The World's Best French Onion Soup!

French Onion soup is NOT "Just a treat to order in a restaurant!"  It's quite delicious, easier than you might think, and an AMAZING treat to have at home.

World's Best French Onion Soup

Sure, French Onion soup is an amazing starter in any Steak House.  But what if you're curled up in front of your fireplace on a cold winter night?   Wouldn't it be awesome if you have some amazing homemade French Onion Soup in a crock in your lap, with all of that stretchy cheese?  Let's do this!

You Will Need:

• 1 Glop Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 large yellow onions cut "spoon sized"
• 4 large Vidallia (sweet) onions cut "spoon sized"
  
• 1 cup chopped Shallots 
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup flour
• 2 large Leeks cut 1/4"inch thick (Just the white and light green parts)
• ¼ cup bourbon
  
• ¼ cup Port wine
• 4 cups Beef Stock
• 6 cups Chicken Stock
• Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Start with the onions.  LOTS of onions!  How big is a "large onion?"  If you have 8 onions that are each bigger than a tennis ball and smaller than a softball, you'll be in good shape.  What is "Spoon sized?"  That simply means you need to chop or cut your onions so that each piece will fit in a spoon when you eat your soup.  You don't need to be slurping up dangling onion strings for your soup.  You'll spill it, and you'll look like a chump!  Cut them in half (as shown), then quarter each half, turn the half 90 degrees, and finish with some cuts that will produce a pile similar to mine, here. 

Next?  Caramelize!  How?  Well, the best way I've found is to use a traditional electric skillet, like the one my grandmother used to use to fry chicken!  Seriously, glop in your olive oil and pile all of your onions and shallots (save the leeks for later) into the skillet and set the temp to 325.  Set a timer for 10 minutes and stir.  Repeat every ten minutes until they're nice and golden brown.

As they caramelize, they'll cook down.  Don't for a minute, think that you have "too many onions!"  You have a fine pile of onions, and it's "Onion Soup" after all, so calm down.

While you're caramelizing your onions, dump your leeks into a bowl, give them a pinch of salt, and pour in your bourbon and port.  Why?  Because leeks, shallots, garlic and other members of the onion family have loads of alcohol soluble flavors!  Leeks are a bit "tougher" so let them soak and let the salt and the booze work on them.  It will take at least a half-hour to caramelize your onions, so give the leeks something to do during that time.

When your onions are done, dump them into the bowl with the leeks and set them aside.  Put two sticks of butter into a big soup pot (Yes, two sticks.  It's FRENCH Onion Soup after all, and the French start, finish, and meander through their days with BUTTER), turn the heat to medium high, and add the flour.  Stir and melt and stir until you have a nice blond roux.  

 

A quick note about roux:  Roux is simply a mix of fat and flour.  It has thickening power and flavor and texture and it's just marvelous in soups, gravies, and sauce, so it's worth your time to get good at it!  For example, mix 1Tbsp of turkey fat/drippings, and 1Tbsp of flour, and you'll have a roux that will turn 1 Cup of chicken stock into amazing Turkey Gravy!  The longer you cook and stir a roux, the darker and more flavorful it becomes, BUT the less thickening power it retains.  In this case, we're using a roux that is very common to soups and sauce, a simple "soft" blond butter roux!

When the roux is nice and smooth, dump in your huge bowl of onions/leeks, and stir.  Dump in your stock (yes, ten cups, mix of beef and chicken), bring the heat to high, and stir, stir, stir!  Make sure when you stir that you push all of the roux off of the bottom of the pot!  Then, BTBRTS!  Bring to Boil, Reduce to Simmer.  As soon ash she starts boiling, lid her up, and dial the heat down to low so that she's just idling along with a soft simmer.  Let her simmer for an hour or so... amazing things will happen...

Check it out!  The onions have cooked down, the leeks have given their all, and the soup is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (and your belly).  Now is the time to adjust for salt and pepper!  This will vary depending on the type of beef and chicken stock you used, so season carefully!  There's a nutty depth of flavor, and a silky texture that smells and tastes like buttery onions!  

 

Now, kill the heat, put the lid back on, and turn your attention to serving, but first, turn on the broiler in your oven, and let it preheat...

You'll need some crocks for serving, and a giant crouton for each crock, to support a platform of cheese.  Where do you get these croutons?  Easy!  Start with a slice of bread (I like sourdough for this), place the bread on the counter, flip your crock upside down and, using it like a cookie-cutter, press and cut a crock-shaped crouton out of your bread, then put the bread into your toaster.  Voila!  The perfect crouton!

Top your crouton with a flavorful melting cheese.  I like a mix of Swiss and fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano.  Havarti and Gouda work too, or smoked Provalone!  Heap on the goodness and place the crock(s) onto a cookie sheet and slide them under the broiler.  DO NOT MOVE!  Watch them like a hawk because the melting and browning will happen FAST and you don't want to burn this!!  

When it looks like THIS, you're ready to serve/eat!!  Don't forget to peel and eat the crunchy cheese bits from the edges of the crock, that's the best part!  Well... almost the best part!  Enjoy!