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Le Chaudron recipe
Soupe à l'oignon
French onion soup with cheese toasts
⏱ 60 minServes 4Easy220 kcal
A recipe from Le Chaudron — the cooking of France’s regions.
01 — Ingredients4 servings
1.2 kg (2.6 lb)yellow onions
80 g (3 oz)unsalted butter
3 tbspolive oil
2 tbspall-purpose flour
200 ml (¾ cup)dry white wine
1.5 L (6¼ cups)beef stock
100 ml (½ cup)Cognac
1 tspsugar
1stale baguette
300 g (11 oz)grated Gruyère
1 tspdried thyme
2 leavesbay leaf
1 tspfleur de sel (flaky sea salt)
1 tspfreshly ground pepper
- 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) yellow onions
- 80 g (3 oz) unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 200 ml (¾ cup) dry white wine
- 1.5 L (6¼ cups) beef stock
- 100 ml (½ cup) Cognac
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 stale baguette
- 300 g (11 oz) grated Gruyère
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 leaves bay leaf
- 1 tsp fleur de sel (flaky sea salt)
- 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
Quantities scaled for — some (egg, lemon, garlic…) are rounded to what’s practical.
Serves 4. In the app, quantities adjust to the number of guests on their own — and the ingredients go straight to your shopping list.
03 — Method
- Peel the 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) of yellow onions and slice them very thinly into even 2 mm (1/16 in) half-moons. It looks like a lot, but they cook down by half during the long, slow cooking.
- Melt the unsalted butter with the olive oil in the large cast-iron Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, sugar, dried thyme and bay leaves and stir to coat the onions in the butter.
- Cook the onions for 45 MINUTES over low heat, stirring every 5 minutes with a wooden spoon so they caramelize evenly without burning. This slow cooking is ABSOLUTELY essential for a deep-flavored soup.
- The onions should be deep golden, caramel brown and meltingly soft. If needed, add 1 tbsp of water to keep them from burning. This is the heart of a real French onion soup.
- Sprinkle the caramelized onions with the flour and stir for 2 minutes with a wooden spoon to cook it — this gives the soup its body, the classic Parisian way.
- Deglaze with the dry white wine and Cognac, scraping up the caramelized bits. Reduce for 3 minutes over high heat to cook off the alcohol. Pour in the hot beef stock and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Season with fleur de sel and plenty of pepper and simmer uncovered over low heat for 30 minutes so the flavors concentrate and the soup thickens.
- Preheat the broiler. Divide the soup among 4 ovenproof bowls and top each with 3 slices of stale baguette. Cover generously with grated Gruyère and broil for 5 minutes until golden and bubbling.
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