French onion soup is my absolute favourite soup of all time! It’s super cheap to make, and it tastes like love.
In this thread I’ll show you how to make it!
For four servings, you need:
1.5kg brown onion, 100g butter, Gruyere cheese, bread, 2 litres of chicken stock, 100ml sherry/dessert wine, wine vinegar, fish sauce, thyme, bay leaf, salt & pepper.
First, chop the onions like this.
Slice off the ends. Place onion on one of the flat sides, and cut it in half, then peel the onion halves. Lay the onion half on its flat side, and slice as thin as you can easily manage.
Repeat this for all of the onion!
Next, in two large steel pans, melt 50g butter in each over medium heat.
Once the butter has started to foam, add the onion and a couple of pinches of salt.
Cook the onion for 10-12 minutes on this medium heat until it has softened. Then reduce the heat to low.
Cook the onion on this heat, stirring regularly, for around two hours.
At around the 30 minute mark, the onion should start to coagulate like this. You’re doing it right!
You can combine the pans at this point.
If you see some bits of flavour stuck to the bottom of the pan, add a tablespoonful of water and scrape with a silicon spatula to loosen.
At around the 1 hour mark, the onion will be very soft and it’ll start to sweeten. You’re trying to caramelise it, so there’s a little while to go yet! Give it a taste to see how sweet it can get.
Once the onion has reached this colour, between 1.5-2 hours, it has successfully caramelised!
Now, place a Dutch oven on medium heat.
Add the caramelised onion, followed by 100ml of sherry or dessert wine. Cook this while stirring until the alcohol evaporates, around 3 minutes.
Add the 2 litres of chicken stock, a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf, and bring it to a hard simmer.
Once simmering, reduce the heat a little and cook for 20 minutes more.
Then, add around a teaspoonful each of wine vinegar and fish sauce, stir, and taste the soup. Adjust for salt and pepper, and now you’re ready to assemble.
Preheat a grill or oven to around 180C/350F.
Fill an oven-safe bowl half full with the soup. Then, slice some bread and cut it in half. Place one half in the bowl, & top with grated Gruyere. Add more soup, followed by more bread and Gruyere.
Place under the grill until melted!
Once the cheese has melted, it’s ready to eat!
Top with some freshly cut chives and enjoy!
If you liked this, dozens of other recipes can be found in my latest book Sustenance, which is currently on sale with my other two books for 67% off!
Check it out:
You can also get physical copies on Amazon! allegorical.gumroad.com/l/Bundle
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