Soupe a l'oignon

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp. oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/3 tsp. sugar
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 2 qts. (2 ltrs.) boiling brown stock, canned beef bouillon, or 1 qt. water and one quart of concentrated stock or buillon.
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or vermouth
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp. Cognac
• rounds of hard toasted french bread
• 1 to 2 cups grated swiss or emmantaler cheese (You can use Parmesan - but only if you have to.)

Directions

Cook thye onions slowly with the butter and oil in a covered heavy bottomed 4 qt. saucepan for 15 minutes.
Uncover, raise heat to moderate and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes stirring frequently, until the onions have turned an even, deep, golden brown.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 3 minutes.
Take the cooked onions off heat and blen in the boiling brown stock or buillon. Add the wine and season to taste. Simmer partially covered for 30 to 40 minutes more, skimming occassionally. Correect seasoning.
(*) Set aside uncovered until ready to serve. Then reheat to the simmer just before service.
Just before serving, stir in the Cognac. Pour into a soup tureen or soup cups over the rounds of bread and pass the cheese separetly.
(My personal variation) - pour soup into ramekins, top with the french bread rounds, sprinkle cheese liberally on top and place under broiler for a couple of minutes until cheese starts to brown and serve immediately.

Homemade beef stock-

5 to six poinds of meaty soup bones - REALLY meaty.
A mirpoix of 1/3 cup onions, 1/3 cup celery, 1/3 cup carrots
(preheat 325 deg. oven)
Roast the bones in an open roasting pan and cook for 2 hrs. over the mirpoix bed in the bottom of the pan. (lower oven temp to 225.)
Remove bones and meat and place in heavy lidded casserole. Deglaze the roasting pan with 1/2 cup water and strain chunky contents out. Add liquid to the bones. Add enough water to just cover bones and cover tightly. Return to cooler oven and let cook for 3 or more hours.
Remove from oven and pour off liquid. Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully ladle off any fat. Then strain through layers of cheesecloth. If the bouillon isn't concentrated enough, simmer very slowly to evaporate the stock.
Season to taste.

Submitted 6/13/05.
Source: Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Vol. 1)
Submitted By: Jon Pendragon
jhpendragon@yahoo.co.uk
Soupe a l'oignon