essential french onion soup

[Welcome to the final installment of ✨Newer, Better Month✨ on Smitten Kitchen, when I update a few SK classics with new knowledge, new techniques, and with real-life time constraints in mind. Previously:Perfect Spaghetti and Meatballs,Extra-Flaky Pie Crust, andExtra-Billowy Dutch Baby Pancake.] French onion soup is not just a forever favorite of mine, it’s — along with the other recipes I updated this month — what I consider a core recipe in my arsenal because it aligns with so much that I think is important in cooking. It’s totally budget-friendly (and downright cheap) to make. It’s made from buy-anywhere ingredients and very few of them — 99% of the flavor comes from just onions, cooked very slowly, transformed by a technique you need no advanced cooking skills to master. And it has a depth of flavor that is unparalleled in almost anything else I know how to make. Up until a few years ago, I only made it one way:Julia Child’s. I still think her onion-caramelizing technique is great. It saves a little hands-on time, basically a miracle when it comes to caramelizing onions, althoughnothing is going to make it go quickly. That’s how I cooked when I began this site: the way I was told to. But through repetition and real life, I’ve made adjustments. For example, I always felt that the soup needed more onions, more bulk, for the amount of stock. I never found that the flour added any notable body to the soup the way it should; it didn’t really stay suspended. And when I added booze, it was sometimes wine or vermouth but just as often a dry sherry or even cognac, and I’d deglaze the pan with it and cook it off as much as possible. When I began with more onions, I didn’t need to cook the soup as long after the stock was added (15 to 20 minutes is plenty) to end up with a soup with good body. And I finish it with as little frippery as possible. Don’t have ovenproof bowls? Make a casserole of it, like a giant pot pie. Or, create individual cheese toasts and drop them onto the soup. Want it vegetarian? Use a good dark vegetable stock, or mushroom broth, which is a favorite here; the more robust, the better. Cannot possibly imagine spending an hour or longer frequently attending to caramelizing onions? Check out The Food Lab’s approaches (pressure cookerorother) to speeding it up. Want less hands-on time? Check out The Kitchn’sslow-cooker approach. Hate slicing onions? Sigh, that, for me, is the part I dislike the most. For this, I recommend putting on some music, donning yourpink onion goggles, and enjoy knowing that once you get this done, the remainder of the recipe isvirtuallyhands-off. One year ago:Asparagus and Egg Salad with Walnuts and MintTwo years ago:Cornbread WafflesandMushroom TartinesThree years ago:Sesame Soba and Ribboned Omelet SaladandApricot Hazelnut Brown Butter HamantaschenFour years ago:The Consolation Prize (A Mocktail)andBaked Chickpeas with Pita Chips and YogurtFive years ago:Whole-Grain Cinnamon Swirl BreadSix years ago:Lentil and Chickpea Salad with Feta and TahiniSeven years ago:Soft Eggs with Buttery Herb-Gruyere Toast SoldiersEight years ago:SpaetzleNine years ago:Irish Soda Bread SconesandSpinach and ChickpeasTen years ago:Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Strawberry SauceandBialysEleven years ago:Caramel Walnut Banana Upside Down CakeandSwiss Easter Rice TartTwelve years ago:Mixed Berry Pavlova And for the other side of the world:Six Months Ago:Crispy Spinach Pizza1.5 Years Ago:Chocolate Tahini Challah Buns2.5 Years Ago:Homemade Merguez with Herby YogurtandMagic Apple-Plum Cobbler3.5 Years Ago:The Perfect Manhattan4.5 Years Ago:Cucumber LemonadeandSunken Apple and Honey Cake