Authentic french onion soup

. . . It’s vegetarian!

Or simple, every day onion soup

Are you surprised?

French Onion Soup, that wonderful crock of steaming onion-y broth that’s topped with a crisp crouton and smothered in melted cheese, is usually made with beef stock in the USA. That makes it off limits to those who don’t eat meat or who keep kosher.

But the origins of onion soup are quite different. This was French peasant food, something that could be made with a pot of water, a few onions, some stale bread, and an end of cheese that’s past its prime. It’s amazing how a little creativity can do so much with so little.

I remember my mother ordering onion soup in a restaurant in the early 60s. She was served a bowl of brown consommé with pieces of sautéed onion, and it had a generous grating of hard cheese—probably parmesan or something similar, on top. It was what she expected it to be. She let me try a spoonful and it was delicious.

But French Onion Soup takes it to a whole new level. Created in 19th century Paris, it was first introduced to the United States in 1861 by Henri Mouquin at his NYC restaurant. It was Julia Child who brought it to the attention of the public, with her 1960s television cooking show that started the craze of French cookery here in America.

Some years ago, I had a houseguest who I knew loved French Onion Soup, so I made it during her stay. It was blanketed in a combination of Gruyère and Swiss cheeses. She was disappointed by it, exclaiming, “Where’s the mozzarella?” I responded, “In Italy! This is a French dish. It uses French cheese!”

The incident was a prime example of how a classic dish can be manipulated until it’s broadly conceptualized to be something that strays from its original form. Most people will tell you that French Onion Soup starts with beef broth. Many restaurants serve it this way. But initially, it was made with a vegetarian onion stock. That brings this delicious treat within reach of those who don’t eat meat and those who don’t combine dairy with meat. Yippee!

This is the way my brother learned to make French Onion Soup at the French Culinary Institute.

If you’re accustomed to having this soup with beef stock, don’t despair. I promise you won’t miss it at all!

For the stock

Ingredients: 

5 large yellow onions

8 cups fresh cold water

a few sprigs of thyme

1 bay leaf

Diamond Crystal kosher salt to taste

a few grinds of the pepper mill

3 tablespoons olive oil

8 large onions

¼ cup dry sherry

several sprigs of fresh thyme

freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

 Method:

• Cut the onions into thick slices and add them to a pot with the water.

• Add a few sprigs of thyme, the bay leaf, the skin of one of the onions, and salt and pepper to taste.

• Bring it to a boil, then cover the pot, leaving the cover slightly askew.

• Lower the heat and let it simmer gently for 45 minutes. Note: Adding onion skin to the stock will deepen its color, but too much of it will make your stock bitter.

Your pot of water should now have a strong onion flavor. Strain the onion stock and set it aside. Discard the onions and the thyme.

For the basic soup

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil (or part olive oil, part butter)

3 large yellow onions

¼ cup dry sherry

1 or 2 sprigs of fresh thyme

Diamond Crystal salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

• Peel the onions and cut them in half, end to end. then lay them flat on a cutting board and slice them into very thin half rounds. You can do this by hand or with a mandoline.

• Warm the oil in a soup pot. Add the sliced onions with a pinch of salt, and sauté them over medium/low heat until they’re very soft and golden in color, Resist the urge to raise the heat and brown them faster. It’s the low and slow cooking that lets them reach their full potential, releasing all of their natural sugars so that they’re soft, sweet, and a beautiful golden brown.

• Add the sherry and cook, stirring, for a few minutes to burn off the alcohol. Make sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Then add the strained onion stock and another sprig of thyme. Simmer the soup for half an hour.

Now you’ve got a lovely, light onion soup that can be served as is, or topped with a gentle grating of parmesan or other hard grating cheese. 

Taking it to the Next Level, transforming our soup to make that gorgeous, fabulous treat that we call French Onion Soup.

Note: Gruyère cheese is tres chère. You can reduce the cost by using half Gruyère, half full-fat imported Swiss cheese.

Ingredients:

The basic onion soup that you’ve just made

4, ¾ inch thick slices of a baguette

a bit of olive oil

6 ounces Gruyere cheese

a bit of Parmesan or other hard grating cheese

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350°.

• Divide the soup evenly into four oven-safe soup crocks, making sure to evenly distribute the onion slices.

• Make the croutons: Brush the baguette slices lightly with olive on both sides and put them directly on the rack of the oven. Toast them until lightly colored. Watch them carefully. You don’t want to make them too dark; you just want to insure that they don’t instantly turn into a sponge when they hit the hot soup.

• Grate the cheese(s) using the large holes of a box grater.

• Top each crock with a crouton and cover it evenly with the cheese. Add a light grating of parmesan and slide them into the oven. Bake the crocks until the soup is bubbling and the cheese has melted and started to brown in places.

Did you make it? Was it fabulous?