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Best French Onion Soup

Source of Recipe

From "The New Essentials Cookbook" by America's Test Kitchen


Recipe Introduction

"There is no denying the appeal of a great bowl of French onion soup, with its caramelized onions, rich broth, and nutty Gruyère-topped bread. To fully and evenly caramelize 4 whole pounds of onions, we started by cooking them for 2 ½ hours in the oven, which not only produced golden, soft, sweet onions but also built up plenty of fond on the bottom of the pot. This we deglazed with water—several times, to create additional fond—before adding chicken broth, beef broth, and more water. The soup's crowning glory, the bread and cheese topping, is traditionally broiled directly atop the soup. If your soup bowls can't go under the broiler, sprinkle the toasted bread slices with Gruyère and broil them on the baking sheet until the cheese melts, then float them on top of the soup. The pot of cooked onions in step 1 can be cooled, covered, and refrigerated for up to 3 days before continuing with step 2."

List of Ingredients

Soup:
â—¦ 4 pounds onions, halved and sliced through root end into ¼-inch-thick pieces
â—¦ 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
â—¦ Salt and pepper
â—¦ 2 ¾ to 3 cups water, plus extra as needed
â—¦ ½ cup dry sherry
â—¦ 4 cups chicken broth
â—¦ 2 cups beef broth
â—¦ 6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
â—¦ 1 bay leaf

Cheese Croutons:
â—¦ 1 small baguette, cut into ½-inch slices
â—¦ 8 ounces Gruyère cheese, shredded (2 cups)


Recipe

For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously spray inside of Dutch oven with vegetable oil spray. Add onions, butter, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook in oven until onions wilt slightly and look moist, about 1 hour. Stir onions thoroughly, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Partially cover pot and continue to cook in oven until onions are soft and golden brown, 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hours longer, stirring onions thoroughly after 1 hour.

Carefully remove pot from oven (leave oven on) and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, continue to cook onions, stirring and scraping pot often, until liquid evaporates, onions brown, and bottom of pot is coated with dark crust, 20 to 25 minutes. (If onions begin to brown too quickly, reduce heat to medium. Also, be sure to scrape any browned bits that collect on spoon back into onions.) Stir in ¼ cup water, thoroughly scraping up browned crust. Continue to cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat deglazing two or three more times with additional ¼ cup water each time, until onions are very dark brown.

Stir in sherry and cook until evaporated, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, beef broth, 2 cups water, thyme bundle, bay leaf, and ½ teaspoon salt, scraping up any remaining browned bits. Bring to simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Discard thyme bundle and bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste. (Soup can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; return to simmer before proceeding.)

For the croutons: While soup simmers, lay baguette slices on rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry, crisp, and lightly golden, about 10 minutes, flipping slices halfway through baking.

Position oven rack so rims of crocks will be 4 to 5 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 ½ cups soup. Top each bowl with one or two baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 6