Interestingly enough, in France they just call it Onion Soup (or Soupe à l'oignon). But for the rest of us, it's French onion soup, and with the crispy crouton and bubbly Gruyère cheese on top, it's one of the ultimate comfort foods.

The biggest thing about making French onion soup is that you can't rush it. It takes time for the onions to caramelize properly, because you have to use medium-low heat or they'll burn.

I like to soften the onions on the stovetop for about 20 minutes and then finish caramelizing them in the oven. It'll take about an hour and 20 minutes total, but doing it this way will bring out tons more sweetness from the onions and the color will be a deep, gorgeous brown.

My favorite wine to use for French onion soup is sherry, and since there's a full cup of it in the recipe, use the good stuff. An additional splash of brandy or cognac will happily not go astray.

Note that you can make cheese toast by grating cheese over slices of bread and browning them under the broiler. Then simply float the toasts over the tops of the individual soups and serve.

But for me, it's not enough just to have cheese melted over the bread. The perfect French onion soup should have bubbly cheese slightly browned and melted over the soup itself, sort of oozing over the top and sides of the soup crock.

If your soup crocks are too tall to fit under your broiler, you can brown the cheese with a creme brulee torch.

Also see:How to Caramelize Onions

See Also

French Baguette Recipe

Salade Nicoise Recipe

French Steak au Poivre Recipe