French onion soup

I know it’s not Gruyère but M&S cheesy garlic bread slices are pretty damn good!

Try it! Onions are strange things. Slow cooking makes them sweeter. I have no idea on the chemistry behind it.

I make French onion soup at least once a week in a pan. I use my slow cooker a lot of the time but I think my Crockpot would make the soup watery.

The sweetness of the onion comes from the caramelisation at the beginning. (25 mins with butter).
The next 25 minutes is handed over to the onions picking up the flavour from the stock and white wine.
Two separate processes.

There is a huge amount of sugar in onions (fructans) and that is what makes it such a lovely soup. I think you could finish it off in a soup makers if you wanted to but the reason yours was tasty was that you spent time caramelising the sugars in the onions.

Oops, sorry Ellianne, I should have read your post.

No problem Pippa, some recipes even like to add sugar, but I don't.

I once spent half an hour with a friend discussing how best to caramelise the onions. He was a bit of a foody and I love cooking. Our respective partners thought we were mad I think the idea of adding a little sugar is to start the process. I prefer patience but I am now not able to eat onions at all - because of the natural sugar which seems very, very unfair!

I'd enjoy your discussions! Anything to do with food - its provenance, growing it, preparing it, cooking it, presenting it, tasting it!

Any chance of a recipe please? I know I can look one up but a proven one would be good.

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This one is easy enough

Rick Stein has a good one in French Odyssey but he adds sugar.

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This one I found tasted richer........ cognac as well as wine!! It's John Burton Race.

I start mine off with just half a teaspoon of sugar to eight flipping onions. I add sherry not white wine.

Our kitchen and utility room are quite clean now as I daren't go too far!!

I also made pea soup which took about 20 minutes!

And, to add insult to injury, we try to support a girl in the village who makes a different soup each week - this week is French Onion.

Love onion soup (no sugar added).

I wonder if the type of onions makes a difference. I once used some monster ones I'd bought from a farmers' market. It was really sweet, almost too sweet. Same recipe I always use.

Making leek and potato this afternoon. Another favourite.

Interestingly my old Cordon Bleu text book does not have any alcohol in the recipe. I think that must be in the "adjust the seasoning" bit. It is a very old book. It suggests a mixture of grated Parmesan and Gruyere.

Thank you for the recipes. I'll add the ingredients to my 'click and collect' order.

Being disabled I find some things a bit difficult, plus I really do not enjoy cooking. Last Sept I got myself a soup maker, not an all singing all dancing one that costs a fortune, just one that makes soup or smoothies. Best thing I have got in a long time. Put ingredients in, switch on and 20 mins later a lovely pot of hot soup, enough for me for lunch for several days (or freeze in zip lock bags for later use).
To make things easier I buy frozen diced onion, frozen mashed potato (thickens the soup). Kn--r stock pots, so easy, no standing stirring or pot watching. Highly recommended

Great thread! I have all the ingredients to hand and am suffering with a toothache so French onion soup sounds like the perfect plan for my day!!

Am not a fan of French Onion soup. Maybe because as a young newlywed I tramped the streets (we did this in those bygone days) to find my DH a special dress shirt to wear with his Territorial Army uniform only to have this Austin Reed beauty ruined by him spilling said soup on the front. I even sent it for specialist cleaning too.
Having read the recipes here though I may give it a try again.

I use red wine and brandy in mine two other recipes to look up. Rick Stein Spanish garlic soup and River Cottage Bull-shot both delicious.

I make French onion soup and after spending the whole morning preparing it I have resorted to using frozen onions. It speeds up the process and the results are just as good. Bon appetite.

One of the nicest soups I ever had was Sorrel Soup but I haven't seen sorrel for sale anywhere (and I don't have room to grow it). Has anyone seen it in their local green grocers or veg aisle? It seems like now is the time to spend on these things.

Just on an onion note, what can I do with 3 kilos of red onions? But of a mix up with click and collect order. Did have 4 kilo but managed to offload one on my neighbour.