French Onion Soup
The Most Authentic and Best French Onion Soup
This is the best French onion soup recipe to make if you want something closely resembling the classic French onion soup dish. Blending beef broth, thyme, onions, French bread, Gruyere cheese and more, this is a really traditional French onion soup recipe, which will appeal to adults and kids alike and makes a great family supper or a classic appetizer at a dinner party.
Sugar is often used in the best French onion soup recipes - just enough to help with the caramelization of the onions, not enough to make it overly sweet. This is not a necessary step but it does bring out the sweetness of the onions and a lot of French chefs like to use a sprinkling of sugar in their onion soup. You might want to forget the sugar if you are using Vidalia onions, though, or another type of sweet onions.
The white wine is not essential either but it gives the onion soup a gourmet taste and enhances the other flavors in the soup. It is best to use slightly stale French bread, rather than freshly baked bread, because slightly stale bread is drier and it is quicker to make croutons with.
The Best French Onion Soup with Thyme and White Wine
Ingredients -
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 yellow onions, thinly sliced
Sprig of fresh thyme
2 ½ quarts beef broth
½ cup dry white wine
8 slices French baguette bread
3 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon sugar
2 cups grated gruyere cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation:
Heat the olive oil in a heavy 5-quart pan, and then add the butter.
Add the onions to the melted butter and oil and cook them, covered, for 10 minutes over a low heat. Add the salt and sugar.
Keep cooking the onions until they are a deep brown color, stirring occasionally.
This will take about 45 minutes, but check them often and do not let them burn.
Add the wine and cook for another 5 minutes, keeping the heat low.
Add the broth, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Toast the baguette slices until they are golden brown.
Ladle the French onion soup into 4 ovenproof soup crocks and float a baguette slice on top of each one.
Cover the bread with the gruyere and bake for 20 minutes.
(Serves 4)
The Soaring Cost of Eating Out
It used to be possible to go to a gourmet restaurant in any city and eat out on a budget, but now a lot of restaurants seem to charge exorbitant prices, making eating out something that a lot of people can no longer afford. One Tokyo restaurant, named Aragawa, charges an average of $277 for one meal! This might be an extreme example but fluctuating exchange rates, high restaurant rents and energy costs means that many people simply cannot afford a first class restaurant meal any more.
Making the Best French Onion Soup
Ordering the best French onion soup in a top restaurant might set you back $15 for one bowlful, which is puzzling. Surely, you can make enough of the best French onion soup to serve six people for that amount of money. Obviously, eating out is nice on special occasions but often the quality of the French onion soup in many restaurants simply does not live up to the standard you would expect for the price. This is why, if you want the very best French onion soup, it is usually better to make it yourself, so you can avoid disappointment and know that your dining experience will be an enjoyable one.
More Reasons to Eat at Home
French onion soup is a lot more economical to make and eat at home but there are more reasons to eat at home rather than go to a restaurant. Not only do you have control over which French onion soup recipe you make but also you can serve a nice wine with it (and not have to worry about driving home afterwards) and you can relax in the comfort of your own dining room with friends. A formal restaurant is less comfortable.