that step. It’s mostly about caramelization of the onions. All those sugars in the onions cooking down to a wonderful mess of delicious. But there’s a bit of Maillard reaction going on as well. Magic.

Gruyere is king

There is one cheese in my mind that is perfect for French onion soup. Gruyere. Other cheeses melt well but gruyere brings a little more depth of flavour.  It’s up to you. You can use whatever cheese you want. But try gruyere at least once. You will be surprised. Expensive but worth it.  

 

Some Julia – some Anthony

For years, my go to recipe for French onion soup was Julia Child’s. The one in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That’s a book they they will pry from my cold dead hands BTW. Then I snagged a copy of Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook. Both recipes are really, really good but I like his just a little better. She uses white vermouth and cognac. He uses port and balsamic vinegar. She cooks her onions covered to start and longer overall. She adds sugar. He doesn’t. There’s bacon in his. It’s Bourdain after all… This is the version from Les Halles with a bit of Julia’s technique. It’s the best of both in a bowl. A big gooey bowl of happiness.    

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