French Onion Soup
Author: 
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: French
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
This is by far the best French onion soup I have ever had outside of a restaurant, maybe the best ever.
Ingredients
  • 4-6 tbls unsalted butter
  • 5 lbs of sweet onions cut in half and sliced ¼" thick lengthwise
  • Healthy pinch of kosher salt
  • 2 cups of beef broth for deglazing
  • ½-2/3 cup dry sherry
  • 8 cups of beef broth
  • 6 sprigs of fresh thyme tied together with kitchen twine, or use 3-4 tsp of dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 baguette French bread cut into ½" slices and toasted on a baking sheet for 10 minutes in a 400° oven
  • Grated Gruyere cheese
Instructions
  1. Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat to 400°.
  2. Liberally spray a large dutch oven with a lid with non-stick cooking spray. Cut butter into large pieces and place in the bottom of the dutch oven.
  3. Place sliced onions on top of the butter pieces, spray lid to dutch oven with non-stick cooking spray and place on dutch oven to cover. If the lid doesn't fit tightly that's okay, the onions will break down and the lid will drop into place on its own.
  4. Put pot into oven and cook with lid on for one hour. The onions will start to break down and release their liquid. Remove the pot from the oven and stir onions, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom. Put pot back into the oven for 1 hour with lid slightly cracked to allow steam to escape and the onions to break down and caramelize. Stir onions and scrape down sides and bottom, put pot back into oven for 1 more hour with the lid slightly cracked.
  5. Take pot out of the oven and place over medium-high heat on the stove. Continue cooking the onions, stirring frequently scraping the sides and bottom until liquid evaporates and onions continue to brown, roughly 20 minutes or so. Reduce heat if onions are browning too fast.
  6. Use two cups of beef broth, ½ cup at a time until completely evaporated, to deglaze the pan and dissolve any brown bits that have collected on the sides and bottom of pot. This takes another 20 minutes or so.
  7. Add dry sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5-7 minutes.
  8. Stir in 8 cups of beef broth, add thyme, bay leaf, and salt/pepper. Scrape down sides and bottom of pot to remove any final brown bits, increase heat to high and bring to a simmer. Decrease the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf, discard, then taste to adjust salt and pepper.
  9. Ladle soup into bowls and place toasted baguette slices on top of soup, top with a healthy amount of grated Gruyere cheese and put bowls on a baking sheet. Place under a broiler for 5 minutes or so until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.
Recipe by Bear In The Pantry at https://bearinthepantry.com/wp/2013/01/26/french-onion-soup/