The trick with good French Onion Soup is to cook the onions really slowly until they caramelise. I like this classic recipe.

1 lb (450g) Onions (finely sliced)
2 oz (50g) Butter
1 or 2 Cloves of Garlic (crushed)
1 oz (25g) flour
2 pints (1 litre) Stock or Water
Salt & Pepper
4 slices of French Bread
Gruyere Cheese
METHOD

Heat up the Butter in a large saucepan. When foaming add the Onions and the Garlic and reduce the heat to the lowest. Slowly cook until the Onions are a light gold colour - this will take around 20 minutes. Stir every now and again and be careful not to burn the Onions even the slightest, as this will spoil the flavour.

Sprinkle over the flour, stir a little and cook for a further couple of minutes. Add the Stock or Water and bring to the boil. Turn down and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes until Onions are completely tender. Skim off any fat.

Place a couple of thin slices of Gruyere Cheese on the top of each slice of French Bread. Put one of these in the bottom of each soup bowel and pour over the soup. Cover and allow to stand for 5 minutes.

Serve immediately.

French onion soup is my number 1 favourite comfort food. I eat it waaaay too much. I'll be saving that recipe, so thanks, jan.

Thank you Jan.

I'll report back.

That sounds excellent.

YUM. Thanks Jan, sounds great.

That onion soup sounds a lot better to me than the roast we're gonna have.

I'll always wonder about onions and the first guy to find one. Did he bite into it? Eeew. Did he peel it? And then peel and peel and peel and peel and suddenly there's no fruit left? Did he think "hey, if I slice it real thin and cook it slow to caramelise it and then add some melted cheese it'll make a great soup!"

Here's the recipe I use. I got it from the New Best Recipe cookbook, and just loooove it. Yum.

2T unsalted butter
5 medium red onions (or 3lbs multicultural onions), sliced thin
salt
6c low-sodium chicken broth
1¾c low-sodium beef broth
1/4c dry red wine
2 sprigs fresh parsley
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1T balsamic vinegar
ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onions and ¾t salt and stir to coat the onions. The onions will almost fall out of your pot and appear to be way too many onions for any human consumption. Worry about not having enough broth or enough patience to eat a ton of soup for weeks. Do not fear: they will reduce down wonderfully.

Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are reduced and syrupy, and the inside of the pot is coated with a very deep brown (not burnt) crust. This should take 30-35 minutes.

Stir in the broths, red wine and herbs, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits, and bring to a simmer. Simmer about 20 minutes to blend the flavors, then discard the herbs. Don’t forget the bay leaf hidden at the bottom of the pot, because those things are yucky to bite into. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and add salt and pepper to taste.

French bread slices, shredded gruyére cheese, broil until the cheese is well browned and bubbly, about 10 minutes.

≡ Click to see image ≡

(The rest of my In Progress photos are on Flickr.)

Forgot to add: I've made this with 7¾c of turkey stock from Christmas dinner and two beef bullion cubes. Turned out great.

rhapsodie, I am going to hybrid yours and jan's recipes.

it'll be yummy.

Reading rhapsodie's recipe made me feel all tingly in ways it shouldn't have. Has anyone invented cookbook porn yet?