Food and Travel & Food and Travel
Six-portion French onion soup in a cream crock under bubbling browned Comte and baguette
starter French

French onion soup

A dark, clean beef-and-chicken broth carries slowly browned onions, sherry vinegar, toasted baguette, and a molten Comté lid.

Prep25 min
Cook125 min
Oven220°C
Servings6
Cook mode

Adapted for the home kitchen from Fallow's French onion soup video

Ingredients

Written for a 5 L pot

Units
Servings
6
  • 1 1/6 kg yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 60 g unsalted butter
  • 15 ml neutral oil
  • 12 g fine salt
  • 20 g plain flour
  • 200 ml dry white wine
  • 900 ml rich beef stock
  • 500 ml reduced chicken stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 6 g fresh thyme
  • 15 ml sherry vinegar
  • 240 g baguette, cut into 12 slices
  • 240 g Comté or Gruyère, coarsely grated
  • 2 g black pepper

Method

  1. Melt the butter with the oil in a wide heavy pot. Add onions and 8 g salt. Cook uncovered over medium-low heat for 60 to 75 minutes, stirring more often as they darken, until mahogany brown but not burnt.
  2. Stir in the flour for 2 minutes. Add the wine and scrape the pot clean; reduce by half.
  3. Add both stocks, bay, and thyme. Simmer uncovered for 35 minutes, skimming as needed.
  4. Remove the herbs. Add sherry vinegar and pepper. Taste before adding the remaining salt; the soup needs enough acidity to lift the sweet onions and gelatinous stock.
  5. Toast the baguette slices until dry and pale gold. Heat the grill or oven to 220°C.
  6. Divide soup among six ovenproof bowls on a tray. Float two toasts on each and cover with Comté. Grill or bake 5 to 8 minutes until melted, bubbling, and browned. Rest 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

  • The stock is the backbone. Use gelatin-rich homemade stock or a good unsalted commercial stock reduced until it lightly coats a spoon.
  • For an alcohol-free version, replace wine with 150 ml stock plus 30 ml apple juice and add another 5 ml sherry vinegar at the end.
  • The soup base keeps four days refrigerated and freezes for three months; add bread and cheese only when serving.
  • Quantities are reconstructed and remain needs-review.

Sources used

Good with

Sources consulted

Fallow demonstrates the stock-first technique without quantities; this batch is reconstructed for six ovenproof bowls.

From Christoph Mayer

Cooked this?

How was it?