Recipe French Onion Soup

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I was looking for something for the Onion recipe challenge that @classic33 set and was after something that was predominantly onions when it hit me. Onion soup, or more accurately French Onion Soup and so I set off for a typical recipe for French Onion Soup.



Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil (or 2oz butter if you prefer)
• 1kg brown onions, thinly sliced
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 125ml sweet sherry or brandy
• 1.5L vegetable stock
• 1/2 a baguette
• 4oz/100g gruyere or Emmental cheese, grated (optional)

Method

1. In a large pan, heat the oil (or melt the butter if using) and when warmed, add the sliced onions and the sugar. Cook over a medium-low heat, stirring often, for 45-60 minutes until browned.
2. Increase the heat, add the flour and stir for a couple of minutes until the flour is well distributed.
3. Add 250ml stock and stir rapidly to cook the flour and thicken the sauce.
4. Add the remaining stock and brandy/sherry along with the thyme and simmer for around 20 minutes.
5. Serve with the cheese melted over the top of the bowls and the baguette.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I thought that onions had their own natural sugars. Yeah, it is these sugars that help the sliced onions slowly brown & caramelize (pictured above).

Usually, if you let the onions caramelize enough, the sugars are extruded out into the pot that they are being cooked in. Onions ARE naturally sweet, so I'm told.

 

[Morning Glory]

I love French onion soup. This recipe looks pretty much the way I would make it. You don't have to add the brown sugar @Shermie, but it does add a bit of depth together with the brandy (I'd use brandy rather than sherry). Is there a source for the recipe?

 

[GadgetGuy]

I love French onion soup. This recipe looks pretty much the way I would make it. You don't have to add the brown sugar @Shermie, but it does add a bit of depth together with the brandy (I'd use brandy rather than sherry). Is there a source for the recipe?

When I do it, I usually make it with beef stock. Which I make from oven roasted beef neck bones.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

@morning glory the source is paper from my grannie's recipes. I have just switched out the cheese and made it vegetarian.
@Shermie I'm effectively vegan plus eggs, so beef stock is not an option for me, but please feel free to use it. The sugar also takes into account that not all onions are as sweet as those grown in warmer climate. UK grown ones in particular can be quite bland. Australian ones on the other hand probably won't need it.

 

[Morning Glory]

@morning glory the source is paper from my grannie's recipes. I have just switched out the cheese and made it vegetarian.
@Shermie I'm effectively vegan plus eggs, so beef stock is not an option for me, but please feel free to use it. The sugar also takes into account that not all onions are as sweet as those grown in warmer climate. UK grown ones in particular can be quite bland. Australian ones on the other hand probably won't need it.

Fantastic that you have granny's recipes. Sadly I have nothing at all. But frankly, I don't recall that any of them could cook much other than very plain fare - and certainly not French Onion Soup - very posh!

 

[Morning Glory]

When I do it, I usually make it with beef stock. Which I make from oven roasted beef bones.

That is the authentic way - and good on you for making your own beef stock!

 

[GadgetGuy]

That is the authentic way - and good on you for making your own beef stock!

Thanks.

At times, I'm adventurous in the kitchen. I learned how to do that from working for a catering co.

The house reeks deliciously from the smell of soup, but I'm actually making the stock. After first bringing it to a rolling boil, I turn the heat way down and let it just barely simmer for 7 to 8 hours.

This is when the magic starts to happen, and all the goodness is sucked out of the bones - as Emeril would say! Hah!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Fantastic that you have granny's recipes. Sadly I have nothing at all. But frankly, I don't recall that any of them could cook much other than very plain fare - and certainly not French Onion Soup - very posh!

My Grannie became vegetarian for a while and would cook quite a lot of different stuff when my grandfather wasn't home. But even so, one of his favourite dishes was her vegetarian lasagne. It's quite surprising some of the recipes from women's weekly, readers digest and various other newspaper type cuttings she has from just after WWII and well into the 50's. (she has recipes cut out right up until she could no longer cook, but the early ones include the infamous BBC spaghetti hanging off bushes etc.)

 

[Morning Glory]

My Grannie became vegetarian for a while and would cook quite a lot of different stuff when my grandfather wasn't home. But even so, one of his favourite dishes was her vegetarian lasagne. It's quite surprising some of the recipes from women's weekly, readers digest and various other newspaper type cuttings she has from just after WWII and well into the 50's. (she has recipes cut out right up until she could no longer cook, but the early ones include the infamous BBC spaghetti hanging off bushes etc.)

Ha ha! I know that April 1st hoax (BBC Panorama 1957). Truth be told, growing up as a child in the 50's we really didn't know about pasta - in fact we didn't even know that word! The spaghetti I had was from a tin in a rather sweet slurry of a tomato sauce. I think it is still sold. But we did have macaroni - and macaroni cheese, which of course has become a popular American dish: Mac 'n Cheese. More popular in America than in the UK, I think.

Now, of course, we have pasta every which way (especially in ready meals). You should post more of your grannie's saved recipes.