Easy onion soup recipe | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between onion soup and French onion soup? ›

What is the Difference Between Onion Soup and French Onion Soup? French onion soup is always made with beef stock. Other onion soups can be made with chicken, vegetable, or beef stock. Additionally, French onion soup typically contains wine or sherry, which isn't typical or necessary in other onion soups.

Fresh thyme: always go with fresh thyme sprigs over dried. Worcestershire sauce: the flavors in Worcestershire sauce are a mix of vinegar, garlic, chile, molasses, etc. which act as the French onion soup spices. A tablespoon goes a long way to help bring out the umami flavors.

The two soups are very similar, yet quite different. Both make use of slowly cooked, caramelized onions. However, the French version always uses beef stock, baguette, and Swiss or Gruyere cheese. The English version uses any type of stock (beef, chicken, or vegetable) with any sturdy bread and Cheddar cheese.

French onion soup is the ultimate comfort food. Onions get slowly cooked until sweet and caramelized, then simmered in rich broth until they're practically falling apart. To finish it off, toasted bread is added to give it that lovable crisp-gone-soggy texture and a generous amount of Gruyère cheese is melted on top.

Made slightly thicker than most watered down soups because every mouthful NEEDS a slightly thickened texture to compliment the caramelized onions.

This soup traditionally is made with beef stock, though sometimes a good beef stock can be hard to come by and expensive to make. If you use boxed stock, taste it first! If you don't like the taste, don't use it. (If you cook a lot of beef or beef roasts, save the scraps and freeze them to make a stock with later.)

"If your broth is lacking in savory richness, try adding roasted onion, tomato paste, mushrooms, seaweed, soy sauce, or miso. These ingredients add umami flavor and depth to broth," she says. The choice of ingredient depends on the recipe, though.

If you don't add enough salt, pepper, or other herbs and spices, the soup may taste bland.

The key to good French onion soup is to cook the onions so long that they threaten to melt into a viscous, dark brown paste, à la Marmite. As has already been extensively reported in Slate, there are no shortcuts when you're caramelizing onions; it always takes at least an hour, usually longer.

It has even become a trendy dish that tourists are eager to try to experience French gastronomy. However, onion soup is in fact not part of French people's daily meals. It was originally meant to be eaten after a family reunion in the middle of the night to cure hangovers…

What is a substitute for French onion soup? ›

Stir onion flakes, beef bouillon granules, onion powder, parsley flakes, celery seed, paprika, and black pepper together in a bowl. Use as a substitute for a 1-ounce envelope of dry onion soup mix.

The classic French onion soup gets its name from its country of origin: France. After making its debut in the 18th century, it has become a national treasure. During ancient times (and still today), onions were cheap and easy to grow, and hence, readily available.

A few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf elevate the soup even more, but I take it a step further, adding a splash of fish sauce for complexity and depth—don't worry, it won't taste fishy—and a hit of cider vinegar to balance some of that oniony sweetness.

With such a soup, a knife is your friend, not your enemy. Using both the soup spoon and the knife, push the baked cheese against the rim of the cup or bowl and cut it gently with the knife. Once you've broken the cheese barrier, you can use the knife again to nudge bits of cheese onto the spoon.

First, French onion soup calls for a ton of onions. While onions aren't expensive, there's a lot of labor involved in halving, peeling, and slicing 10, 12, 50, or one billion onions (I don't know how much soup you make).

I'm told that French Onion Soup is called just “onion soup” in France, but to more accurately describe what we have come to know is called Soupe à l'Oignon Gratinée. Gratin is a culinary technique in which an ingredient is topped with a browned crust, often using breadcrumbs, grated cheese, egg or butter.

In traditional French cuisine, soups are classified into two main groups: clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé.

What is the difference between French onion dip and regular onion dip? French onion dip is typically made with French onion soup mix, a mixture of dried onions and beef bouillon. Onion dip is made with only onions.