France's iconic onion soup: A hearty autumn classic

In her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child wrote that civilization could not exist without onions. And there is certainly a lot of truth because many people cannot imagine cooking without this vegetable. It was already valued in ancient Roman times but is most associated with France and its iconic onion soup.

Originally, onion soup was a dish of the poorer strata of society. In 18th-century cookbooks, you can find a recipe for "à l’oignon à la paysanne," or peasant onion soup. Over time, the soup also became popular among the aristocracy. This was due to Stanislaus I of Poland, who, after abdicating, went to France and introduced the delicacy at the tables in Versailles. Alexandre Dumas described the dish as consisting of fried onions, water, and croutons, although over time, the water began to be replaced with meat broth.

Onion soup, however, is not just a French specialty. It was also eagerly eaten in the United Kingdom and Poland. On the list of traditional products from the Ministry of Agriculture, we can find the onion soup from Goraj, a small town in Lublin Voivodeship. The base of the dish is onion and pork bone broth, and the delicacy is served in a cream form.

Of course, onions, a vegetable that comes in many varieties, are the basis of the soup. Traditionally, yellow onions are used, and a sharp aroma and slightly sweet taste are released after longer cooking. The soup's flavour depends on the duration of heat treatment; the French often sauté the onions over low heat for even an hour to bring out the full aroma and ensure the dish has an intense colour. Of course, this is done over low heat to avoid burning the onions.

A key ingredient is cheese, mostly gruyere, though emmental can also be used. The broth for the soup can be beef, veal, or chicken, and to taste, white wine, cider, calvados, or brandy is added. To prepare the soup, we use onions, which we cut into strips and sauté for half an hour in clarified butter with a sprig of thyme. After browning the onions, remove the thyme, add white wine, simmer on low heat, add the broth, and cook for approximately 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare croutons from a baguette by spreading them with butter and baking them in the oven. Season the soup with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. Serve with croutons sprinkled with gruyere cheese and bake in the oven until the cheese melts. The soup can be enriched with sautéed bacon. You can also fry it in slices and crumble it, creating a bacon topping.

This is an ideal recipe for autumn days - it warms, satiates, and puts you in a good mood.