Guys, this recipe is a dead ringer for the onion soup I ate in the amazing sidewalk cafes of Paris.
A dead ringer, I say!
This is a big freaking deal. I had almost resigned myself to a sad existence where I couldn’t find a soup that approximated the near-religious experience I had when I ate my first bowl of soup while in Paris. I had eaten French Onion Soup while in the U.S. and I liked it, but that soup on that rainy day took things to a whole new level and I couldn’t look back. And, I couldn’t face the thought that I would only find that soup on highly expensive, rare trips to Paris.
So, when I came home, I was a woman on a French Onion Soup mission. I tried making it in the crockpot. Good, but not close. I bought it at La Boulangerie. It was okay, but nowhere near as good. I even tried it when we were in Maui with Maui onions. Nope!
When I was deep in my onion soup resignation, I somehow came across a Smitten Kitchen recipe from almost a year ago. I read through it. It seemed so simple. I had to try again.
I decided to try my hand on a Friday at 7pm. It’s not exactly the time I recommend undertaking a French Onion Soup endeavor as my soup was ready around 9pm. But, wow, it was worth the wait.
Click over to Smitten Kitchen for the full recipe because she describes the process better than I ever could. I just want to add a few notes why I think this try took my soup over the top:
- Cook the onions until you just can’t stand it. Mine were a deep brown when I finally deglazed the pan with the sherry. Don’t burn them, but don’t be afraid to get them to a deep, almost jammy brown.
- Buy good broth! The best broth you can buy without feeling like you are a wasteful hedonist. I bought a bag of this beef bone broth from Trader Joe’s and also mixed in some of the Costco Kirkland Chicken bone broth. Because it’s such a simple recipe, the ingredients really matter.
- Don’t skip the little things. I did the fresh Thyme and also the Bay Leaf. Deb says you don’t really need it. I think you might.
- Buy good bowls that you’re not afraid to put under your broiler. I bought these from Amazon. It’s scary to put already boiling soup in a broiler, but when they come out all bubbly and delicious-looking, you’ll be happy.
- Get the bread nice and toasty. I cooked my toasts in a pan with some butter and garlic powder and I didn’t regret it for one second.
- ALLLLL the cheese. Put more than you think you need. Grating it helps with the ultimate meltage.
Do you love French Onion Soup? Obviously, I’m obsessed.
