Jeff Mauro's French Onion Soup _ The Kitchen _ Food Network

The Art of French Onion Soup: A Masterclass in Technique and Flavor

Fresh from the kitchen, a bouquet garni is the star of our show today. This fragrant mix of herbs, typically including thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves, is carefully placed inside cheesecloth to infuse the broth with its essence. The beauty of this technique lies not only in its visual appeal but also in its functional value. Unlike a bouquet garni for looking pretty, ours will play a crucial role in elevating our French onion soup to new heights.

As we prepare the onions, it's essential to remember that less is often more. We want to cook out excess alcohol and intensify those flavors, not overpower them. The key lies in the timing and technique of this process. A gentle simmer will coax out the sweetness from the caramelized onions, while the beef stock adds a rich depth to our broth. The result is a harmonious balance of flavors that will leave us speechless.

With the base of our French onion soup finally ready, it's time to assemble the masterpiece. We'll carefully remove the bouquet garni, allowing its fragrant goodness to mingle with the onions and beef stock. The final touch? A generous helping of grated cheese – none too much, but enough to give it that perfect sheen.

But what sets French onion soup apart from other soups is not just its rich flavors; it's also its presentation. We need a vessel worthy of this culinary delight, something that will showcase its beauty as much as its taste. A crusty baguette or toasted croutons add a satisfying crunch to our soup, while the cheese adds a creamy, velvety texture. The ratio of broth to onions is crucial – we want each bite to be a perfect balance of flavors.

Of course, no French onion soup would be complete without a trusty Ramin, that essential kitchen tool that's as much a part of our cooking experience as the chef himself. When it comes to soups like ours, having the right vessel can make all the difference – think oven-safe bowls or even individual ramekins. And let's not forget about cheese sauces! We often reuse those same sauces for other dishes, from nachos to individual servings.

Now that our French onion soup is ready, we must complete it with a flourish. A sprinkle of grated cheese on top is de rigueur – and not just any cheese will do. A fine Gruyère or Comté adds a rich, nutty flavor that elevates the entire dish. We'll carefully layer our bread, soup, and cheese to create a visually stunning presentation. This is French onion soup at its finest – a true masterclass in technique, flavor, and presentation.

Finally, it's time to test our creation. A gentle simmer on low heat will ensure that our soup remains at the perfect temperature for serving. But what about the bread? Ah, yes! We'll toast our baguette slices until crispy, then serve them alongside our soup. This is where the magic happens – the crunch of the bread gives way to the creamy broth and melted cheese.

As we take our first bites, it's clear that this French onion soup has exceeded all expectations. The flavors have melded together in perfect harmony, with each component elevating the others to new heights. It's a true testament to the art of cooking – where technique meets passion, and flavor is king.

And so, let us raise our forks (and glasses) in toast to French onion soup, that humble yet majestic dish that brings us all together. May it forever remain one of life's greatest culinary delights!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is my classic French onion soue of course Katie Sue Chef um you're going to get one of the most important components of this dish is the baguette tell me is that baguette fresh and hot it's warm it is warm all right you can use St baguette St baguette that's fine but I love fresh bread because it's a is a yeah kind of subtle bias and we're going with a tremendous amount of oil for that a little thinner than that if you don't mind and then uh both ends we're going to stick it in the oven for you know a little bit till it's nice and golden and toasty okay that's easy breezy we're going with that now let's go with the onions here nice white onion okay nothing too sweet just a nice utility onion holds it shape caramelizes well and that's what this recipe is all about slow low caramelization of these beautiful naturally sweet onions all right so what we did was peel it have it this way right so you get this kind of kind of French cut some might say of an onion this kind of holds the shape we've talked about it not too thin not too thick and we're going to cut it kind of pole to pole after cutting cutting it through the equator okay you going you going longitude it yeah longitude luded it and then we're going to top down cuts from the tip to the stem okay the root to the stem now we have this big bowl of onions we have a large enameled cast IR IR Dutch oven here ready to go the biggest the most robust pan you you have this is when you use it four tablespoons of butter melting it nice got my wooden spoon here and we are going to add these onions okay about a pound of onions in there and this will cook down tremendously to this we're going to add some salt a little kosher salt not too much just to kind of lightly help start weeping it all out but again salt is the enemy of caramelization because it draws out all that moisture and we want to really focus on developing the sugars in these onions and to help kind of expedite that process give it a little extra just a little couple pinches of sugar with the onions controver all right all right next we let this go for about 45 minutes could take longer could take less when you are caramelizing your onions you do not want to disturb it too much but if you open the pot and you see a lot of the you know tasty bits the font sticking to the bottom of the pan keep a little water give it a little splash of water and with your wooden spoon so we can get some and people neglect that kind of what I like to call side fond or wall fond that creeps up the side of the pot that's all flavored too don't neglect that that's what we're looking for like that's the color don't let don't don't don't you got to let it go people are they get they an they get antsy would you put that broth in there it's over there's zero more caramelization once you start like Del glazing too much through the process it really does kind of slow down the process as well and we want to embody the spirit of this soup which is Flavor in technique and a little bit of cherry help de glaze it towards the end right and you scrape up all that stuff on the bottom turn up this a little bit now we can start adding we got some warm stock here and for some herbs we got a bay leaf and a bundle or a sachche excuse me fresh time it's a bouquet garne a bouquet gar a sachet is in cheesecloth usually so correct that we get a little bit but it's easier to pick out it's not just for looking pretty it's for function too just like you Jeff very nobody's like that guy's pretty nobody said that about me jokes even with the Necker Chief so again we want to kind of cook out that alcohol let this intensify let all those onions soak up that cherry next some warm beef stock look at that boom same thing right I should have poured it from the side like getting some ice water at the saloon so we're going to let this come up to a simmer look how simple this is right it's all time and technique and cutting the onions right just putting enough of everything not too much of everything in there and what we're left with after about another 30 40 minutes is the base of a great french onion soup what we want to do is fish out Le bouquet gar yeah into the all right this is ready to go Katie I will bring the horse to the water if you will okay and our toast are little done our little crostini there m I like to give a little kind of centrifical stir here so I can scoop up and get an even ratio of broth to onion oh that's that's a good one you know what I mean instead of just like dipping from the bottom get the glp of onion and then go in there for some the liquid that's very smart Jeff do a little swirl swirly and I like to go Fairly to the top because again the cheese I think the onions are the true star of this but man you want we want to structurally build this so might need a little more in there these are big old Crocs but you need the handle on here you can use a Ramin at home you can use like an oven save Bowl I'm sure you can find these online for it's kind of like a Moscow Mule you need the vessel you need the vessel right things that like you find on sale and when find it buy it even if you're not planning on making the French onion soup right away just buy it there's also a certain I also put like cheese sauces in there like I do nacho sauce like individual nacho sauce you can reuse those French I think there's a look to french onion soup that's almost as important as the actual soup yeah it's got to look like you'll he's going to do it I know what he's going to do you know you got to complete it mess on the edge yeah you can't do it Half Baked there you know we're going to full bake oh yeah there we go at this couple important right here right without submerging like that that guy went for a dip I'm going to change him out I did not he was he just ate he gota wait an hour hey I don't blame him he wanted to get in there in that soup that's right yeah yeah Jeff I got to do two got have layer of cheese you need it right on there it's a must what kind of cheese anybody want to guess of course you could substitute nothing career is available everywhere right the deli sliced or the sheets of it that come pre- shingled if you will uh totally worth it because it's going to make your life easier and an even melt which let's check on these huh where do you put it what kind of oven why so we are going to put it on a sheet pan any bows as you need at a time don't just Loosey Goosey this to the oven okay you want to keep it on a sheet I'm going to need another rag here give me that man I thought I was going to be all swole and showing off for you guys but this is a two-handed job you'll see why oh me B ah that is it that's the promise look at that I'm just going to look at that look at that maybe I don't want to man there's no more room I have all the pots going thank you very much Katie but look at this this is what we wanted that smell That's Italian no kidding come on that's a Mor that's a mo this is the soup that makes you want to smile well yeah and pull out a fork too you know what I mean yes youve got to get in there again curone red wine burgundy mustach I like that you are s you know what I mean yeah I got colone with this I like to try the BR first I mean yeah I I like I I like exactly what I did I tried to get the cheese the bread the broth feel like I'm at Cafe floor um sitting there on S gerain watching the world go by just this classic French onion soup delicithis is my classic French onion soue of course Katie Sue Chef um you're going to get one of the most important components of this dish is the baguette tell me is that baguette fresh and hot it's warm it is warm all right you can use St baguette St baguette that's fine but I love fresh bread because it's a is a yeah kind of subtle bias and we're going with a tremendous amount of oil for that a little thinner than that if you don't mind and then uh both ends we're going to stick it in the oven for you know a little bit till it's nice and golden and toasty okay that's easy breezy we're going with that now let's go with the onions here nice white onion okay nothing too sweet just a nice utility onion holds it shape caramelizes well and that's what this recipe is all about slow low caramelization of these beautiful naturally sweet onions all right so what we did was peel it have it this way right so you get this kind of kind of French cut some might say of an onion this kind of holds the shape we've talked about it not too thin not too thick and we're going to cut it kind of pole to pole after cutting cutting it through the equator okay you going you going longitude it yeah longitude luded it and then we're going to top down cuts from the tip to the stem okay the root to the stem now we have this big bowl of onions we have a large enameled cast IR IR Dutch oven here ready to go the biggest the most robust pan you you have this is when you use it four tablespoons of butter melting it nice got my wooden spoon here and we are going to add these onions okay about a pound of onions in there and this will cook down tremendously to this we're going to add some salt a little kosher salt not too much just to kind of lightly help start weeping it all out but again salt is the enemy of caramelization because it draws out all that moisture and we want to really focus on developing the sugars in these onions and to help kind of expedite that process give it a little extra just a little couple pinches of sugar with the onions controver all right all right next we let this go for about 45 minutes could take longer could take less when you are caramelizing your onions you do not want to disturb it too much but if you open the pot and you see a lot of the you know tasty bits the font sticking to the bottom of the pan keep a little water give it a little splash of water and with your wooden spoon so we can get some and people neglect that kind of what I like to call side fond or wall fond that creeps up the side of the pot that's all flavored too don't neglect that that's what we're looking for like that's the color don't let don't don't don't you got to let it go people are they get they an they get antsy would you put that broth in there it's over there's zero more caramelization once you start like Del glazing too much through the process it really does kind of slow down the process as well and we want to embody the spirit of this soup which is Flavor in technique and a little bit of cherry help de glaze it towards the end right and you scrape up all that stuff on the bottom turn up this a little bit now we can start adding we got some warm stock here and for some herbs we got a bay leaf and a bundle or a sachche excuse me fresh time it's a bouquet garne a bouquet gar a sachet is in cheesecloth usually so correct that we get a little bit but it's easier to pick out it's not just for looking pretty it's for function too just like you Jeff very nobody's like that guy's pretty nobody said that about me jokes even with the Necker Chief so again we want to kind of cook out that alcohol let this intensify let all those onions soak up that cherry next some warm beef stock look at that boom same thing right I should have poured it from the side like getting some ice water at the saloon so we're going to let this come up to a simmer look how simple this is right it's all time and technique and cutting the onions right just putting enough of everything not too much of everything in there and what we're left with after about another 30 40 minutes is the base of a great french onion soup what we want to do is fish out Le bouquet gar yeah into the all right this is ready to go Katie I will bring the horse to the water if you will okay and our toast are little done our little crostini there m I like to give a little kind of centrifical stir here so I can scoop up and get an even ratio of broth to onion oh that's that's a good one you know what I mean instead of just like dipping from the bottom get the glp of onion and then go in there for some the liquid that's very smart Jeff do a little swirl swirly and I like to go Fairly to the top because again the cheese I think the onions are the true star of this but man you want we want to structurally build this so might need a little more in there these are big old Crocs but you need the handle on here you can use a Ramin at home you can use like an oven save Bowl I'm sure you can find these online for it's kind of like a Moscow Mule you need the vessel you need the vessel right things that like you find on sale and when find it buy it even if you're not planning on making the French onion soup right away just buy it there's also a certain I also put like cheese sauces in there like I do nacho sauce like individual nacho sauce you can reuse those French I think there's a look to french onion soup that's almost as important as the actual soup yeah it's got to look like you'll he's going to do it I know what he's going to do you know you got to complete it mess on the edge yeah you can't do it Half Baked there you know we're going to full bake oh yeah there we go at this couple important right here right without submerging like that that guy went for a dip I'm going to change him out I did not he was he just ate he gota wait an hour hey I don't blame him he wanted to get in there in that soup that's right yeah yeah Jeff I got to do two got have layer of cheese you need it right on there it's a must what kind of cheese anybody want to guess of course you could substitute nothing career is available everywhere right the deli sliced or the sheets of it that come pre- shingled if you will uh totally worth it because it's going to make your life easier and an even melt which let's check on these huh where do you put it what kind of oven why so we are going to put it on a sheet pan any bows as you need at a time don't just Loosey Goosey this to the oven okay you want to keep it on a sheet I'm going to need another rag here give me that man I thought I was going to be all swole and showing off for you guys but this is a two-handed job you'll see why oh me B ah that is it that's the promise look at that I'm just going to look at that look at that maybe I don't want to man there's no more room I have all the pots going thank you very much Katie but look at this this is what we wanted that smell That's Italian no kidding come on that's a Mor that's a mo this is the soup that makes you want to smile well yeah and pull out a fork too you know what I mean yes youve got to get in there again curone red wine burgundy mustach I like that you are s you know what I mean yeah I got colone with this I like to try the BR first I mean yeah I I like I I like exactly what I did I tried to get the cheese the bread the broth feel like I'm at Cafe floor um sitting there on S gerain watching the world go by just this classic French onion soup delici\n"