Leave it to the French to make a glorious, silky soup from a vegetable as ordinary as an onion. But if it’s so easy to make, why are we often subjected to shoddy bowls of thin, tasteless onion-water? Or, worse, acrid burnt onion broth? Or even worse: a cloudy, oily mess? Like many straightforward dishes, the outcome relies on nailing the technique and deploying just the right ingredients. So the Epicurious Test Kitchen merged the best parts of the recipes on our site to create Our Favorite French Onion Soup. Here’s how we cracked the code on this time-honored recipe: Let’s start with the foundation for our soup. We’ve seen recipes that use beef broth, chicken broth, or a mix of the two. We've also seen recipes that call for red wine, white wine, or no wine at all. Our taste tests revealed the combination of an all-beef broth with white wine as the clear winner, as used in this Gourmet French Onion Soup. The beef broth (obviously home-made is best, but store-bought works too) adds an underlying richness to the soup, and we favored the lightness and acidity that white wine brings to the table.

We also tested thickening the soup with flour as well as omitting it from the recipe. We preferred the no-flour version, as used in this Bon Appétit rendition, which provides a beautiful clear broth without muddying the sweet and savory flavors of the soup. Red wine vs white wine in French Onion Soup As we read through your comments on the French Onion Soup recipes on the site, we heard you loud and clear: “More onions!” After all, it’s not called “Broth Soup” or “Cheesy Bread Soup.” So we took a cue from another Bon Appétit recipe and upped our onion-to-broth ratio to let the main ingredient shine. We also found many recipes that just called for “onions.” But what kind of onions make for the best soup? We tried caramelizing red, yellow, and Vidalia onions and—shocker—the sweet Vidalias came out on top. Just a sprinkle of sugar and salt (and heat) transform these sweet onions into sweet, nutty, silky strands of pure gold. But perfectly caramelized onions take time.

Undercook your onions, and you’ll miss out on all that the savory sweetness. Some recipes call for cooking them for as little as 15 minutes, but we felt that this was not enough time to draw out their full flavor potential. Cook them too quickly over heat that’s too high, and you risk burning them and adding a scorched, bitter taste to your soup, so resist the urge to speed up this step. This French Onion Soup with Comté calls for cooking the onions for about an hour, which we thought was just right. When your onions are an even, deep golden brown like the kind of tan everyone wanted in the 80s, you know they're ready. We initially tried adding a bundle of rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves to our soup, but found the rosemary to be a bit overpowering. The combination of thyme and bay leaves found in this recipe for Onion Soup with Loads of Thyme and Giant Gruyère Crostini was really well balanced, lending a subtle herbaceous flavor and aroma. Cheese test for French Onion Soup

We’re not naming any names, but we know some people who eat French Onion Soup mostly for the blistered, melty, cheesy cap on top. So of course we had to give this element as much attention as the rest of the soup. best wine deals londonAnd, just like the onions, many recipes call for generic “Swiss cheese.” names of wine shops in americaAgain, we asked, “What kind of Swiss cheese?” beer and wine wedding receptionWe narrowed it down to two contenders: Emmentaler and Gruyère. best wine glass clothWe tried them separately and mixed together. best selling italian wine

The slightly sweet, salty, nuttiness of Gruyère as found in this recipe won us over and was chosen to adorn our soup. Our Favorite French Onion Soupred wine glass function Many recipes include brandy in the cooking process or to finish the soup. We tried adding a touch to our brew, but it was a little too sweet. So we took a tip from Mixed Onion Soup in Sourdough Bread Bowls and tried finishing our bowls with a splash of dry sherry. The sherry complements the nuttiness of the Gruyère beautifully and adds a bright finish to the soup, yet the raw alcohol flavor gets mellowed by the warm broth. All in all, it's the perfect finishing touch.Editor's Note: Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein joins us again with wine recommendations for our favorite Serious Eats recipes. Evan is the author of two fantastic wine books: Perfect Pairings and Daring Pairings. Looking for wine recommendations for your favorite recipe?

Leave Evan a note in the comments. I trained in the kitchens of Paris in the late 1970s. Since then, I've had a soft spot for the French comfort food so omnipresent in bistros and cafes—the food I could afford back then. After work, my colleagues and I gathered around a pichet of vin rouge and the heartiest, most gratifying, and traditional bistro cuisine that we could find. From coq au vin to French onion soup, it all hit the spot. As the weather cools, my craving for French onion soup always resurfaces. This dish is so simple, but so good, especially if you use a rich and flavorful stock, the sweetest of slow cooked onions, a thick piece of crusty bread, and good-quality nutty Gruyere. Pairing soup with wine can be a bit tricky and it's a bit counterintuitive to match liquid with liquid, but believe me, a good glass of wine makes this meal even better. Here are a few basic guidelines for pairing soup with wine: 1. A more viscous wine will cling to a brothy soup nicely;

don't go too light-bodied. 2. Think beyond the broth: consider the toppings and other elements in a soup. In this case, we'll focus on the nutty note of the cheese, the implied sweetness and texture of the onions, and the richness of the broth which is amplified by both the cheese and the bread as it breaks down and integrates into the broth. 3. If you're looking for a wine for a pureed and or cream based soup, select a textured and creamy wine that mirrors the soup's mouthfeel. A red wine can work here, especially if you substitute the chicken stock with beef or veal stock. Classic Beaujolais (cru level) or another well-made Gamay wine is a good call. The bright cherry/raspberry/strawberry fruit picks up on the onion's sweetness while the soft granitic element of the terroir works beautifully with the soup's rustic nature. Gamay's inherent acidity cuts beautifully against the richness of this dish. If you can't access good Cru Beaujolais, an Italian Dolcetto or a more rustic Pinot Noir would suffice.

While it's fine to drink red wine with French onion soup, the dish really speaks to me in a rich white voice. My top pick is a textured Pinot Gris from Alsace, Oregon, or California. These wines have an implicit waxy consistency with hints of dusty pear, candied ginger, green tea, and Meyer lemon that accent the soup nicely. has enough acidity to not be flabby. You can even select one that has a little oak (but not too much) to mirror the cheese-topped crouton's buttery, toasty flavor. Other choices: a balanced Roussanne or Roussanne blend will make a nice stunt double for the Pinot Gris. A Viognier or Gewürztraminer will bring out the sweetness of the onions: make sure you caramelize them thoroughly and slowly. Dinner Tonight: Quick, Light French Onion Soup » 2009 Julienas, Henry Fessy: This Beaujolais has a smooth texture with ripe cherry/berry notes and soft smoke. (About $15, find this wine) 2009 Elk Cove Oregon Pinot Gris: Easy-drinking with nice texture and pretty ripe citrus notes.