French Onion Soup

Ingredients

• 8 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced

• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter

• 2 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for toasting the bread

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• A small handful of fresh thyme sprigs

• ½ cup dry sherry

• 8 cups beef stock

• 1 loaf crusty white bread, cut into thick slices

• 8 oz Gruyère, grated (about 2 cups), or more to taste

Method

1. Prep the onions. Halve the onions through the root, peel, and slice thin from root to tip so the slices hold their shape through the long cook.

2. Caramelize low and slow (secret #1). Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large Dutch oven, add the onions and a good pinch of salt, and stir to coat. Turn the burner down low and let them cook for about 4 hours, stirring every so often and scraping up the brown bits, until the onions collapse into a deep golden-brown, jammy tangle. Don’t rush this step; this is where the flavor comes from.

3. Toast the bread. While the onions finish, drizzle a little olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and toast the thick bread slices on both sides until golden and crisp, so they hold up in the soup.

4. Deglaze and simmer (secret #2). Push the onions to one side and pour the sherry onto the browned bottom of the pot. Scrape hard to lift every bit of fond; that’s pure flavor. Add the beef stock and the fresh thyme, bring to a simmer and let it bubble gently for 20 to 30 minutes. Pull out the thyme stems and season with salt and pepper.

5. Assemble and broil (secret #3). Set oven-safe bowls on a sheet pan and turn on the broiler. Ladle in the soup, lay one big slice of toast on top of each bowl, and pile on the Gruyère all the way to the edges. Broil until the cheese is bubbling and browned in spots, keeping a close eye on it. Let it sit a minute before serving; the bowls are very hot.

Makes a big pot, about 6 bowls. Total time about 4 ½ hours, almost all of it low-and-slow onion time.