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Soupfrom Bethany

Bethany's French Onion Soup

Deeply caramelized yellow onions cooked low and slow, deglazed with apple brandy and a whole bottle of wine, simmered in beef broth and finished under the broiler with toasted baguette and melted Gruyère.

Yield4 servings
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Bethany's French Onion Soup

Ingredients

  • 1½ L beef stock (or veal or chicken broth)
  • 1 bottle of white wine
  • 5 yellow onions (big ones)
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 50 g butter
  • Splash of olive oil
  • Apple brandy (optional)
  • 2 tsp thyme (or two branches of fresh thyme)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4 slices of dry or toasted bread (thick)
  • 150 g Gruyère cheese (or Emmental)

Method

  1. Add butter and olive oil to a large pot.
  2. Add thinly sliced yellow onions — way more than you think you'll need (they reduce by about 5x). Other onions, shallots, etc. don't work right; it has to be yellow onions.
  3. Cook on mediumish heat, stirring every few minutes, until the onions get nice and caramel colored, with some sticking on the bottom of the pan.
  4. Don't try to cook faster. Slow and deep color makes the soup.
  5. Part way through, add a little salt and the bay leaf, plus fresh thyme. Almost before they're done, add the garlic — enough to scare away vampires.
  6. Add a good healthy pour of apple brandy (optional) and deglaze the pan, scraping the tasty bits off the bottom.
  7. Add a whole bottle of wine. White is traditional, but red works too.
  8. Cook the onions in the wine until the liquid is just about gone.
  9. Add the beef broth (a roasted beef base like Better Than Bouillon works well). Heat to a simmer.
  10. To serve, ladle into an oven-safe bowl with toasted baguette set inside the soup.
  11. Cover with Gruyère cheese and broil until melting and just browning.

From the kitchen of Bethany