French onion soup - Yey or ney

[Futb]

I’m sick of the same foods and sometimes take a notion to make something different. I’ve never tried FOS but it looks lovely with all the melted cheese etc… so my question is, is it worth it?

YES

French onion soup is worth it.

Yay!

Ohh really. Any hints or tips to make it the best version of itself? 🫣😬

It is a lovely thing, but takes effort to make. I find the tinned FOS with red wine which falls into my trolley in Waitrose is an easier option.

Oh really, it’s a bit of a faff? Sadly I don’t live anywhere near a Waitrose 😭

Homemade is great. Get some emmental to grate and melt into it!

I don't enjoy cooking but I really like making French Onion Soup with Gruyère cheese on top.

The onions take ages, at least half an hour.
Real stock is best but I sometimes use a mushroom stock cube plus soaking water from dried mushrooms.

It’s amazing. It’s a yes from me!

Definitely worth making - I sometimes do the onions in the slow cooker if I'm being lazy.

You can always do the onions the day before. Having an extra low maintenance pan on the go is not much hassle and makes the FOS seem quick to make.

My mouths watering now 😂

Definitely worth it, but there are no short cuts.

yes, make it. We love it. I make it once every few weeks always the day after we have a beef on the Sunday (I make the stock)

It’s a cheap dinner for five of us, massive bag of onions, Saturdays old bread and cheese. Wine left over from the weekend usually but I don’t add brandy.

I’ve never had the tinned version

I use this recipe https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_onion_soup/

It's sublime, with sliced French stick and Emmenthal cheese croutons it's a meal. Home made beef or mushroom stock though, makes a massive difference.

Yes a bit of a faff. Firstly a lot , a huge amount actually, of onions to peel and slice evenly and finely. Then a very long time standing and watching them like a hawk as they caramelise to an even golden brown without burning. I will admit that good home made beats any tinned hands down, but the Waitrose is a very decent substitute. I haven’t tried any other brands to be fair, and you could always add your own glug of red wine if you wanted to. Toast and cheese is optional, but at the very least you need croutons and a melty cheese otherwise there is no point to it. Salut!

Not a faff at all, just requires patience. I cook the onions veeeeery gently for at least 45 min. But you can cook up a massive pan of onions and either make masses of soup and freeze it in batches, or freeze the cooked onions in batches for a shortcut next time you make onion soup, or for other recipes.

Yea or nay

And definitely, yes. It’s delicious.

Its really nice but to do it properly takes ages.
I tend to buy it from Waitrose whenever I am near one

It's time consuming to make as it's not a recipe that can be rushed, but the end product is very much worth it. Make it on a cold wet afternoon when you've nothing else to do!

It does take a long time to cook the onions down but if you cook them on low you don't nee to worry that the onion will catch if you're not checking every 5 mins. Slow cooker sounds like a great idea, but i don't have one, I use a heavy bottom pan.

It's on my rotation of month-end budget meals and doesn't take that long! It's in the easy recipes booklet I made for the DC at uni.
I know that having the cheese and bread in the crock is traditional, but it's difficult to eat, so I serve the cheese on toasted baguette on the side for dipping.

Hate onion soup but adore a caramelised onion omelette.

Thanks everyone - I’m going to try it!

I make it quite often for myself so don’t sweat the onions for too long to be honest - I don’t mind them crunchy. Don’t overdo the brown sugar otherwise it can turn too sweet, use a bit of corn flour to thicken it, bubble for long enough to cook off the white wine. Oh and Worcestershire sauce of course. I just use the Knorr intense beef stock. And garlic. Bung a load of mature cheese on the top when done.
Sometime I add a tin of Baxter’s French onion if I can’t be bothered to make a huge amount.
Beware of having bad wind a few hours later 😂(that might just be me).