French Onion Soup - "It's Not About the Onions"

Butcher's bones with marrow** = foundation - "If you go to any butcher and say, 'Can I just get some chopped bones with a bit of marrow in them?' They will normally have them" - Bones provide collagen - Marrow = "liquid gold in a stock beef stock" 2. **Chicken carcass/wings addition** for balance - "We don't want it to be almost too beefy" - Lightens the intensity - Adds different collagen profile 3. **Season + roast bones first** before stock - "I'm just seasoning these bones now. Rub them all over" - **180°C for ~35-45 minutes** until "nice and blonde, not too intense" - Develops flavor without bitterness 4. **Aged beef trim/stewing steak** for depth - "This is a blooming piece of aged ribeye...obviously going to be absolutely delicious" - Alternative: "Nice cheap pack of uh stewing steak and sacrifice it for the greater good" - "Roasted beef trim to the stock gives a whole different dimension to those bones" 5. **Supermarket beef stock as base** (not cheating) - "I'm going to use the beef stock that you would get from a supermarket as well, but just as a base" - "I'm increasing the flavor of this beef stock" - Efficiency + enhancement strategy 6. **Render beef fat first** before aromatics - "The fat from that beef will start to render out" - "We want to get this nice and dark" - Creates fond for deglazing 7. **Continuously scrape fond** during beef browning - "Pretty much golden brown, but there's still a little a few little patches" - "Continuously working it while scraping the bottom of the pan" - Prevents burning, develops flavor 8. **Layer flavors into stock** before onion cooking - "What we want to think about doing now is layering flavors as much as possible into this stock" - Onion, carrot, celery added to stock base 9. **Carrot = sweetness** in stock - "Couple of carrots...just really roughly...going to add a nice amount of sweetness to the stock" - Balances beef richness 10. **Celery = aromatic base

"Roughly chop up some celery as well" - Classic mirepoix component

"Roughly chop up some celery as well"

Wine deglaze** after vegetables soften - "Touch of wine. Going to give a little bit of sweetness to the whole thing" - "Just deglaze the bottom of that pan" - "Always looking for a beautiful clean clean base to the pan" 12. **Reduce wine completely** before adding liquid - "We've reduced that wine right down" - Concentrates flavor, removes alcohol harshness 13. **Remove rendered fat** from roasted bones - "This is now rendered aged beef fat" - **Purpose:** "What you really want with this French onion soup is a beautifully clear stock" - "Taking away that fat will really, really help" 14. **Add bones after fat removal

"I'm just going to add in our bones" - "Those bones have released all their marrow" - "Some beautiful rendered bone marrow"

"I'm just going to add in our bones"

Light chicken stock addition** for balance - Prevents "too beefy" profile - "Nice light chicken stock as well" 16. **Simmer 1.5 hours total** for extraction - "That's going to simmer for about an hour and a half" - Gentle extraction (not boiling) 17. **Skim impurities** as stock heats - "As this stock just comes up, I'm just going to take off the first little raft of impurities" - Clarity maintenance 18. **Aromatics:** rosemary, thyme added to stock - "Add in a few aromats which will just really give a nice base flavor to our onion soup" - "You get so many different flavors of um rosemary, thyme" 19. **Clear stock = quality indicator

"Really nice and clear. Got really beautiful rich aromas coming out of there" - Gentle cooking preserves clarity

"Really nice and clear. Got really beautiful rich aromas coming out of there"

Rendered beef fat base** (not butter/oil initially) - "I've got that beef fat and this is going to be the basis for our caramelized onions" - Flavor consistency with stock 21. **Spanish onions:** "lighter, more delicate flavor" - Variety choice matters - Alternative to French Roscoff onions 22. **Roscoff onions (French):** "incredibly sweet" - "Slightly more expensive" - Traditional choice 23. **Any onion works** due to caramelization - "To be quite honest, you can use any onion...they're going to be so so caramelized. They're going to be sweet anyway" 24. **Cut with natural grain** (not against) - "Use your knife to follow the shape of the onion all the way around" - "There's a natural line there...you're just mimicking that with your knife" - "You get these really nice, beautiful shapes" 25. **NEVER cut against grain** = chef's hatred - "One of my absolute hatreds is when a chef chops an onion the wrong way" - "Some thugs will take their onion and chop it this way...There's nothing natural about that" - "Actually makes me cry. When nature's giving you the blueprint, all you need to do is follow it" 26. **"Disgraceful amount of onions"** volume rule - "Basically, the rule of thumb is it should feel like a disgraceful amount of onions" - High volume = longer cooking time 27. **Salt early** to speed moisture extraction - "This stage, I'm actually going to salt them, which is just going to speed things up slightly" - "It'll extract the moisture out of the onions a little bit quicker" 28. **Lowest heat setting + lid** = three-stage process - "Turn the pan right down to the lowest setting it can go. And I'm going to put the lid on" - Controlled, gentle cooking **THREE STAGES OF ONION COOKING:

**Stage 1: Water Extraction (First 25 minutes, lidded)** - "First level is extracting water" - **Auditory cue:** "This is one of the best, most beautiful sounds in French cooking. Can you hear that?" (gentle bubbling) - Result: "All of that liquid has been released out of our onions" **Stage 2: Evaporation (~45 minutes more, stirring)** - "The second stage is evaporation" - "All we need to do at this point is basically stir them and make sure that they're not catching" - "Still got all that beef fat in there which is giving it really beautiful richness" - After ~1hr 10min total: "There's no loose water left in there. I can tell that by if I part the onions, no water joins the bottom of the pan" **Stage 3: Caramelization (Final phase)** - "The third stage is caramelization" - "The fat that we originally started cooking will start frying" - **Sound change:** "That light bubble that we had earlier has now been transformed and the sound is very different" - From bubbling → frying sound

"First level is extracting water"

Beurre manié thickening** (equal parts butter + flour) - "Traditional way of thickening up a sauce and it's equal parts butter and flour" - "Adds richness whilst thickening" - "Almost like just the reverse of a roux" 33. **Mix beurre manié into onions BEFORE adding stock

"I'm just putting it in before I've added the stock to the pan" - "There's no heat on there, but I'm just waiting until that beurman has completely melted" - "Would take a long time to dissolve" if added to liquid

"I'm just putting it in before I've added the stock to the pan"

Day-old baguette** = traditional - "I have a little uh French baguette and this would be perfect to use day old bread" - Absorbs soup without disintegrating 39. **Cut bread to fit bowl** precisely - "I'm just going to cut around that fits perfectly inside my bowl" - Professional presentation 40. **Ladle soup, float bread, top with Comté

"Really good quality Comté" - Swiss cheese traditional choice

"Really good quality Comté"

Grill until melted/golden

"This goes under our grill" - Creates crispy cheese top

"This goes under our grill"

Chive finish** (modern touch) - "We're just finishing this with a really decadent amount of chives" --- ### VALIDATION - TWO MICHELIN STAR TEST **Tester:** AJ, chef at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons (Raymond Blanc - 2 Michelin stars) - "French onion just come back on the menu" at Le Manoir **Verdict:

"That's banging" - "I can taste like a very deep beef flavor...Are there beef bones in there?" - **Key observation:** "I get the sweetness from the onions, but I'm really the flavor's coming from that beef" - "That's banger" - "Raymond would be proud" --- ### KEY INSIGHTS **Philosophy Shift:** - **Common belief:** Caramelized onions are the star - **Chef reality:** Stock is the star, onions are supporting cast - "The secret people always focus on the caramelization of the onions. The secret is the actual beef stock" **Why Stock Matters More:** - Beef bones + marrow = collagen → "beautiful mouth feel" - Aged beef trim = deep flavor layers - Aromatics in stock = flavor foundation - Onions add sweetness, but beef provides depth **Working Class Roots:** - "Often eaten by market traders" - "Simple dish made from simple produce" - "One of the simplest but most decadent dishes in the French culinary world" **Time Investment:** - Stock: 1.5 hours (can skip with supermarket stock) - Onions: 1hr 10min-1hr 20min - Total active: ~2-3 hours - "Optional" but "this is a recipe for the greatest French onion soup of all time" **The Onion Philosophy:** - "When nature's giving you the blueprint, all you need to do is follow it" - Cut with grain, not against - Patience through three distinct stages - Listen for sound changes (bubbling → frying)

"That's banging"