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French onion soup

This warming onion soup is an emblematic French dish, both in bistro cuisine and home cooking.

This is a very classic version. The long, slow cooking is the secret to revealing its full flavour.

14,7904/5 for 26 ratings

Last modified on: February 22^th 2017

For 8 people, you will need:

1 700 g onion
2 50 g butter
3 50 g flour
4 200 ml dry white wine
5 2 litres water
6 2 chicken stock cubes
7 4 slices bread
8 40 g butter
9 80 g grated cheese
10 salt
11 pepper
Total weight: 3,340 grams

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Measures:

How long does it take?

Time required

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
34 min.	1 hour 55 min.	2 hours 29 min.

Keeping:

Several days in the fridge, covered with plastic film.

At what time?

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When should I start for the recipe to be ready at a certain time?

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 20 min.

Prepare 700 g onion and chop finely.

Stage 2 - 3 min.

In a large saucepan or casserole, melt 50 g butter until it froths.

Stage 3 - 1 min.

When the butter is frothing well, add the chopped onions, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Stage 4 - 10 min.

Fry the onions on fairly high heat until lightly browned, stirring frequently to stop them burning.

Stage 5 - 2 min.

Sieve 50 g flour into the pan.

Stage 6 - 5 min.

Mix in and cook until starting to brown, stirring constantly.

Stage 7 - 1 min.

Pour in 200 ml dry white wine all at once.

Stage 8 - 3 min.

Stir until well mixed.

Leave to cook for 2 or 3 minutes while stirring.

Stage 9 - 1 min.

Pour in the chicken stock, made by mixing 2 litres water (hot) with 2 chicken stock cubes.

Bring to the boil.

Stage 10 - 1 hour 30 min.

When boiling, turn the heat down to its lowest, cover and leave to cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Stage 11 - 5 min.

Meanwhile, butter 4 slices bread and top with grated cheese.

Press the cheese down gently to help it stick to the buttered bread.

Stage 12 - 4 min.

Cut the bread into small squares and arrange these on a baking sheet. Brown under the grill (keep an eye on the colour).

Stage 13 - 1 min.

When the onion soup is cooked, check the seasoning.

Stage 14 - 3 min.

Serve piping hot in large bowls, topped with with the cheese croutons.

Remarks

Use either white or yellow onions, but preferably not red ones, as they are less suitable for the long slow cooking.

At Step 4 of the recipe, there are 2 conflicting schools of thought: some prefer the more traditional method of cooking the onions until they are dark brown, others (like me) only brown them lightly - it's a matter of taste, of course. I remember as a child staying with my grandmother Jeanne. She used to cook her onions until they were really dark and, back then, I loved that.

For the grated cheese, choose whatever you prefer that browns well, such as Comté, Gruyère or even Emmental.

Nutritional information

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 8 people : 32.48 €
Per person : 4.06 €

Note : These prices are only approximate

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Source

Based on a recipe by Gaston Lenôtre.

More recipes?

This recipe uses (among others)

	Water: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: How to heat milk without it catching on the bottom of the pan, Sausage and lentils "en cocotte", How to prepare endives , Chocolate eclairs, Pumpkin (or potimarron) soup, ... All
	Onion: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Meatballs, Lumberjack turnovers, Cassoulet, Summer Salmon Blanquette, Oven omelette, ... All
	Dry white wine: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Spaghetti with mushrooms, Rabbit with mustard, Pea risotto "mantecare", Fish "à la Bordelaise", Polenta with spinach and soft-poached egg, ... All
	Grated cheese: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Gratin slices with spinach, Ham pasta bake, Thin endive tart, Hachis parmentier : meat with mashed potato and cheese, Avengers' potatoes, ... All

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