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Truffle-Infused French Onion Soup

  • Prep Time: -
  • Cook Time: -
  • Serves: 10
Food & Wine

Recipe Provided By: Food & Wine

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Average (85 Ratings): 4 out of 5 stars

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Ingredients

  1. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  2. 3 pounds sweet onions, sliced 1/4 inch thick
  3. 2 bay leaves
  4. 1/2 cup water
  5. 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  6. 1 cup dry red wine
  7. 3 quarts beef stock, preferably homemade
  8. 10 thyme sprigs, tied with cotton string
  9. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  10. 1 baguette, sliced 1/3 inch thick
  11. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  12. 10 ounces truffled pecorino cheese, coarsely shredded

Nutrition Info

Per Serving

  • Calories: 457 kcal
  • |
  • Carbohydrates: 43 g
  • |
  • Dietary Fiber: 4 g
  • |
  • Fat: 20 g
  • |
  • Protein: 19 g
  • |
  • Sugars: 13 g

About: Nutrition Info

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Cooking Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a large heavy casserole. Add the onions and bay leaves, cover and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft, about 15 minutes. Uncover and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are deeply browned, about 1 1/2 hours longer. Add tablespoons of water as necessary if the onions dry out.
  2. Add the flour to the onions and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add the beef stock and thyme and simmer over moderately low heat until reduced to 10 cups, about 35 minutes. Discard the thyme bundle and bay leaves and season the soup with salt and pepper.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the baguette slices with the olive oil, arrange on a baking sheet and toast for about 12 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
  4. Preheat the broiler. Ladle the hot soup into 10 heatproof bowls. Float 3 baguette toasts in each bowl and scatter the cheese on top. Set the bowls on a sturdy baking sheet and broil about 4 inches from the heat source for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Serve at once.

Yield: 10 servings

3. Still Hungry?

Mina invented this soup in the early days of Aqua, the San Francisco restaurant where he rose to fame in the '90s. He started playing with the combination of black truffles and caramelized onions and went crazy for the mix of earthiness and sweetness. This version of the soup calls for truffle-infused pecorino cheese (sold in any good cheese shop), which is melted to form a marvelously gooey topping for the oniony broth.

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12 reviews

Most Helpful Reviews

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  • Shrug, It

    Basic - December 21, 2007 02:59:46 PM PST
    The instructions should have called for the use of a higher smoke point oil to be used in conjunction with the butter. The point is to "caramelize" the onions, not brown them.

    I would also recommend using a much thinner slice of onion and a lower heat. It's more time consuming but worth it!

    Would have also recommended gruyere cheese instead of the pecorino. The recommended cheese was a "low hurdle" way to get the truffle "buzz" in there but, pecorino is a bit more acid and the soup is a bit more lush with the gruyere.

    Finally, what about adding a splash of madera or dry sherry to the end product? Makes for a nice finish as long as you stay away from a cream sherry.

    12 of 14 found this review helpful.

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  • sounds good but...

    mistressholdeman - December 21, 2007 11:45:30 AM PST
    My Martha Stweart recipe is still better................why well
    it calls for 3 diffrent types of onions and Vermouth to carmelize the onions.mmmmm

    10 of 14 found this review helpful.

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  • Wrong stock!

    John - January 2, 2008 06:43:37 AM PST
    First of all, cut this in half unless serving a small army or you want leftovers for a week. I use 1 1/2lbs onions and 5 cups of stock.

    Beef is the wrong stock for this soup - any french preparation uses chicken stock, preferrably homemade. The only cookbooks that call for beef stock are American, and this is not an American recipe.

    I slice the onions thin, start with 2tbs veg oil and 1 tbs butter, mix in chopped thyme, salt and cook, covered, over med low for 10 - 12 minutes.Then I crank the heat to med high and cook, stirring frequently, about another 30 minutes, until very dark brown (this is where the color comes from, not the stock). Add the stock (make sure it's hot) and scrape the carmelized bits from the bottom into the soup. Bring it to a boil, add a little more salt (depending on the stock, really), 1/4 cup of red or white whine, and pepper to taste. Lower hear, simmer 10-15 mins covered. Then you can gratinee with crouton and gruyere or emmentaler. This will be much better than the preparation here.

    3 of 4 found this review helpful.

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  • Truffle infused French onion soup

    Squidlly D - December 26, 2007 07:16:55 AM PST
    Must be good, having pecorino truffle infused, unfortunally being in England (and far from London) it is quite impossible to put my hand on some.
    I do french onion soup and also add a dash of cherry vinegar a little plus that makes a big difference. I do not use that amount of oil as you suggest but about 2 table spoon.
    As for the cooking time, for the last two reviews, plase note that the onions have to cook in very low heat for a long period of time so it will enhance the flavour and become almost sweet, while cooking the onion very fast will leave you with a bitter taste onion soup. Yes, it is long to make but the results are incredible.

    3 of 4 found this review helpful.

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  • ?

    ziraficka1 - December 21, 2007 06:08:26 PM PST
    The onion slices are too thick, for sure. All the recipes I have are with white wine and it is delicious. Swiss Gruyere cheese is better to use.
    I have not tried this one, but it may be good, all French onion soups are yummy !!!!

    5 of 9 found this review helpful.

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