The BEST I've Ever Had: Julia Child's French Onion Soup

so I'm going to make one of Julia Child's greatest recipes of all time again B so welcome to my home everybody it's really great to have you here today cuz we're still in soup season and I'm going to be reming one of Julia's most famous and classic dishes french onion soup soup Al so I made the soup for episode 3 of the show was nearly 3 years ago and back then I was a potato in the kitchen you know couldn't really cook to save my life I I could to save my life but I had determination to figure it out and I've improved Leaps and Bounds since then and I think it's a testament to this old recipe that I still regard it as one of my most favorite things that I've cooked on this show and I was like I said it was a potato or turnup whatever you want potato turnup some sort of root veg vegetable I remember distinctly thinking while I was eating it I can make something like this in my own kitchen with these flavors it was an inflection point for sure the onions for an onion soup need a long slow cooking in butter and oil then a long slow simmering in stock for them to develop the deep rich flavor which characterizes a perfect Brew you should therefore count on 2 and 1/2 hours at least from start to finish okay so that being said Julia is not accounting for homemade beef stock that you maybe should be making I guess it depends on who you are when I made this in the video I used beef bullion cubes for my stock and according to the comment section of the video major faux paw people didn't like that too much even though Julia never frowned on stock from a can or a carton or what have you but this time around I want to see what powers this suit holds if I make my own stock from scratch so we're going to add on another four to 5 hours to the clock 6 and 1/2 to 7 and 1/2 hours till I'm eating soup it'll be worth it though I hope let's get to [Music] work starting off with our stock and yes I'm already crying from those onions so I'm making a french onion soup it's going to be an emotional roller coaster I'm using the re out of the way to cook cookbook for this one uh because I've never used this recipe before I've only ever followed the one out of this book so and there's a couple little tweaks little changes here and there so let's give it a whirl okay so I have these beef marrow bones here uh these ones have already been sawed up look at that so I'll use those as well as these in a roasting pan half a cup of each roughly chopped onion roughly chopped carrot roughly chopped celery here we go crank up the flavor 450° oven 35 to 40 minutes so I'm going to be basting it throughout too until that's a good Walnut Brown coming in hot nice just scoop in the brown bones and the vegetables but not the fat look at all that fond let's get the heat on so some water from my drinking glass bring the water up to a boil scrape up all this good stuff incoming into the pot so I'm going to need a cheesecloth I need a large herb bouquet so one I need eight parsley sprigs not driving tonight two bay leaves we'll make it three half a teaspoon of time but I got the fresh stuff so I'm going to use oh those sprigs however many that is four all spiced berries six peppercorns I'm going to wrap it up but not so tight that the herbs can't um [Music] breathe Judo chop she says one large tomato I got two that are between medium and keep the skin on Bor them roughly chopped to my liking I can assure you it don't matter that much okay fill it up with at least 6 quarts of water my chopped tomatoes and two of each onions celery and carrots all roughly chopped just fits as well as that herb bouquet you going to bring this to simmer going scrape off any of the grace scum that rises going to add a teaspoon and a half of salt LD On Loosely on a steady simmer for 4 to 5ish hours and I'm going to be skimming the scum and the fat as I see fit the liquid has evaporated a little too much add in some boiling water right back to the top simmering for 5 hours and then I've let it cool look at the Deep brown colors of that stock like a big bowl got the C to which is exactly what I needed to strain this and you're never going to believe this I need a second bowl the second biggest one you got thank you there's more stock what I'm going to do is clean out the stock pot and then I got to put everything back in it yeah all the stock into the fridge until the time has come uh let's clean up our mess here comes my big sack of onions and uh these are yellow onions 1 and2 LBS or 5 cups worth of them sliced one thing I've learned in the past 3 years I I'll I'll say that lightly one thing I've improved on is my knife skills because you could look back at the video of me making this soup and it's just a uh I don't know it's like a comedy act cuz I want to be able to be one of those people that [Applause] goes is learning and uh I'm not going to say that I i' figured it out completely cuz you know an expert or a chef will look at me and be like dude what the hell are you talking about but it's come a long way and I'm going to put that on display today not in a show offy way but just in the only way I know how all right so let's just hone that knife and get slicing end to end here through the roots I've always find it easier to peel when I go through them first off goes the head and The Roots throughout this entire slicing experience here uh I got to maintain the sharpest knife possible haven't even started yet what is going on uh say the root was right here well if I just move it like that the thumb and index finger on the blade like that and I just go up and down up and down using this hand as the claw and up and down up and down Julia says the knife is an extension of my hand I believe her it's true once you've made it that far down you [Music] go [Music] okay I don't want to hear from any of the onion hack people out there today I've fully accepted that I'm going to cry and I'm okay with it today it's a good cry it's a happy cry when my fingers are in that claw position I'm using that thumb to like push the onion forward while I slice it I don't want to Nick my finger off that's why I do this claw thing it works it really does work you just got to practice I'm not saying what I'm doing is perfect it's far from it I'm sure but it certainly works it didn't take long at all took minutes okay oh what is going on out there all right saucepan 4q saucepan to be precise 3 tablespoons of butter and I finally figured out why Julia always has me add like a tablespoon of oil to go along with that because we're going to be cooking this for a long time the butter might burn so you have the oil in there to keep everything uh copacetic copacetic that just came out of my mouth I don't even know what that means I've heard it somewhere copacetic yes get the onions in there too lid goes on all right medium Heat doesn't say medium heat and I'm going to cook that for 15 minutes to start Bo that's for me that's for me okay so oh after 15 minutes oh okay this is already smelling incredible I'm going to turn up the heat slightly to moderate and I'm going to leave it uncovered going to add in a teaspoon of salt but I want those onions to be a deep dark brown that's the end goal and in order to achieve that she says a/4 teaspoon of sugar should help I'm just going to add a little more sugar than I should pinch more of sugar stirring super frequently leaving it uncovered just like soe uh for 40 [Music] minutes so with a French baguette I'm just going to slice a little under an inch slice oh that's way yeah how about that yeah all right I'm going to get these on a roasting pan okay so I got my oven set to don't forget to keep stirring keep stirring uh but I got my oven set to 325° Fahrenheit and I'm going to bake [Music] these I going to bake these for 15 minutes to [Music] start these onions are turning into something really beautiful but part of the deal is stirring so if you're not going to do it then it's going to end up like there that is a perfect example of what happens so keep it stirring do not stop and you will be rewarded I think it's time to sort out what's going on with this stock since this was chilling in the fridge look how easy it is just to skim the fat off look at that beautiful sight love to see it you really love to see it there's a number of things going on on at the same time let me try to discuss with with you the order which I'm doing things the stock will I'll I'll figure that out in a second but there's something else I want to [Music] do Julia poaches an egg as one of the different variations that you can present um french onion soup there's a couple different ways one with the crots which are in the oven right now one with a poached egg I can't recall exactly what she does with the egg at the end but I know how to poach an egg so I'm going to do that right in a second second so in with the egg I'm just going to add a little hoot of vinegar in a pot of just barely simmering water I'll just give it a little bit of a Vortex but I don't really care about that step as close as I can get this egg in it goes and I'm going to keep that in there 4 minutes okay and gently remove let's get the crots out of the oven touch of olive oil on each side of these crots and if you missed if it went on the pan yeah just get it all covered and back into the oven for another 15 the clove of garlic here that I'm going to slice rub the sliced part of the garlic onto the crout each one oh yeah oops [Music] so okay this time for the beef stock look how beautiful that looks I need four cups worth or two quartz or 2 lers however you want to keep stirring those [Music] onions start thinking about boiling this not just yet but thinking about it so that these onions are now silly guys making a silly show this is what these onions look like after 40 minutes pretty good right well I think we can push it let's push it to the Limit what would another 20 minutes look like uh yeah I would say that's a deep dark brown I mean come on it's a challenge right how dark can you get your caramelized onions well that's as far as I want to push it today I have no such challenge okay so I got a big bag of it's flour and I'm GNA add in three tablespoons on the heat stir that for 3 minutes off the heat I'm going to add in my 8 cups or 2 quart of boiling stock your time to shine as well as half a cup of a dry white ver verou or white wine if you have white wine I had vermouth in the fridge so little salt would be great as well as a couple Hoots of pepper and now I think I can finally relax so I'm going to be what o get the heat back on you num skull partially covered and I'm going to simmer that for 30 to 40 minutes so there is a little skin that forms occasionally on the very top of the soup and you just skim it off and it's gone if I could just pass along a little bit of I don't know if it's wisdom or if it's just advice to whoever wants to make this soup when you're adding in the flour don't be so careless just sprinkle it in add a little at a time mix it in sprinkle it in because throughout this 40 minutes on the heat I have noticed couple Little Flower clumps here and there that I had to scoop out they're all gone now fingers crossed but you know just be a little more careful cautious don't be a cowboy found one found one oh I found one oh I got you some more pepper I'd say a good bunch of salt it needs it trust me it needs it okay o okay turn off the heat and just I'm going to serve these soups a different way than I did in the other video uh where I took this whole sauce pot and I put the cruts on top of it and the cheese and then I put it back into the oven and gratinated it and yada yada yada it was terrific now it is that the Titanic um [Music] uh but I'm not going to do that this time because I already did that and it's kind of like you're committing yourself to serving out of this saucepan which I don't want to do I want to just serve out of these suckers right here let's Ladle in some soup oh looks magnificent and now next up we're going to take a few crots one two three parmesan cheese gr it on top could you have found a better grater than that so how much parmesan cheese lots of it and swiss cheese you be the boss you decide I decide this much this is one way of doing it put to the side next up I forgot the conac she says to add 3 tablespoons worth of conac just before serving I'm just going to add in uh well we'll go that first bowl of soup will not have the conac so just keep that in mind the second bowl of soup most certainly will in this other bowl of soup I'm going to add in a crout on the bottom and then this poached egg has been waiting for its moment to shine it goes on to the crout she demos this way of serving the soup on her show but it's not mentioned in this cookbook here so just take my word for it now the reason I wanted to serve it this way is cuz I was just curious serve the soup on top and we'll go more cheese she says this is a very French way of serving french onion soup and speaking of French some swiss cheese as well swiss cheese kind of ensures that we get a little bit of stringiness you know cheese pole uh and then the parm on top as well everything is lovely and just a little bit of olive oil on the very top to ensure everything Browns nicely okay I'm going to put that under the broiler until I say so until the cheese Browns this looks really just straight up incredible so instead of parsley which is what I usually decorate these things with I'm going to time today yeah I saw a couple hot takes on the internet and you know I had it on hand anyway so I'm like oh why the hell not put the parsley aside for a minute besides that I don't know what else we're supposed to do here besides order [Music] up recruits on top first oops whoa and then there was Beauty everywhere you [Music] look I'm thinking this is the best bowet soup I've ever had in my [Music] life the bowl with the egg in it I don't know if it's going to beat that because this was the best of the best of the this one not only has the egg but the CNAC too this is just a different eating [Music] experience hm lots to think about I guess there is a bit of a contest right which bowl of soup did I like more no contest Bowl number one was the greatest fullow soup I've ever had I already said that but it's true just Rich Savory that beef stock making it yourself is the way to go sometimes if you have the time cuz it took all day if you don't have all day go to the other room it just tasted different than anything I've ever had before really anything I've ever made before when I've made it with the beef Boolean if I had the carton if I had a can of stock that would all work great or this right here better than Boolean this would be a great substitute but making it yourself that was a whole other level here today and it was a happy accident because Bowl number one didn't have the conac in it and I just cuz I forgot and thankfully I did the onions were just sweeped and caramelized cheese on top and that crunch because of the crots a second bowl of soup I like the egg in there Yol was running and it just kind of spread throughout the soup yeah the CAC adds a little little little what does it add the internet says it adds a rich deep flavor to the dish you know what else adds a rich deep flavor to the dish not having the CAC too so yeah it's whatever you want usually I like the CAC but yeah my mind's already made up so yeah that's the end of that I just really think that this might be one of the best recipes I've ever followed along to right here uh Julia french onion soup if you haven't made it I would give it a try you know what I'm going to wrap it up this was Jamie and Julia B up te orra

Channel: ANTI-CHEF

Views: 498,066

Keywords: anti chef, antichef, julia child recipe, jamie and julia, jamie, julia, french onion soup recipe, soupe a l'oignon, french soup recipe, onion soup, the best soup, homemade beef stock, beef stock recipe, soup season, the french chef, julia child's best recipes, julia child cooking

Id: gwUAvhwdYIA

Length: 22min 9sec (1329 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 29 2023