French Onion Soup
Emerils French Onion Soup Recipe
Emeril Lagasse is a TV show host, restaurateur, and successful chef. Originally, from Portugal, Emeril Lagasse studied French cuisine and polished his cooking skills in Lyons and Paris before returning to the United States to work in fine restaurants in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.
This Emerils French onion soup recipe does not take a long time to make and it has a wonderful aroma and flavor. You can serve it with a toasted sandwich or small salad for a complete lunch or supper. It does take some time for the onions to caramelize but that is an important step if you want to make the most delicious French onion soup recipe.
You can use Provolone cheese instead of Gruyere if you prefer it. Gruyere has a slightly sour tang, which does go nicely with the onion soup’s sweetness, but not everybody is keen on the flavor. With French onion soup cheese is the ideal topping so choose whichever type appeals to you the most.
French Onion Soup by Emeril LaGasse
Ingredients -
8 onions, sliced thinly
6 tablespoons butter
½ cup sherry
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups veal broth
Leaves from 4 sprigs thyme
8 toasted slices French bread, cubed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
Put the butter in a Dutch oven or big saucepan and let it melt over a moderate heat. Add the onions and turn the heat down to medium low. Add the thyme leaves and cook until the onions start to turn golden brown, stirring often. This will take about 25 minutes.
Add the sherry and cook until it is nearly all evaporated. This takes about 15 minutes.
Add the broths and bring the soup to a boil.
Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and ladle the soup into 8 ovenproof soup bowls. Put the soup bowls on a baking sheet to avoid drips. Put the croutons on top of the soup, covering it.
Top each bowl with grated cheese, and then bake until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown. This will take about 10 minutes.
(Serves 8)
How Famous French Chefs Changed French Cuisine
Whether you look at late French chefs or famous French chefs that are alive and well today, it is true that French cuisine has changed dramatically from the early days. If you compare the complicated French dishes of last century with the "nouvelle cuisine" of the 1960s and 1970s, you can see a pattern emerge. All French recipes used to be heavy, rich, and complicated and the mid twentieth century saw a rebellion, simplifying the food as much as possible. Look at Emeril's French onion soup, for example, as proof that French food can be simple but still packed with exquisite flavor.
Modern French Cuisine
French cuisine might have become a lot more simplified a few decades back but classic French dishes, or at least streamlined versions, are beginning to gain popularity again. French cooking has gone from the over complicated to highly simplified to a balance of the two. Modern French cuisine is all about delivering flavor without the need for cramming too many flavors into one dish or spending hours on elaborate garnishes. Excellent food and classic presentation is what makes French food stand out so clearly. French onion soup is a great example of a relatively simple dish that has stood the test of time. Like with Emeril's French onion soup, anyone can make this recipe.