Unconventional French Onion Soup

This was my mom's favorite soup.  Though I hated her version of it, lol.  It was one of the first soups that I learned to make while apprenticing to a French chef.  It's a soup that has been around since Roman times, though they didn't put the bread and cheese on the soup; that was a 19th-century addition.. My son, when he was little, called this soup my wine soup.  Lol, he might not be wrong.  My husband doesn't like the bread and cheese on top of the soup, so we make an unconventional type of soup for current trends.. If you like it with bread and cheese on top, put the bread on a sheet pan, add your cheese, and broil till it is as brown as you like.  If you have mini crocks, just toast the bread on the sheet pan, fill the crocks with soup, add bread, top with cheese, and then broil again to desired brownness.  We do grilled cheese sandwiches instead.  Which was also the only way I could get my son to eat this soup when he was little.

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The restaurant that I worked at didn't make this often because it does take longer than most of the soups we made.  Anytime we had a bunch of onions that needed to be used up, this was the soup we made.  We used any combination of onions, red, white, or yellow.  As for the bread, if you can't find a rustic French bread, use a rustic sourdough.  At the restaurant, our bakers would make at least 100 loaves of Pain de Chapagne in a mix of white and whole wheat every morning.  It's rustic and chewy and a perfect complement to soups.

French Onion Soup

3 tbsp butter

5 medium onions. Traditionally, you can add up to 10 onions, thinly sliced.

3 tsp pink salt, divided

2 cups white wine, something like a Pinot Grigio, never use "cooking wine"

3 cups beef broth or beef consommé (clarified beef broth)

2 cups chicken broth

1 bouquet garni (about 2 springs of thyme and parsley and 2 bay leaves), you can use dried if you don't have fresh herbs, just remember you use 3 times as much fresh as you would use dried.  Fresh tastes better.

black pepper to taste

1 splash of Grand Marnier or Cognac (cognac is more traditional, I just like the hint of orange flavor)

Rustic French bread or even a sourdough

Gruyere or Swiss cheese

In my Dutch oven over medium-low heat, I melt the butter.  Add a third of the onions at a time, adding 1 tsp of salt with each layer.  Sweat the onions for about 15 minutes.  If they look like they are starting to turn yellow, turn the temperature down to low; you don't want them to brown.  

Stir the onions, continue to cook the onions, stirring occasionally, for about an hour until the onions reduce to about half.  Turn the temperature to high and add the wine.  Cook the onions for about 5- 10 minutes or until the onions look jammy.  Add the broth and bouquet garni and reduce the heat to low.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove the bouquet garni and season with pepper to taste and a splash of Grand Marnier or cognac.  Either top it with bread and cheese or make a grilled cheese sandwich.

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L'eau fait pleurer, le vin fait chanter.

(Water makes one cry, Wine makes one sing)

Why drink water when you could drink wine?

 - Popular French Saying