French Onion Soup Cooks Illustrated Version

Recipe by slightly adapted from Cook's Illustrated on November 15, 2011

Total time: PT3H40M

Keywords

Bargain Meal of the Week, Beef Stock, Bread, Caramelized Onion, Cheese, Chicken Stock, Cook's Illustrated, Freezes Well, French, Kitchen Slicer, leftover bread, Leftovers, onions, Soup

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
6 large yellow onion, about 4 pounds, cut pole to pole about 3/8″ thick
water for deglazing
1/2 cup dry sherry or 1/4 cup brandy
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 cups low sodium beef broth
2 cups of water
6 sprigs thyme, or about 1/2 teaspoon dried
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1/2 inch slices of baguette, 6 total
6 slices Gruyere cheese, Provolone is good, too, or about a cup of grated. A combination of grated Gruyere and grated Parmesan is outstanding.

Cuisine

French

Steps

For the soup
For the croutons & serving
Notes
- Cook’s Illustrated suggests using Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth and Pacific Beef Broth (more recently they suggest Rachel Ray’s Beef Broth). I’ve had very good results with the Aldi’s brand in a box.
- If you like a thicker body to your soup, sprinkle a tablespoon of flour over the caramelized onion, cook a minute or two, then add your broth.

French Onion Soup Cooks Illustrated Version

Keywords

Ingredients

Categories

Cuisine

Steps