The "He's Gone" Chronicles: Tasty Edition Pt.2 - French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is probably my favorite soup, right next to chicken noodle, tomato, potato, and whatever soup they serve at those hibachi restaurants.

I have attempted two soups in my life: Potato Soup (which was amazing) and Onion Soup (which was a complete and utter disaster. Tasted like dirt and grass soup). So, I'm currently 1-1 with soups.

This is the TASTY video I saved on Facebook for French Onion Soup.

I sort of followed these instructions, but I wanted it to be very delicious and also very easy and, for some reason, I started this while feeling very pretentious about the quality of the soup and didn't see some things in this particular recipe that I was sure should be included. So, I did a little research and combined a few recipes to make my own inclusive version. Mostly one that included Gruyere. What is this Swiss and Parmesan nonsense?!?

It turned out pretty flipping amazing actually. I just had my first bite. I think I picked up a cold from one of the children I work with, and I am certain this soup will heal my soul.

The Finished Decadence artfully displayed on coaster on paper plate.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

• 2 large sweet onions
• 4 tbsp butter
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• apple cider vinegar (like, 1/8 c? I had a little in the bottom of a bottle)
• worchestershire (however much you deem appropriate)
• 1/2 tsp ground sage
• garlic (I used about 4-5 cloves, you can use however much you want, or none)
• 6 cups beef broth
• 1 bay leaf
• white wine (I used 2 miniature Sutter Home Pinot Grigio, enough to cover the onions)
• cognac (I used 1 miniature Hennesey VS)
• a baguette cut in little rounds
• GRUYERE cheese (about 8 oz. shredded)

As you can see, my ingredients varied from what was in the video, but not by much. Also, I did not use a ceramic soup bowl or any little ramekins. I made do with what I had, like a true middle class American.

WHAT I DID:

I used a deep stainless steel skillet the whole time. It was perfect.

Step 1: Cook the onions.

I melted the butter and then threw in 6 cups of these bad boys. I moved them around a lot in the beginning until they were all covered in butter because I didn't want to stress about them. Then I had to leave them alone. That was hard for me until I realized I forgot to get wine and cognac. Because I had to go and get those, not watching the onions became easier. I left them on low and headed out.

When I came back, they looked like this. Perfect.

Easily the #1 MVP of this recipe besides the cognac

I let them get a little more brown and then I poured in the wine. I let that reduce until it was a bit sticky and then I added all the beef broth, the bay leaf, the ground sage, some more salt, and then I played around with the rest (worchestershire, apple cider vinegar, pepper, salt) until it tasted appropriate. I eyeballed the worchestershire and just added what I had left in a bottle for the apple cider vinegar. It really didn't need a lot... or any, if you're not into that.

Starting to look like a real French Onion Soup

I let it sit in there for about ten minutes simmering and covered until I thought about it and decided I wanted some garlic flavor in there. I haphazardly minced up about 4-5 cloves and then threw them in to stew as well.

I also remembered the cognac at about this point and had to open the bottle with my teeth in order to get it in the soup.

I had some garlic bits left on the cutting board, so I added those on top of the baguette rounds I had already sliced up and covered in olive oil. It turned out okay. The garlic got a bit browner than I would have liked, but I was also rushing it at the end and turned the oven temp up from 325 to 350 and wasn't paying very close attention. I cooked them appx. 10 minutes on each side. To be fair, I think it was 12 on one side and about 6 on the other. Like I said, hungry.

While the baguette rounds were crisping up, I just left the soup up top to simmer and combine. I occasionally removed the lid to taste it because I was getting so very hungry and impatient at this point. I decided to forgo any of this "baking the soup" in the oven until I had it in a bowl.

You can see the extra brown garlic on top. Oops. It still tasted fine though. No burned flavors.

I threw about three of those baguette pieces in the top of a ceramic bowl and hoped that it was "oven safe." I took the Gruyere cheese I grated while I was waiting on the baguette pieces and smooshed it on top until it covered everything. Then, I threw it all back in the oven to melt.

Gruyere: Swiss' elegant and perfect cousin.

Directions said to bake it at 350 for about 30 minutes, but about 2 minutes into that time frame I decided it was impossible to wait that long and switched on the broiler to melt the cheese faster.

Impatiently peeking at the progress with my mouth watering and fingers crossed.

I pulled it out as soon as the cheese began to have the hint of brown. If I was less hungry, I would have left it in a few minutes more. But, I decided this was good enough.

Heaven in a bowl.

I've got to admit,  I was surprised it was as good as it was. It turned out heavenly.

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FRENCH ONION SOUP GRADING

Time Involved (Prep): A
Time Involved (Cooking): B-
Ease of Recipe Ingredients: A-
Dishes Involved: A-
Flavor: A+
Satisfaction: A+

The onions were the most difficult part of this recipe and they weren't even really difficult, just time consuming. I think I could have dealt with the onions taking so long if I didn't feel compelled to babysit them. Maybe if I make it a few more times, I can just feel confident they will be alright and go do other things. I did start this around 6:30 pm and was eating at 8 pm, so it wasn't terrible, it just felt long.
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Anyway, time to eat and cuddle my cat and watch the Olympics. Thank goodness for the Olympics.