WEBVTT

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♪♪

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-A classic French onion soup

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is based on
fragrant caramelized onions

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in a hearty, rich beef broth.

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Individual portions of that soup

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are then topped with
a toasted a piece of bread,

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known as a crouton,

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and then a heavy fistful
of melted Gruyère cheese.

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It makes a showstopping
first course for any meal.

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In this bowl here

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I have about 4 pounds of onions
that have been sliced.

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And I'm gonna finish slicing up
the last of the onions here.

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I just remove the root
and the tip of the onion.

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Typically cut the onion in half,

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and this makes it
much easier to peel.

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And then just slice the onions.

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You want to slice them
pole to pole.

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Doesn't matter if the onions
are all completely even or not,

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because they're gonna cook
for so long,

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they'll break down so much

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that you won't be able to tell
the difference in the end.

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Add those to the rest
of our onions.

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Now, in this pot here,
this large Dutch oven,

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I have 4 tablespoons
of unsalted melted butter

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that's been melting away
over medium-high heat.

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And to that I'm going to add
all 4 pounds

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of our sliced onions.

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And along with
those sliced onions,

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I'm gonna add
1 teaspoon of sugar

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and 1 teaspoon of table salt.

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So we're gonna mix
this all together.

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The sugar and salt are gonna do
two things in here.

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One, they're both gonna help
pull moisture out of the onion.

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That moisture
also contains some sugars.

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Those natural sugars
will eventually caramelize.

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And the added sugar
also helps expedite

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that caramelization process.

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So just gives it
a little bit of a boost.

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And for this
I used just basic yellow onions.

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You could use white onions
if you wanted to.

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There's no reason to use
sweet onions like Walla Walla

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or Vidalia onions.

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They're just gonna become
too sweet at the end of cooking.

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And these onions
will cook down to be

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completely sweet enough
on their own.

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Okay, now at this stage,

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we're gonna put the lid
on the pot

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and we're gonna let the onions
cook for about 20 minutes.

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Now, the lid is gonna trap
the steam in there,

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and that steam is gonna create
a hot cooking environment,

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and it's gonna help
the onions break down

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and release their moisture.

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♪♪

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Okay, it's been 20 minutes,

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so we can take a look
at our onions.

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You can see they've released
a ton of moisture.

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They're also very, very soft
at this point.

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And that's exactly
what we're looking for.

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So at this point, we're gonna
continue to cook the onions

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for about 5 to 10 minutes
to drive off

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all this excess liquid
in the bottom of the pot

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so we can actually begin
the caramelization process.

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It's been about 10 minutes,
and you can see we've driven off

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a fair amount of liquid
from these onions

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and a little bit of fond

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which is the browning that
happens from the caramelization

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of the sugar
that's started to form

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on the bottom of the pot.

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And that's great.

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So we're gonna reduce the heat
at this point to medium,

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and we're gonna cook
these onions slowly

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and give them a stir
every now and then

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until they are really
deep, golden brown

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and they've really developed
their sweetness.

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Now, if those little bits of
fond on the bottom of the pot

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start to burn or get too dark,

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you want to just be diligent
about scraping them up.

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And if you're unable to scrape
them up with the spoon,

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you could add a tablespoon
or so of water

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just to help lift them
off the bottom of the pot.

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♪♪

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So it's been about 40 minutes,

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and you can see that our
caramelized onions have changed

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quite a bit in their color,
their look, and their texture.

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They are fully caramelized
at this point.

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And you can also notice that
there's a significant amount

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of fond
in the bottom of the pot.

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Those bits of fond have
a lot of flavor.

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We're going to add a cup
of red wine to deglaze

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those bits of fond.

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And once we pull them up,
they're gonna incorporate

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into the body of the soup.

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So in with all these caramelized
onions, which are pretty sweet,

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we didn't want
any more sweetness.

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We found that a cup
of dry red wine

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added enough complexity to it.

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Bring this to a simmer
and cook this

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until nearly all that wine
has evaporated,

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And we're gonna use our
wooden spoon to just scrape up

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those bits of fond on the bottom
of the pot while we go.

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Okay, you can see
that the red wine

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is nearly evaporated.

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At this point, we're gonna add
8 cups of beef broth.

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Since beef broth is a
predominant flavor in this soup,

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you want to make sure you get
a good-quality beef broth.

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So again, 8 cups of
beef broth going into the soup.

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And then on top of that

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we're going to add
1/2 teaspoon of table salt,

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1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

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2 bay leaves,
and 4 sprigs of fresh thyme.

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So we'll just give that
a little stir.

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We'll increase the heat
a little bit

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and bring this to a boil.

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Our soup has come to a boil now,

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and we're gonna reduce
the heat to medium low.

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And we're gonna let it simmer
gently for about 30 minutes,

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during which time
it's gonna reduce

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and concentrate in flavor.

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While that's going on,
we can turn our attention

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to the croutons.

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Traditionally,
when you get a crock

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of French onion soup
at a restaurant,

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the croutons are in a disk

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that cover
the entire surface of the soup.

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So I have 6 ounces
of a baguette here,

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and we're just gonna cut this
into 1-inch pieces.

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So if there was
an aha moment for us

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when we were
developing this recipe,

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it was to cut the croutons
into bite-size pieces

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so they would actually fit
in your spoon

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and fit in your mouth.

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Just gonna split it into about
four pieces lengthwise.

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And cut each one of these
in half

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and crosswise
into about 1-inch pieces.

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Okay, so now we can add
our croutons to our bowl.

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And we're gonna toast these
in the oven for a bit

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until they're nice and crispy.

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In order to help
with the toasting,

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we're gonna add
3 tablespoons

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of extra virgin olive oil,
1/4 teaspoon of salt,

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and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

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We'll just stir them around
to coat

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all the croutons evenly with
the oil and the salt and pepper.

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We can just throw that
onto a sheet pan

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and spread them out
into an even layer,

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And we'll put these
in a 350-degree oven

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for about 15 minutes

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till their nice and crisp
and golden brown.

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♪♪

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The croutons are fully cooled.

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You can see they're nice
and crisp at this point.

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That's perfect.

00:05:48.400 --> 00:05:51.133 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
And our soup has also been
simmering for a good half hour,

00:05:51.133 --> 00:05:53.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
and it's reduced
and concentrated in flavor

00:05:53.400 --> 00:05:55.634 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
so we can go ahead
and turn that off.

00:05:55.634 --> 00:06:00.834 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
We're just gonna fish out the
bay leaves and the thyme sprigs.

00:06:00.834 --> 00:06:02.934 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
And at this point,
this is our last opportunity

00:06:02.934 --> 00:06:05.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
to season the soup before
we put it into our crocks,

00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:06.634 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
so we want to give it a taste

00:06:06.634 --> 00:06:09.100 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
and see if the salt and pepper
is correct.

00:06:11.734 --> 00:06:13.968 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
That's pretty well seasoned.

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I'll add a touch of salt,
though.

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And crank of black pepper.

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And stir that in.

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Okay, now at this point
we're ready to go ahead

00:06:23.801 --> 00:06:25.100 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
and portion our soup

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into our traditional
French onion soup crocks.

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If you don't have
these kind of crocks,

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you could at this point

00:06:30.634 --> 00:06:32.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
put cheese
on top of the crouton piles,

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put these back into the oven,

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portion the soup
into regular soup bowls,

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and then use a spatula to scoop

00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:40.033 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
all these croutons and cheese
on top of those bowls.

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But we're gonna stick
with the traditional way today.

00:06:43.067 --> 00:06:45.133 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
It's nice, to prevent drips,
if you scrape it

00:06:45.133 --> 00:06:46.834 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
on the bottom of the pot first

00:06:46.834 --> 00:06:49.100 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
before you transfer it
to your bowl.

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And I'm putting all these crocks
onto a baking sheet.

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This is gonna make it
easier for us

00:06:54.467 --> 00:06:56.667 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
to transfer all the crocks
into the oven at once

00:06:56.667 --> 00:07:00.968 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
rather than fumbling around
with individual crocks.

00:07:00.968 --> 00:07:02.300 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
Okay, perfect.

00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:05.501 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
Now we're ready
for the best part of the recipe,

00:07:05.501 --> 00:07:07.434 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
which is the cheese
and the croutons.

00:07:07.434 --> 00:07:09.801 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
So when you're eating this, it
should feel slightly indulgent,

00:07:09.801 --> 00:07:11.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
almost like
there's too much cheese,

00:07:11.400 --> 00:07:12.834 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
and that means
you're doing it right.

00:07:12.834 --> 00:07:16.000 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
So we're gonna start off
with about 1 cup of Gruyère

00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.767 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
we're gonna add and divide
among these soup crocks.

00:07:18.767 --> 00:07:21.200 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
So it's about a heaping
2 tablespoons per soup.

00:07:21.200 --> 00:07:23.434 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
And this is slightly different
than the traditional method

00:07:23.434 --> 00:07:25.968 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
where you just put the croutons
on top and then the cheese.

00:07:25.968 --> 00:07:29.334 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
We wanted to get some of that
cheese into the soup as well.

00:07:29.334 --> 00:07:31.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
And now we're gonna add
our croutons.

00:07:34.634 --> 00:07:36.501 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
Scatter them on top of the soup.

00:07:36.501 --> 00:07:41.067 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
We're gonna finish with our
remaining cup of Gruyère cheese.

00:07:41.067 --> 00:07:44.300 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
Again, about 2 1/2 tablespoons
per soup crock,

00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:46.467 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
Okay, and we're finally
gonna top this off

00:07:46.467 --> 00:07:49.067 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
with a little bit
of shredded Parmesan.

00:07:49.067 --> 00:07:51.467 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
We shredded this on the large
holes of a box grater,

00:07:51.467 --> 00:07:53.567 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
and we have
about 1 1/2 ounces here.

00:07:53.567 --> 00:07:56.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
Again, so it's about a heaping
tablespoon or so per soup.

00:07:56.400 --> 00:07:58.968 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
We've preheated the oven
to 500 degrees,

00:07:58.968 --> 00:08:01.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
and we're gonna throw
these crocks into the oven

00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:03.901 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
and let them cook until the soup
is bubbling around the edges

00:08:03.901 --> 00:08:07.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
and the cheese is melted
and gooey and golden brown.

00:08:07.400 --> 00:08:12.167 align:middle line:00% position:50% size:90%
♪♪

00:08:12.167 --> 00:08:14.334 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
Ooh, these look gorgeous.

00:08:14.334 --> 00:08:16.267 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
Okay, so it's been
about 7 minutes.

00:08:16.267 --> 00:08:18.000 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
You can see the soup is bubbling
around the edges,

00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:19.234 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
the cheese is melted.

00:08:19.234 --> 00:08:21.868 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
And it looks fantastic.
Smells fantastic too.

00:08:21.868 --> 00:08:23.767 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
So at this point,
the soup is extremely hot.

00:08:23.767 --> 00:08:25.100 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
You can tell that
from all the bubbles.

00:08:25.100 --> 00:08:27.234 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
We're gonna let it sit
before we dig in,

00:08:27.234 --> 00:08:29.834 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
just to give the cheese
a little chance to set up.

00:08:29.834 --> 00:08:32.167 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
Okay, our French onion soup
has had a few minutes

00:08:32.167 --> 00:08:34.334 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
to cool down, so we can
transfer it to our plate.

00:08:34.334 --> 00:08:37.100 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
A lot of times with recipes
for French onion soup,

00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:38.267 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
you'll see a lot of cheese

00:08:38.267 --> 00:08:39.801 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
that's melted down
the sides of the crock.

00:08:39.801 --> 00:08:41.634 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
I think a lot of that
is just for show

00:08:41.634 --> 00:08:43.834 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
because it's
completely unnecessary.

00:08:43.834 --> 00:08:45.400 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
What we did is we put all
the cheese in there

00:08:45.400 --> 00:08:47.667 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
so we don't have a hard-to-clean
crock on the outside,

00:08:47.667 --> 00:08:50.167 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
and we're gonna actually eat
all the cheese we bought.

00:08:50.167 --> 00:08:51.701 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
Alright, it's time to dig in.

00:08:53.834 --> 00:08:55.901 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
Mmm.

00:08:55.901 --> 00:08:56.968 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
So good.

00:08:56.968 --> 00:08:57.968 align:middle line:00% position:50% size:90%
Although it didn't seem like

00:08:57.968 --> 00:08:59.334 align:middle line:00% position:50% size:90%
very much red wine
in the beginning,

00:08:59.334 --> 00:09:01.834 align:middle line:00% position:50% size:90%
you can really taste
what it's adding to the soup.

00:09:01.834 --> 00:09:04.367 align:middle line:00% position:50% size:90%
It's very complex
for so few ingredients.

00:09:04.367 --> 00:09:05.534 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
The cheese and the croutons

00:09:05.534 --> 00:09:07.667 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
add a lot of textural appeal
to the soup.

00:09:07.667 --> 00:09:10.200 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
It's perfect for
any special-occasion dinner.

00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:11.334 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
cold day.

00:09:11.334 --> 00:09:13.334 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
It comes together
relatively easily

00:09:13.334 --> 00:09:15.801 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
after you're done
caramelizing those onions.

00:09:15.801 --> 00:09:19.701 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
But the payoff for that little
bit of work is just tremendous.

00:09:19.701 --> 00:09:22.367 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
So for a great version
of this classic soup,

00:09:22.367 --> 00:09:25.267 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
start with a solid batch
of caramelized onions.

00:09:25.267 --> 00:09:27.467 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
Deglaze those onions
with a little bit of red wine.

00:09:27.467 --> 00:09:31.033 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
And, finally, cut the croutons
into bite-sized pieces.

00:09:31.033 --> 00:09:32.300 align:middle line:93% position:50% size:90%
From "Cook's Country,"

00:09:32.300 --> 00:09:35.133 align:middle line:87% position:50% size:90%
a special-occasion-worthy
French onion soup.