Classic French Onion Soup

One of the most labour-intensive but rewarding soups I've ever made - French Onion Soup is only a little more than perfectly caramelized onions soaked in wine.

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I don't use this recipe often, as it involves chopping and standing over 10 lbs. of onions for over an hour, but the heartiness and elegance of this soup make for a great treat on special occasions. Try it out for date night (it automatically includes wine!) or as comfort food on a cold winter night, and you'll see why it's worth the effort for yourself.

Any soup is only as good as it's broth or stock, so make sure you're using the best stock available by making your own!

When picking your wine, remember that the soup will taste like your selection. I'll alternate between a light dry red and a big fruity red, but keep in mind that a bad wine will translate to a bad soup. White wine is less common, but can still be used to good affect - assuming that you would enjoy that wine on it's own as well.

When picking your cheese, it needs to balance with the soup. Nothing too mild, and nothing too sharp. I stick with gouda, havarti, white cheddar, and other cheeses in that category. Stay away from pizza mozzarella and yellow cheddar.

Cutting the onions gets old very fast, so try to buy the largest onions you can find to reduce the amount of time spent peeling and slicing.

Ingredients

• 10 lbs of onions - I use Spanish or yellow onions, but sweet onions could add a nice element. Don't use red.

• 8 cloves of garlic - The sauce won't be blended so they will need to be crushed or minced. Adjust to taste.

• 4 tbsp butter - This might seem overkill at first, but remember that you're splitting this over multiple meals, and the dish really needs the richness to balance out.

• 8 cups of homemade chicken broth - You can substitute for store bought, though you risk an over-salted and unbalanced meal. Try homemade stock at least once!

• 3/4 cup of wine - I think this classically calls for port or sherry, but who has that laying around? Try to pick a wine that you would enjoy drinking - I prefer dry reds, though you can experiment with using white wine as well.

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 tsp thyme - Dried is fine

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 1 tsp salt - careful with salt if using store-bought broth, taste before adding.

• Some bread and cheese to serve with.

Directions

• Put on your current favourite podcast, audiobook, or show. Mince up your garlic and slice up your giant pile of onions.

• Melt the butter in a pot large enough to hold your onions, medium heat at first, then add onion and garlic.

• Stir. Forever. (Lazy Option - you can let the onions soften on low heat for about 2 hours, stirring every half hour or so. It will make the next step faster, but a longer cooking process overall. It's a good option if you have a quiet afternoon but don't want to stand over the oven the entire time)

• On medium-high heat, keep stirring the onions every 5-10 minutes. The idea is that the water in the liquid will boil off, and the sugars will concentrate and caramelize on the bottom of the pot. Scrape the browning bits off the bottom as you stir, and you should see your onions progressively darken as you go. Usually we run out of liquid between 30-45 minutes, but need a bit more time for the onions to get perfect, so splash in some regular water and keep scraping, usually 60-75 minutes total.

• Add your chicken stock and spices - hold off on salting if using store-bought.

• Add in about 1/2 cup of wine, then adjust to taste - you can always add more later.

• Leave on a low boil for 10-15 minutes for the flavours to incorporate and the alcohol to boil off. Don't breathe in directly over a pot of boiling alcohol.

• To serve, you can transfer your soup to an oven-safe bowl, top with bread and cheese, and pop in the oven on broil until the cheese melts and is crispy. - or - My lazy method is to melt the cheese over the toast in a toaster oven, then float on top of a regular bowl like the world's least-inspired cheese toast iceberg.

Other tips and tricks are in the video walkthrough below!