Equipment
Ingredients
Soup Base
- 1000 g yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 15 ml olive oil
- 5 g kosher salt
- 3 g white sugar
- 2 garlic, minced
- 15 g all-purpose flour
- 120 ml dry white wine
- 1000 ml beef stock, high quality or homemade
- 3 g fresh thyme, tied in a bundle
- 1 bay leaf
Gratin Topping
- 100 g baguette, sliced 2cm thick
- 1 garlic, halved
- 150 g gruyère cheese, freshly grated
Nutrition (per serving)
Method
Place the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the unsalted butter and olive oil, heating until the butter is completely melted and slightly foaming.
Add the sliced yellow onions, kosher salt, and white sugar to the Dutch oven. Toss well with a wooden spoon to coat the onions in the fats.
Cook the onions, stirring every 5 minutes. As they reduce and begin to brown, lower the heat slightly and scrape the bottom of the pot to incorporate the fond. Continue until they reach a deep mahogany brown.
Stir the minced garlic into the caramelized onions and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
Sprinkle the all-purpose flour over the onion mixture. Stir continuously to cook out the raw flour taste.
Pour in the dry white wine to deglaze the pot. Scrape the bottom vigorously with the wooden spoon to release any remaining browned bits.
Pour in the beef stock, then add the fresh thyme bundle and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer partially covered.
While the soup simmers, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Arrange baguette slices on a baking sheet and toast until dry and golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and immediately rub one side of each slice with the halved raw garlic clove.
Remove the thyme stems and bay leaf from the broth. Ladle the hot soup into oven-safe soup crocks, leaving about 2cm of space at the top. Float 1 or 2 toasted baguette slices in each crock, and cover generously with grated Gruyère cheese.
Preheat the broiler. Place the crocks on a sturdy baking sheet and carefully transfer them to the oven. Broil until the cheese is melted, aggressively bubbling, and charred in spots. Serve immediately.
Chef's Notes
- Patience is the only secret to incredible French Onion Soup. Caramelizing onions properly takes 45-60 minutes. There is no shortcut, and attempting to speed it up with high heat will yield fried onions instead of jammy, sweet ones.
- Using a mix of yellow and red onions can add a wonderful complexity to the soup, but standard yellow onions offer the most classic flavor profile.
- If your beef stock is unsalted, make sure to taste the final broth before ladling it into the crocks. The cheese adds salt, but the broth needs to stand on its own.
- Rubbing the freshly toasted croutons with raw garlic adds a profound, sharp aromatic punch that cuts through the richness of the cheese and sweet onions.
Storage
Refrigerator: 4 days — Store the soup base separately from the baguette and cheese.
Freezer: 3 months — Freeze only the soup base. Thaw overnight before reheating.
Reheating: Reheat soup base on the stovetop until simmering. Ladle into crocks, add fresh toast and cheese, and broil.
